The Mocha Cabana dining room is full of guests waiting for an out-of-country dining experience in
their own backyard. In the kitchen, an Austrian chef works alongside the executive chef, infusing her European techniques with those she’s learning in Canada while on an exchange program at Lethbridge College. As Mocha Cabana’s patrons enjoy their meals, the student dines on the invaluable learning experience this ongoing partnership provides.
In June, four culinary students from a cooking school in Austria came to Lethbridge College to experience Canadian cooking techniques and culture. Through the college’s exchange, Austrian students Julia Bauer, Marina Felder, Jasmin Hürland and Michelle Künsler worked at Mocha Cabana, Firestone, Earl’s, Lethbridge Lodge and the Cheesecake Café. In these settings they practiced new techniques and experienced local cuisines.
Martina Böck, service instructor at Tourismusschulen Semmering, accompanied her students on a trip that she says led to remarkable growth for the students in their workplaces.
“The chefs there are very confident with the students’ work,” Böck says. ”They are part of a team, they accept the roles, they have fun during their exercises and the result, especially in the Mocha Cabana team, is brilliant.”
In addition to studying Canadian foods, Mocha Cabana gave the students the opportunity to share their culinary delights with Lethbridge. For three weeks, the Wednesday night feature dish was Austrian and designed by one of the students (click here to read the Sacher Torte recipe the students prepared). Böck says the students benefitted greatly by being able to share their cuisine with Canadian diners.
Chef Mark Dieser, instructor at Lethbridge College, had travelled to Semmering last year with Lethbridge College students as part of the exchange program (click here to read the story from the Fall 2011 issue of Wider Horizons about the Lethbridge students’ experiences in Europe). He says these exchange opportunities are invaluable for the students, the instructors and the colleges in both countries. The opportunity to make connections in other parts of the world expands a chef’s culinary horizons.
“When you go work with other chefs, you learn so much,” Dieser says. “When we come back we look at our systems and our places and say you know we could do this differently or we’re doing this really well and we should keep doing this and maybe refine it.”
Karen Ohno, owner of Mocha Cabana, says she was thrilled when Lethbridge College asked her restaurant to participate in the exchange.
“We really try hard to support the community because that’s who’s supporting us,” she says. “We hire exclusively from the college culinary program.”
Chef Marc Gedrasik (Culinary 2006), executive chef at Mocha Cabana, showed the Austrian students cooking techniques used in Canada, many of which are quite different from the techniques they used at home. In Canada, he explains, restaurants typically focus on preparing individual plates and the kitchen staff works on the line where each team member has a specific job. In Austria, food preparation happens in a more family-style manner and the staff in the kitchen work on multiple tasks.
Gedrasik says he probably learned just as much from the Austrian students as they did from him. That said, he was eager for the students to return to Austria with a technique that is very important to him and Mocha Cabana – the slow food movement and using local suppliers.
Böck says that in addition to valuable culinary experiences, her students were exposed to beneficial social and cultural experiences.
“In our time, you never know in advance where you will end up,” she says. “So collecting experience and specific knowledge in foreign countries is a door opener for further applications.”
Dieser says Lethbridge College has made connections for future exchanges with Austria, Sweden and Italy. Two student chefs are already set to go to Semmering in the spring of 2013. Canada’s cooking culture is young and there are many techniques Canadian chefs can learn from chefs in countries with long cooking traditions.
Bauer, Felder, Hürland and Künsler are already talking about returning to Canada to enjoy more cooking and cultural experiences, including possibly completing practicum hours and working for a summer in Banff. In the meantime, they’re back in Austria sharing Canadian recipes, including their new favourite dish – cheesecake.
