Zoe Kenealy, staff writer
Students from culinary arts visited the Limoneira citrus farm in Ventura County on Wednesday, April 10. http://www.limoneira.com
On the farm, the students learned about the tedious process of picking citrus fruits, preparing them for sale and distributing the fruits to the public.
By the end of the trip, the students grew to respect the workers involved in the citrus industry.
“I really grew an admiration for the people involved in the citrus farming process. You would not know it, but the process is not an easy one,” junior Shivani Patel said. “There are actually so many thorns that come on a lemon and the process of cleaning the lemons up looks really strenuous.”
The students also were able to participate in a cooking demo in which the head chef at the farm performed a demonstration on hummus preparation.
“He was pretty interactive with the group and I really wanted to eat the hummus,” junior Joshua Gelman said. “It was definitely my favorite thing about the trip to watch the hummus come to life.”
The students had to miss an entire day of school, but both the students and culinary arts instructor felt that the experience as well as the gained knowledge and respect was well worth an absence.
“I believe that the trip to the citrus farm had a great effect on the entire class,” Patel said. “We all seemed to have gained a respect for the people in the culinary industry who are not necessarily given as ‘glamorous’ a job.”