Food truck row at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach has something for everyone — including, if you’re an LBCC culinary arts student, work experience.
That’s right, Long Beach City College’s culinary arts program debuted its food truck at the Grand Prix this weejend, offering up banh mi, a Vietnamese sandwich typically served on a baguette. It’s a relatively simple dish for students to make, but is also a different type of fare than what’s usually on offer at festival-like events.
“We just wanted to make something simple so that the students can have a feel for how it is to actually work on a food truck,” said Alex Lopez, a former LBCC culinary program student who now helps teach classes. “It also gets them used to working with people, especially in a small space, and interacting with customers.”
Long Beach City College offers multiple career technical education programs that provide students with academic and technical skills, knowledge and training necessary for careers, such as hospitality management and, of course, culinary arts.
The concept of the food truck was to have LBCC culinary program students get real work experience. But making that idea into a reality was no easy task. It took chef Haley Nguyen, the department head of culinary arts at LBCC, four years to get the idea up and running, with the help of other LBCC faculty and staff as well.
“We have a great program at Long Beach City College from hospitality to culinary, and it feels amazing to bring this concept into reality,” Juan Herrera, a staff member at LBCC who helped supervise the students this weekend, making sure the truck ran smoothly, said on Saturday afternoon, April 20. “It’s also an opportunity to promote our CTE programs.”
Former students of LBCC’s culinary program were coming up to the truck this weekend, buying a sandwich and sharing with current students what they’re journey has been like since graduating the program, Herrera said. This has further…
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