[ad_1]
MITCHELL – Callie Behm describes people in the restaurant industry as a fit. They come from different eras and different backgrounds and cultures.
A second-year culinary student at Mitchell Technical College should know. She worked in a variety of careers, including as a school bus driver, a limousine driver, a juvenile detention worker in Ohio, a state mental hospital, and a natural gas pipeline worker.
“I get to work with a lot of different people,” Behm told The Mitchell Republic. “Different backgrounds, different cultures. And I think that really helped me, that adaptability, because it’s big in the kitchen because there are different personalities everywhere you go.
Behm took her adaptability to the next level when she interned at a restaurant in Dublin, Ireland last summer to fulfill her requirements as a student in Mitchell Technical College’s Culinary Arts program. There, she worked side-by-side with staff from seven countries for two months, honing the skills she learned while at Mitchell.
Adam Thury / Mitchell Rep
Born in California and raised in Ohio, Behm headed to Mitchell Tech after deciding it was time for a change. Pursuing a lifelong interest in cooking and wanting to move with her mother to South Dakota, she discovered the two-year technical school and culinary program.
A visit to the campus piqued her interest and she enrolled.
“I Googled culinary schools in South Dakota, and Mitchell Technical College came up,” Behm said. “So I decided to give it a shot, and I visited the place and I liked it. And here I am.
Adjusted to the South Dakota winters, she hit the books at Mitchell her first year and finished her freshman year after eating classes in the classroom and the kitchen. That’s when she had to start thinking about interning. She used to work at Lock’s Marketplace in Sioux Falls, but the adventurous Behm, also a lover of travel, was interested in exploring opportunities outside the state.
More internet research led her to Global Experiences, an organization in Maryland that specializes in international educational experiences. She applied and got herself an opportunity to work at Fallon & Byrne Food Hall, which has a food hall, dining room, wine cellar and ballroom, and specializes in locally grown food.
She was accepted into the program, and soon she was going to go to Europe for the first time.
“I was interested in learning about different cultures. My dream goal is to go around and discover different techniques and come back and then present it to people every day who can’t really (travel to experience those cultures),” Behm said. “To experience the food more like you would with our food, but with a twist.”
Students at Mitchell Tech often practice a little closer to home, with Sioux Falls or Rapid City being common choices. Sometimes a student ventures as far as Colorado, but Josh Kranz, an instructor in Mitchell Tech’s culinary arts department, said an international internship is rare.
“As an educator, this is my first (student) international internship,” said Kranz, who has been on staff at the school for 11 years. “Most of our students have never worked in a restaurant or commercial food service operation before.” We try to introduce them, a little trial by fire, but in a very controlled environment. It’s a good opportunity. I really like them to come back with real world experience and it opens people’s eyes.
Behm, 37, has done a little bit of everything during her time at Fallon & Byrne. She baked bread, served lunch, and struggled with preparing scallops. There were some language challenges with the diverse kitchen staff, but most everyone spoke a little English, and everyone seemed happy to show Behm the ropes.
Adam Thury / Mitchell Rep
When she finished one job, she always asked to be given another one, but she was careful to make a good impression. Later, she was saving her own creativity to apply what she learned on the job.
“I took it all in. I loved making bread while I was there. I did lunch service. I made scallops, which I have never done before. They said I messed up the first batch, but it’s okay, just do it again. They continued to work with me,” Bhim said.
Located in Ireland’s capital and largest city, Fallon & Byrne features a menu geared towards cosmopolitan fare rather than Irish cuisine. But Behm said she enjoyed the work and the quality of the food, and after spending two weeks traveling around Europe completing her internship, she returned to Mitchell to apply what she learned in preparation for her spring graduation.
She brought ideas to the Mitchell Tech training kitchens, including an idea for scallops that she struggled with at first. That shows she’s learned from both her successes and failures, something Kranz said he hopes to see in every student.
“Learn from the good, but also learn from the bad,” Kranz said. “We were doing scallops for the Oak Room menu and she said they did this (technique) with butter and I said let’s try it. She always wants to learn, and I’m the same,” Kranz said.
Her experience in Dublin broadened her vision of what her cooking could be, and gave her a new appreciation for Mitchell Tech’s curriculum and the skills she gained studying there.
“I think they did a really good job of setting me up for success, because I had enough confidence to go. I wasn’t brilliant or anything like that. I understood my knife cuts, I understood what they were asking. Some of the language barriers were a little different, I have to ask again what they meant, but exactly “I got through,” Bhm said. “The program here has given me a great foundation.”
Graduation is on the horizon, but she’s focused first on activities to finish her second semester. After that, she plans to seek her destiny in the restaurant world, whether in South Dakota or further afield. She wants to open her own restaurant – something small that allows her to take a month or two off to travel and learn more about international cultures and cuisines.
Adam Thury / Mitchell Rep
Now she has another new route to look forward to. It was something that was sparked when she was a child, cooking with her father and watching cooking shows on a small 13-inch television after school. And Mitchell Tech and something that grew in a restaurant in Dublin, Ireland.
She doesn’t know where her next stop will be, but she knows her time at Mitchell will help her find her way.
“This is a great place to come. The teachers work with you. I’m hard on myself and I try to do well, and (Kranz) points out my failures, but right there he’s taught me how to adjust and how to do better,” Behm said. “You work to do better. , and it’s been a good learning process. I’ve made a lot of progress.
[ad_2]
Source link
