Culinary Training for a Second Helping of Life
by Sue Booth
sue.booth@ChefSchoolReview.com
Chef School Review Columnist
Carl Conway not only uses what he learned in culinary school everyday, he uses it to help others. As a director of training for the food organization Second Helpings Conway uses his culinary training to teach culinary students to prepare 3,500 meals a day for the needy.
All Things Culinary
Conway’s life path and interests lead him down a culinary road. “I grew up poor, though I didn’t know it,” he said. “I started cooking as a very young child. I’ve catered weddings since I was a teenager.” The oldest of six children, Conway also did the cooking growing up and learned how to feed a family of seven on $200 a month. His interest in all things culinary expanded when he worked for the Shop at Home Network and prepped for many chefs who sold their cookware on the network. His passion for cooking moved to the front burner. He claims to have visited restaurants and a few days later he was in the kitchen cooking. He said, “I once found myself making a Chinese dinner in an Austrian restaurant for a bunch of German tourists from a Chinese cookbook—in German.” As the director of training for Second Helpings, Conway’s help for the needy is twofold: he feeds the hungry and he trains underprivileged students how to cook.
A Late Culinary Start
It’s never too late to start a culinary career. Conway was in the Army for 22 years before he attended cooking school and became a chef. He has high expectations for his culinary students at Second Helpings. “I’m not a drill sergeant, but I expect orders to be complied with,” he said. The no-nonsense chef has guided two groups of culinary students through the 10-week program.
Carl Conway is a perfect example of how one can pursue a career later in life based on a lifelong passion. If a culinary career is your ultimate dream, it’s never too late to pursue it.
Source
Indy Star
About the Author
Sue Booth is a freelance writer and a former panel taste tester for Good Housekeeping magazine.
Posted on February 1, 2007 at 4:05 PM
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