Dinner is served at State High: Culinary arts students showcase skills in meal series

Students within the State College Area High School’s culinary arts program are hard at work prepping to welcome community members to one of their handful of remaining public dinners of the school year. Each of the program’s dinners is a monthslong project that comes together to form a unique culinary experience for locals, while showing off some hard-earned and impressive career skills from the students.

Chef Zach Lorber, culinary arts instructor at State College Area High School, started up the dinner series just two months after joining the school’s staff, in 2019.

“We did four dinners that year, and then we’ve continued them every year as a senior capstone project. My Culinary 4 kids do all of the concept development, menu development, marketing, ticket sales,” he said. “They plan table settings, China service, ambiance, decor. What equipment do we need? They have to work through the entire process. Then, afterwards, we do a post-budget to see if we were profitable.”

In addition to the handful of Culinary 4 students who lead each dinner, any students within the culinary program can volunteer to help out as a busser, dishwasher, server or with kitchen prep and similar tasks, with about 25-30 students volunteering for each event.

“For the kids who are going to go into industry, it gives them a really good basis of restaurant management fundamentals — but for any student who’s going into anything, they’re going to learn budgeting, how to lead a team, how to work cooperatively, give directions to somebody else, give critiques to somebody else, solve problems,” Lorber said. “The kids have to learn how to be flexible and work on a timeline, and then ultimately, they’re facing a guest who’s paid their good, hard-earned money with us. There’s lots of choices in town, so it means a lot that people want to come spend their money with us.”

Chef Nicole Jones, Lorber’s co-instructor and a State High alum, emphasized the events’ value in connecting students with the community.

“A fundamental component of CTE (Career and Technical Education) is community involvement; the best way we as chefs can get involved with the community, showcase our students’ hard work and dedication and provide them with a real-world, practical application is by inviting the public to be fully immersed in everything we have to offer,” she said.

Don’t just take the instructors’ words for it, though, when it comes to this program’s immense educational value.

According to Ranya Ounaies Carpenter, a Culinary 3 student in 11th grade, “My favorite part of these classes has been working with others to create a dish, knowing that we created it from our own minds and worked through all the necessary steps together.”

Another Culinary 3 student in 11th grade, Aaliyah Trout, likewise chimed in: “I have enjoyed my time in culinary making and eating food, and being baffled that, in between math and science, I was cutting carrots as perfectly as I could. You also grow to know your classmates well, as you come back each time — all of this just because I thought it would be cool, and it is!”

On April 23, the students will host two dinners simultaneously, an Ethiopian family-style four-course dinner, and an Empty Bowls fundraising buffet dinner that benefits the State College Food Bank.

“I’ve always enjoyed Ethiopian somewhat from the novelty of it. It’s not something you see frequently … Some stuff is very spicy, some stuff is very herbaceous, and you don’t eat it with a fork and knife. You eat it using a flatbread,” Lorber said.

Two courses will be served with different Ethiopian regional flatbreads, one made with teff flour and a fermented batter, called injera, and another made from sorghum and corn that Lorber described as being closer in texture to a flour tortilla.

“So you just take a piece of the flat bread, you rip it off, you scoop up the food and pop it in. It’s a very interactive, communal, fun dining experience, and we’re encouraging people to come in groups rather than coming solo,” he added.

For the Empty Bowls meal, the high school’s pottery club, along with the Potters Guild, has handcrafted approximately 250 bowls. Attendees can purchase a ticket that comes with or without one, and then they’ll be able to wander between food stations to enjoy a variety of different soups, salads, appetizers and breads.

The fundraiser has been a long-standing tradition at State High, with Lorber saying that he knows locals who’ve amassed dozens of the bowls from throughout the years. In the early 2000s, attendance climbed up to a thousand people. (In more recent history, Lorber noted that the attendance record for one of the program’s dinners was 171, in February of this year — but he’s game to increase those numbers.)

“Empty Bowls is especially important because not only does it welcome the public into our program again,” added Jones, “but it gives back to communities facing hunger and food insecurity. Chef [Lorber] and I collectively believe that it’s essential to impart to the students the critical necessity of using our skillset to assist those in need, whenever possible.”

Beyond the April 23 dinners, remaining events include a barbecue dinner, May 7, and a brunch-style dinner, May 20.

Reservations for all upcoming dinners are highly encouraged, as they nearly always sell out. More information can be found on Facebook and Instagram, @statehighculinary on both platforms. Newly, the program’s reservation system is accepting credit card payments, so tickets can be paid for at the time of reservation. For questions, contact Zach Lorber at zml12@scasd.org.

Holly Riddle is a freelance food, travel and lifestyle writer. She can be reached at holly.ridd@gmail.com.