July 30—Foodservice workers for the Santa Barbara Unified School District in California, have the opportunity this week to sharpen their cooking skills at a week-long "boot camp" being held at Santa Barbara Junior High. Classes are being taught by chef instructors and are focused on teaching staff how to make the transition from convenience foods to from-scratch preparation. Classes include knife skills, safe food handling, menu planning, baking instruction and sauce production.
The boot camp is being sponsored by the Orfalea Foundation, an area organization that funds a variety of projects related to childhood education. This is the fifth year for the camp, which was also held earlier this summer in the santa Maria Bonita School District.