Culinary Program Celebrates Black History Month

Oliver Wolcott Technical High School celebrated Black History Month with recipes from one of the oldest African American cookbooks and one of the most modern ones.

What Mrs. Fisher Knows About Southern Cooking is believed to be the first cookbook by an African American published in 1881. They also used Chef Carla Hall’s 2018 new age cookbook. By incorporating tradition with new age techniques, they created this soulful menu for black history month.

“We wanted to take some of the dishes and show off to the teachers some things they may not have seen so they could understand some of the cultures they may not know about,” said student Haley Cogley.

The idea for the special menu came out of Wolcott Tech’s multicultural club, a group that many culinary students participate in.

Culinary student Abbey Williams shared that the club is about inclusion and educating students and staff about other cultures.

“I choose the pulled pork plate from Carla hall’s book because overall it just embodies what southern cuisine has,” said student Gregory Cabral-Delacruz. “It feels really nice to expose people to different cuisines.

The menu included jambalaya, catfish po boy, fried chicken, mac and cheese, among many other delicious offerings.