[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 54 (Friday, May 6, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 6, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                     CAREERS THROUGH CULINARY ARTS

  Mr. METZENBAUM. Mr. President, I want to bring to the attention of my 
colleagues an article which appeared recently in USA Today, featuring 
an exciting new education program developed by Richard Grausman.
  Richard Grausman, a good friend of mine, is a well known and 
respected author, educator, and expert in the field of French cooking. 
He was for more than 15 years the official U.S. representative of the 
renowned Cordon Bleu Cooking School in Paris, and he is the author of a 
highly successful cookbook, ``At Home With the French Classics.''
  He certainly has every right to be proud of his many accomplishments. 
Yet instead of just sitting back and enjoying his success, Richard 
Grausman decided to put his experience and creativity to use providing 
educational opportunities for disadvantaged youth.
  The Careers Through Culinary Arts Program, which he created, brings 
chefs and culinary experts into inner city high schools to show 
students that they can master the art of French cooking and to open 
career paths for them in the food industry. The program began in New 
York in 1990 with a handful of schools, and it now reaches some 25,000 
students in 150 schools across the country. The program, which is 
funded through private donations and industry support, also provides 
scholarships for students to attend such prestigious cooking schools as 
the Cordon Bleu and the Culinary Institute of America.
  Mr. President, this is a wonderful success story, and it tells us 
something important about how one person can make a difference when he 
is willing to devote his talent and energy to helping young people get 
a good start in life. I ask my colleagues to join me in offering 
congratulations to Richard Grausman on his outstanding achievement.
  I ask unanimous consent that the article from USA Today, entitled 
``Culinary Arts Program Gives Kids a New Recipe for Life,'' be printed 
in the Record.
  There being no objection, the article was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                  [From the USA Today, Apr. 16, 1994]

         Culinary Arts Program Gives Kids a New Recipe for Life

                           (By Cathy Hainer)

       Washington.--A few months ago, Joel Sims could barely boil 
     water for pasta.
       Now, the 17-year-old student at M.M. Washington High School 
     is hoping to open a Japanese restaurant.
       Sims and 16 of his fellow students are participating in the 
     Careers through Culinary Arts Program, a New York-based 
     organization that tells kids: If you can't stand the street, 
     get into the kitchen.
       Founder Richard Grausman is telling high schoolers that 
     there's more to culinary careers than washing dishes. He 
     began the program in 1990 with 12 schools in New York. In 
     four years, it has grown to include more than 25,000 students 
     in 150 schools, from Philadelphia to Chicago to Phoenix.
       A slight, silver-haired man going into inner-city schools 
     to teach kids to use pots and pans? Sounds crazy, but it's a 
     proven recipe for success.
       ``These are the kids for whom academics hold no 
     excitement,'' says Grausman, author of At Home With the 
     French Classics (Workman, $14.95). There's logs of pent-up 
     frustrations. But when you allow them to use their hands, 
     whether in art class, shop, or the kitchen, you get wonders 
     happening. To the point where academics improve and kids have 
     a career goal to shoot for.''
       C-CAP brings local chefs and culinary professionals into 
     classrooms and teaches students basic culinary techniques. 
     ``Chopping slicing and dicing are the building blocks,'' says 
     Grausman. ``Anyone can become a good cook, but you have to 
     get the basics first.''
       Lesson 1: learning to slice an onion without slicing off 
     your fingers. Lesson 2: how to cut a carrot before it rolls 
     off the counter. And the piece de resistance--an omelette-
     making demonstration.
       The students are typical high schoolers: Wearing baggy 
     jeans and T-shirts, they slouch in their chairs. But when 
     Grausman calls for volunteers, and they don white chef's 
     aprons, there's a real transformation. ``You can see in their 
     faces they want to learn,'' Grausman says. ``There's a great 
     sense of pride of accomplishment.'' Of course, it doesn't 
     hurt that they get to eat the day's lesson.
       ``The important thing is to start a spark of interest.'' 
     says Betty Sims, home economics teacher at M.M. Washington. 
     ``Most high school students think culinary careers are 
     demeaning, that cooks make $3 an hour. Richard's been a 
     godsend in that he teaches the students they can move up in 
     the industry.''
       C-CAP is paid for by private donations and corporate 
     sponsors, including Bon Appetit magazine, Workman publishing 
     and General Mills. In addition to the in-school programs, C-
     CAP also sponsors several scholarships to cooking schools, 
     including Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and the Culinary Institute 
     of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. In its four years, C-CAP has 
     distributed more than $1 million in scholarship money.
       Fifteen-year-old Kenede Herbert hopes to get some of that 
     action. ``I've always baked a lot at home, especially 
     desserts, that's what I'm best at,'' she says ``I'd like to 
     go to the Culinary Institute in upstate New York to learn 
     more about that.''
       And Grausman isn't stopping there. Next year he plans to 
     launch a ``school-to-work'' program in conjunction with the 
     25,000-member American Culinary Federation that would offer 
     post-graduate training in restaurants across the country.
       As Grausman puts the finishing touches on an omelette, the 
     kids seem more intent on his technique than getting their 
     forks into the finished product. ``Now you can use your love 
     of cooking and do something with it as a career,'' he tells 
     them.


                        the `creme de la creme''

       Owen Marvel is a C-CAP success story. The 18-year-old 
     entered the program at John Dewey High School in Brooklyn, 
     N.Y. ``I was too shy to enter my freshman year, but my 
     sophomore year my home economics instructor hooked me up with 
     Richard Grausman, and I came in seventh in the whole city (in 
     the C-CAP scholarship program).''
       In his junior year, Marvel's poached salmon in beurre blanc 
     sauce nabbed the coveted C-CAP scholarship first prize: a 10-
     day learning trip to Le Cordon Bleu in Paris.
       In his senior year he won a C-CAP internship to Bouley, the 
     highly-regarded New York restaurant of chef David Bouley. 
     ``The New York City restaurant scene is really intense, but 
     working with chef Bouley really had an impact on my 
     technique.''
       Marvel is currently in his first year at the Culinary 
     Institute of America, working toward a culinary arts degree. 
     After graduation, he hopes to land a restaurant job in 
     Seattle or San Francisco.
       ``My family is very food-oriented, so I had always cooked. 
     But working with the C-CAP program, I knew I wanted to make 
     food my career.''

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