The sizzle of the meat hitting a hot pan, the scent of searing onions, and the bubbles of boiling water all sounds and smells of cooking. Rocklin High School (RHS) students were asked the question if they could cook, and were tested on their cooking abilities.

Josh Cooke, a senior at RHS, has been experimenting and mastering his craft of cooking since he was younger saying, “I am able to cook. I’ve been actively cooking since the beginning of middle school but I think I really got serious with it. When sophomore year started for me…” (Cooke). Cooking and family go a long way with Cooke, with helping with his grandma’s church’s chili cook-offs, cooking for his brother when he visits from the military, and putting his spin on family recipes. When asked what one of his family recipes is he says, “…a gumbo that we make because a lot of my family is from Louisiana. I think that’s a really fun thing to do. But what I kind of do to add my own spin on it is I’ll add these gnocchi balls which is like a pasta made with potato and starch” (Cooke). Cooke’s expertise in cooking is rare for a high school student, he can make different high-quality dishes ranging from handmade pasta and a variety of steak dishes. Cooke expressed what his absolute favorite dish to cook he responded with, “A good pasta just because there’s a lot you can do with it. It’s very versatile. You know, there’s a lot of stuff you can put it like you can add a lot of meats, vegetables, there’s just a lot you can do with it that make it better” (Cooke). Since Cooke was young he wanted to pursue a career in cooking, saying, “For a really long time when I was young, I really wanted to pursue a culinary school like a really famous one. Like in France’’ (Cooke).

“You get to make your final product, and it’s very enriching to me” – Josh Cooke

Now from a teacher’s perspective, Mrs. Parratto is the child development teacher here at RHS. Mrs. Paratto believes that students should pursue cooking but also that cooking is a very hard career to get into saying, “I don’t want to dissuade anybody from going into cooking because if it’s your passion, you should absolutely go for it. But it’s a hard life. Being in the culinary world is rough…” (Parratto). Mrs. Paratto expressed that her and her husband wanted to open a coffee shop but didn’t pursue it because she wanted security, she said, “I need retirement. I need insurance. I need a paycheck. Do you know most chefs don’t get a paycheck for the first four years until their business is up and running. I can’t live like that” (Parratto). Now Mrs. Paratto settled down and cooks for her family whether it be normal day-to-day dinners or the big holiday feasts. When Mrs. Paratto was teaching near Anaheim she did a high-end catering job with her students, where they served over 450 people. Mr. Paratto felt that “It was amazing. So that’s the cool thing about cooking and doing events like that is it’s a complete adrenaline rush. It is like there is a complete system to it. And when it pulls off, it’s amazing” (Parratto). Mrs. Parratto believes that most students nowadays aren’t interested in knowing how to cook, she said , “…I think in today’s world, most people aren’t interested in wanting to know how to cook…and so I would I would say people are probably more aware of cooking and interested in cooking and looking at it more as a profession and not just something they know how to do.” (Parratto).

Aidan Drury is a junior at RHS and plays for the JV football team, so most of his time and energy goes into football. Drury is not the best of cooks but not the worst, when asked what the worst thing he has ever cooked he said, “I stuck mac and cheese to the bottom of the pan once because I forgot to stir it so it was literally non-edible because you couldn’t eat it” (Drury). Though he ruined the mac and cheese Drury can make a delicious meatball sandwich and Drury said, “I got home from practice. I cook meatballs, put the sauce and simmer them for about 30 to 20 minutes and then serve them on French bread” (Drury). Since Drury is away from home due to football his cooking skills are lacking and his parents want him to learn and get better at cooking to be more independent, Drury expressed “Since then my mom has been trying to get me to cook more stuff because she says I need to be more independent. Except football practice takes up like all of my life at this point. So I don’t cook that much” (Drury).

Garrett Peard a freshman on the RHS cross country team who like Drury has most if not all their time taken up due to sports. Since Peard gets home late from practice or meets he has to be self-sufficient when it comes to cooking, Peard said, “I feel like I could but I might need to look up recipes on how to cook stuff. But I probably could operate a kitchen on my own” (Peard). Peard cooks to stay alive as he says, Peard takes care of most of his meals from breakfast and if he has to, dinner. Peard said, “I just cook to stay alive. Like making breakfast in the morning. lunches for school. And then if I get home too late, sometimes I’ll make dinner for the family” (Peard).

Nicholas Arguedas a sophomore at RHS has many troubles with cooking mostly because he has little to no experience in cooking but that doesn’t mean Arguedas doesn’t want to learn. When asked what his favorite food was to cook he said, “Favorite foods? Well, I would have to say eggs because that’s the only thing I know how to cook” (Arguedas). Even though Arguedas doesn’t know how to cook he wants to learn and be more proficient with cooking. When asked if he would ever try to make fresh pasta without hesitation said, “Oh yeah, I would try to make fresh pasta. I don’t know that seems kind of hard, but it’d be interesting to learn how to do it” (Arguedas). Arguedas wants to learn and get better at cooking no matter how his current cooking skills are.

We asked 100 students if they could cook, 70% students said yes they can cook and 30% students said no they can’t cook. Those who have trouble with cooking show an eagerness to learn and to be more independent. Those who know how to cook work on their craft and expand on their knowledge of cooking.