It’s not every middle school student that has the opportunity to experience lessons with pros from The Lark, Chocolate Maya, lobster fisherman James Voss, and Santa Barbara City College’s Culinary Arts teacher Charlie Fredericks. But then again, Santa Barbara Middle School is not just any school.
Under the direction of Pierre (PA) Tremblay, SBMS alum and the former chef de cuisine at Julienne, the school’s already impressive culinary program is set to expand into an industrial teaching kitchen that will both prepare school meals and provide cooking classes to students. This new kitchen will also host summer camps and adult cooking classes and welcome other schools to come learn, all while partnering with community seafood and farm programs.
“I am a little crazy about food, but behind this obsession is an even more profound desire to positively impact the community through educating and sharing the importance of cooking,” said Tremblay. “Food is nothing new to our species, and the way we’ve enjoyed it also hasn’t changed much. Most of the time, we sat around fires or tables in community to eat, and it is only recently that this has changed.” For Tremblay, that means there is a need to educate people about the importance of food beyond simply knowing our fruits and vegetables. He helps students understand “what food brings into our daily lives and our global cultures.”