DALLAS – With a list of ingredients and a whiteboard full of assignments, instructor Rachel Randel announces today’s recipe: gluten-free blueberry muffins.
Wearing black aprons, gloves and hairnets, the students are ready to work. The first step is to make sure the kitchen is clean before collecting cranberries, baking soda, and almond flour.
Students make the kitchen their home: they do not hesitate to walk between large stainless steel appliances, access storage areas or use the refrigerator. Their workflow is a well-choreographed dance that they started practicing at the beginning of the semester, when most didn’t know much about cooking.
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“We try to approach the curriculum from the base of someone who may have never set foot in a kitchen before,” Rendel said. “Not everyone knows what a beater is.”
That’s how Tuesday mornings begin in one of the large commercial kitchens at the Dallas College Culinary, Pastry and Hospitality Center in northwest Dallas, where adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities learn the art and science of cooking. kitchen.
The program, which is concluding its first year, is a partnership between the university and the nonprofit organization Hugs Café Inc. that provides training and employment for adults with disabilities.
The goal of the association is for these adults to acquire a food handler certification that will allow them to join the workforce, which is often a struggle for people with disabilities.
A fundamental lesson is cleanliness. Students disinfect counters and equipment before and after each use, learning the importance of hygiene in the kitchen.
In the mornings they work as a team preparing recipes that range from appetizers to desserts. In the afternoon, they return to the classroom for lessons on food safety—knowledge needed to earn certification.
Between laughter and laser-focused concentration to ensure perfect measurements, students not only develop culinary and food safety skills, but are also allowed to find their own voice in and out of the kitchen.
Student Paul Webb said he loves the entire process of cooking, from preparing the ingredients to cleaning up afterward.
“I have a lot of favorite recipes,” the 20-year-old said. “The first one is definitely the tomato soup and also the sopapilla cheesecake.”
Webb cooks at home with his family, but he has taken his talent to the next level.
He said his favorite part of the show is cooking with new friends.
“I am dedicated to helping my friends when they have problems in the kitchen, in the classroom or anywhere,” he said.
Dallas College-Hugs partnership began in 2024
In its inaugural year, 15 students went through the culinary program at Dallas College. Officials plan to expand enrollment capacity to 24 next year to allow more students to train and join the workforce.
Adults with disabilities often have difficulty finding employment, and only 19% nationwide are in the workforce, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In Texas, more than 500,000 adults and children have an intellectual or developmental disability.
Hugs Café Inc. was created in 2013 to change these statistics. The group operates a coffee shop in McKinney run by people with disabilities.
CEO Lauren Smith said the cafe is more than a job for employees — it’s a place with a purpose and a community.
Hugs Training Academy is the nonprofit’s newest initiative, created during the pandemic to help prospective workers meet business needs as many restaurants struggled when their employees left.
“We were struggling with what to do because our employees kept calling us, wanting to come to work,” Smith said.
Realizing that so many people with disabilities lack opportunities but want to work motivated Hugs to focus on training. The group also works with local employers to bridge the knowledge gap that often exists about the value of hiring and supporting such workers, Smith said.
“When our students walk in, you will feel it. When you walk into our cafeteria, you’ll know. But it’s hard to quantify unless you’ve experienced it,” Smith said. “It’s acceptance, happiness and purpose, all wrapped in the most delicious cookies you’ll ever taste.”
The partnership with Dallas College began with Steve DeShazo, senior director of workforce initiatives, who chanced to meet Hugs founder Ruth Thompson a few years ago. Upon learning of Hugs’ work, he saw the need to expand that program from Collin County to Dallas County.
“It was an instant vision for me and I’m not very filtered. “So I shared it with Ruth and her eyes lit up,” DeShazo recalled.
Two years later, the partnership was launched as an expansion of the university’s culinary programs. He works with area businesses to emphasize the value of hiring these students, who often exude positivity and great personalities once they come out of their shells, DeShazo said.
While the food industry struggles with high turnover, “these employees never leave,” DeShazo said. “A big benefit for an employer is that an employee does not change positions for quite some time.”
From the classroom kitchen, students dream of a future cooking professionally
“Do raw eggs have biological, physical or chemical properties?” Rendel asked the students as they performed different tasks in the kitchen.
As a chorus, they collectively answer “biological”, much to Rendel’s praise.
Random questions during cooking tasks are one of Rendel’s methods of making sure they remember previous lessons. It all adds up to the exam they will take to obtain certification.
Connor Neal has taken on leadership duties in the kitchen. Not only does he master knife skills and measurements, but the 19-year-old helps ensure his peers follow the recipe correctly.
A counselor at Vanguard High School suggested the program. Neal said he wasn’t a leader then, but now he’s proud of this new role.
“It is a new experience for me. “This is a bit more advanced than what I usually do,” Neal said. “I like that it’s a little challenging because you have to take exact measurements, which is something I don’t normally do.”
Neal’s favorite recipe this semester is chicken tortilla soup.
He wants a job in a kitchen and “doing more than just basic things.” He said he is most excited about cooking steaks.
Students must replicate recipes at home with their families as part of the assignment.
Rendel, 25, is proud of each student’s progress. His behavior is affectionate and supportive. Addresses students as ma’am and sir, asking them to grab something from the shelves or making sure they serve the exact measurements for a recipe. Randel, a part-time sociology student at Texas Woman’s University, was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder as an adult and wanted to work in the disability community.
Rendel explained that the gluten-free blueberry muffins were an opportunity for students to learn about gluten and food sensitivities. The muffins struck a perfect balance of flavor and texture, sturdy enough to hold their shape.
For Sarah Salaiz, 23, her favorite part is eating the food after cooking it, which the students do every time a recipe is prepared.
The students have no reservations when talking about the joy they feel being in the kitchen, learning from and with each other. They recommend the program to everyone.
Sydney Leniger, 23, said her advice to prospective students is to “have fun and not worry.”
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