Some have never seen a raw chicken. One girl had never cracked an egg. The school offers a small unit on table-setting and etiquette, too. Jeri Hamilton, a teacher at Whitefish Bay High School, likes to use class time to introduce her students to new foods. Many of the students are so used to ordinary foods that they aren't open-minded.
Kids come away with basic cooking skills that include nutrition and sanitation.
She also hopes to inspire that old-fashioned hobby of recipe collecting. Ironically, along with a crop of kids who are clueless in the kitchen is a growing need for hospitality workers. It has been estimated, for example, that the Midwest Express Center will bring more than 2,000 new hospitality jobs to the city of Milwaukee by 2001. Hospitality jobs include those in food service. Along with a related curriculum, job shadowing, site-based training and a speaker's bureau of local experts are planned.