Culinary training at CSR
By Lauren Duncan

Students at the Culinary School of the Rockies (CSR) get their hands dirty — and not just in the kitchen. The school’s farm-to-table program allows students following the six-month culinary arts curriculum to gain handson experience with local farms and use the fresh produce they gather in their cooking.

Students spend five weeks of their schooling immersed in the program; one week is spent on farms in Boulder, two weeks at farms in Paonia, and nine days in a restaurant apprenticeship some where in Colorado. At the farms, students pick produce, prepare fruits and vegetables for the farmers market and learn farming skills like seeding and rowing.

“They learn how the ingredients get from the ground to the kitchen to the table,” says Carrie Wunsch, marketing director at CSR. “It’s a great experience for students.”

While in Paonia, students have the option to help slaughter a lamb, which they then prepare for a harvest feast. Wunsch says this experience is incredibly grounding, since it garners an appreciation for the animal and drives home the eye-opening fact that animals “don’t just come from a supermarket in a plastic container.” The two-week stay in Paonia culminates in the creation of a multicourse feast for 100 guests.

The best thing about the farmto-table program, Wunsch says, is the opportunity for students to gain knowledge of where food comes from. Many students begin their schooling at CSR without ever having been exposed to farm life, and many aren’t aware of the process food goes through before it arrives on a plate. The program is simply an extension of the school’s values, which encompass sustainable living.

“We’re glad to help the growing movement in sustainability,” Wunsch says. “We feel like we’re producing a new group of students who are going to be innovators in regards to the farm-to-table movement.”

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