Trained Chef At School | Video

Jenny Castro | 9/21/2012

People of all different occupations have come to North Dakota for jobs. Luckily for one school, a trained chef moved to North Dakota for work and took a job as their head cook.

Michael Perry has worked as a chef in many different places and he`s cooked in large quantities before, but preparing food for anxious school kids has been a new experience.

"When we come to eat we`re hungry, kids come to eat they`re starving, I mean it`s dramatic so they help guide you.”

He hasn`t needed too much guiding, Perry has experience working for restaurants in New York and having a restaurant in Florida.

"Good chefs, top chefs, that I`ve worked for and I was probably working in the food industry ten years before anyone started calling me chef.”

"It`s like having a teacher with you and so it`s been exciting that way so even when I`m at home cooking I do things a little differently then I used to,” said Kathy Hoffer, a school cook.

Living in North Dakota Perry is used to the cold northern weather but says the culture is a change from New York.

"It`s like Mayberry. I mean you drive down the road and everybody waves to you so it`s very nice, I mean the people here are just terrific.”

With the new standards for school lunches, many schools kitchens have had a little trouble adjusting, making sure to fit in more fruits and vegetables with smaller portions.

"Everything we make we try to put vegetables in it,” said Perry.

"I think he`s raising the standards of the food that`s being served and also of the kitchen itself,” said Hoffer.

For the students in Garrison their only complaint is that they`d like bigger portions.

Perry ordered a new steamer for the kitchen which came in today, so that the school can now serve fresh vegetables instead of canned.

COMMENT ON THIS STORY

BACK TO NEWS | BACK TO MINOT STORIES