Lincoln-Way Central finds itself to be a unique school which offers a variety of specialized and interesting classes for students to choose from.  With course selection right around the corner, it’s important to know what options you have as a student. From woodshop, to multiple foreign languages, to weight lifting, and even three culinary classes, there is a lot to choose from.

Those three culinary classes, Intro to Foods, Baking Basics, and What’s for Dinner, make up the options available to Central students. These classes prove to be plenty interesting, popular, and get a pretty even balance between boys and girls. Throughout the year, the classes make a variety of dishes. Ms. Madonia, one of two instructors who teaches the classes, says what her favorite dish of the year is: “I gotta go with the soft pretzel recipe. Mainly because it’s a fresh recipe, it is always fun to make, and tastes super good.”

However, the entire class is not spent cooking the weekly meal. Every week, about two days are spent on note-taking and studying the culinary arts as well. Along with these come some pretty unique topics. According to Ms. Madonia, the most difficult topic to teach is: “Content-wise it would be kitchen math. Measurement conversions, halving a recipe, doubling a recipe, it’s just a different kind of math than the kids have thought about in awhile. Overall, the most difficult topic would be “mise en place”- everything in its place. It’s the idea of everything being organized, not just in the kitchen, but in life too.”

The culinary arts are an elective class, but they are no joke. Students enjoy taking them, and most students agree that these are things they will use outside of school in their daily life.