Cooking up careers at Aragon

Many people still are not sure about what they want to be when they grow up while still in high school. Some students at Aragon have dreams of becoming a chef. They have been inspired by the joy of cooking.

Nutrition teacher Susan Hontalas, says, “Around 95 percent of the population has worked in the food industry before.”

For many students, their interest in the culinary profession began in their own homes. Senior Rey Montes, a student chef at Aragon, first learned how to cook at home with the help of his mother.

Two years ago, a guest speaker from Astaria, a local restaurant in downtown San Mateo, came to talk to Aragon students during Career Day. Montes, who was interested and had a talent for cooking, asked to work there. Within a week, he was hired and has been working there as an assistant pastry chef and line cook ever since.

During the weekdays, Montes works in the pastry department, which prepares desserts for the week and any upcoming parties. Montes says, “[A] part of my job is to plan future desserts with the pastry chef for the upcoming menu.”

“I had to deal with all the craziness that happens in the kitchen whenever there is a huge party in the banquet room and you have 200 reservations on the book on a Friday and Saturday night.” He has learned to adapt to that because “if your game is off then you’ll start messing up.”

Montes plans to go to the City College of San Francisco and then hopes to become a chef.

Like Montes, senior David Tocchini also wishes to attend the City College of San Francisco for their focus on culinary arts. He says, “If you want to be a chef or someone similar to a chef, you have to love cooking. If you don’t, it would be really difficult to work your job if you don’t like it”.

Tocchini has worked part time at Carpaccio, Spiedo, and other local restaurants around San Mateo. Tocchini says, “You can work to prepare for the culinary profession. To cook, you don’t need a diploma or anything. And also, you can cook at any age.”

Senior Erica Bass is a baker who occasionally makes desserts for friends and family. Bass says, “I just watched my mom and grandma as I was growing up and they kept teaching me things along the way. I currently take the Gourmet Foods class here at Aragon. In addition, when I was younger, I took a group cooking lesson class with my friends for my birthday party.”

Unlike Montes and Tocchini, Bass does not plan to go to culinary school. Bass says, “I have thought about it, but I decided to go to the University of Oregon instead. I might want to do something in the nutrition field, like a dietitian.”

Bass enjoys making cookies, but her best dish is brownies. The best thing about cooking for Bass is that “you can eat what you make and make other people happy with my food.”

Senior Nicole Beck enjoys cooking savory foods. When she grows up, she wishes to be a personal chef or a private chef for families. She likes making macaroni and cheese, pizza, and pasta. Beck says, “I think chicken parmesan is my best dish.”

For many chefs at Aragon, their aspirations began in the kitchens of their own homes. Now, they have taken their interest and passion into professional restaurants, the Aragon campus and hearts of people around them.