Photo story: The winter banquet

THE WINTER BANQUET

This photo story represents a culinary class at LBCC entirely dedicated to planning and preparing in culmination for a banquet which takes place at the end of the term. Among this team are some of the most positive and talented people in the school. The photo's taken are in the week of the banquet including the day of the event, Friday December 1st. The banquet event has taken place every term at LBCC for the last 25 years.

The day before the banquet

This photo was taken on Thursday, November 30th at around 3:30pm in the LBCC cafeteria's kitchen. The photo shows (from left to right) Garret Boren, Chef Michael Willis and Karina Nyman making sure there are no air pockets in their sausage. They are in the process of creating a dish called "Boudin sausage pork and liver."

Michael Willis has been a Chef/Teacher since last fall, but has been cooking for about 10 years since he was 15. He graduated from LBCC in 2020 after searching for more training after being in the industry for a few years. But after working in restaurants in between he decided to return to LBCC for a more steady job. Michael loves cooking for many reasons, he loves knowing exactly what goes into his food and what it takes to create what he consumes. It's also a really big money saver for him and his family. He finds it important that people understand where food comes from and how it grows. For instance how soy based products is actually harmful to soil and isn't very eco-friendly. For a long time he would work for chefs who wouldn't explain why or how things are done. He had trouble learning certain aspects of cooking because of this. Now he strives to be a leader who leads by example and talks about anything his students are confused about. He connects with his team on a personal level deeper than just being their teacher, but also their friend.

Head Chef Stacy Lebar adding to a veggie lasagna in the kitchen of the Cafeteria at LBCC right before the banquet at 3:50pm on Thursday, November 30th. Stacy has been leading this class for three years as the head chef of her class. She also teaches some other advanced second year classes and first year foundational skills. Her favorite part about the banquet is interacting with students and seeing their excitement when they learn and gain new skills. Stacy wants people to know how grateful she and her students are to receive the support that they get from the community. She sees how the students put their heart and souls into these banquets and they care a lot about showcasing the skills they learning up until now. Even in the long days they still get excited and put so much effort and energy into these dishes.

The day of the banquet

Here we see (From left to right) Jorge Gonzalez and Isaac Martinez having a good time even in the stress of the impending time limit. This photo was taken on Friday, December 1st at about 5:15pm in the kitchen of the LBCC Cafeteria. This picture shows the energy in the kitchen even in times of stress. They have spent 3 months working towards this event and they still have dedication towards positivity in the kitchen.

(from left to right, Dwayne Falls and Garret talking as people start arriving for the banquet at 5:50pm on Friday, December 1st. Dwayne is at his station in the LBCC cafeteria ready to hand out his delicious desert dishes to the community. Dwayne is a third year student who has been cooking since he was 7 years old. He finds cooking as a way to get away and be creative rather than just writing things down on paper. Dwayne loved the banquet as it was all of their ideas put together to create one cohesive product.

One of Dwayne's desert dishes, White Pumpkin Mousse perfected by lots of effort and time. Taken at 5:25pm on Friday, December 1st in a close up shot of Dwayne's desert presentation in the LBCC cafeteria.

The community feasting and laughing at the culmination of all of the teams hard work and dedication. Taken in the Cafeteria of LBCC at 6:15 on Friday, December 1st.  The tables, chairs and food placements were all considered in the three months that the students prepped for the banquet. The tickets for the banquet sold out after two days, they sold 100 tickets. The community always gets involved in what the culinary program does and they look forward to the banquets throughout the terms. The people started showing up 30 minutes early and they all seemed eager to be able to try the delicious food prepared by the students and chefs.

REFLECTION

I absolutely loved this experience getting to see what goes on behind the scenes of such a big event was really mind blowing to me. Everybody was so friendly to me, it felt like they treated me as though I was part of the team. I had over a thousand more photos showcasing the event and I didn't have enough room to include everybody. I will send my best photos to all the culinary students so that they can see what a difficult task it was to just choose six photos for this huge event. I am extremely thankful to the team that allowed me to stand next to them on a stressful event like this.