Lexington County School District Three's Food Services staff members participated in culinary training on November 3rd and 4th thanks to the South Carolina Farm to School Procurement Pilot Project. Lexington Three was selected as the sole district in the state of South Carolina to participate in the project back in November of 2020.
The project, which is the result of a US Department of Agriculture grant, spans two years and allows Lexington Three to expand the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables being utilized in our schools and creates a roadmap to help navigate the procurement process of local specialty crops, in addition to providing culinary training. Staff will also get to participate in a cookbook that will be published.
The culinary training was held at B-L High School and was led by Chef Bill Twaler, an instructor at Greenville Technical College's Truist Culinary and Hospitality Innovation Center. Chef Twaler, who is a Certified Executive Chef (CEC), holds a Master of Science in Education from the University of Kansas and a Bachelor of Science in Food Service Management and an Associate in Culinary Arts from Johnson and Wales University. Before joining Greenville Technical College, Chef Twaler was a Professor of Culinary Arts at the International Culinary Institute of Myrtle Beach, the Culinary Arts/ProStart teacher at Wando High School, and the executive chef and owner of Old Firehouse Restaurant in Hollywood, SC.
During the hands-on training, food services staff members worked on their knife skills, cooking techniques and prepared numerous dishes including a pico de gallo, seven layer salad, ratatouille and pasta dishes.