After over two years of conversations, South Arkansas Community College is scheduled to start a culinary program in fall 2019.
The program, which was originally planned to start last fall, will be open to between 10 and 15 students. However, director of marketing and public relations Heath Waldrop said if more students are interested, the school would find a way to accommodate them.
Waldrop and Lillian Ellen, the program’s director, have met with multiple students interested in the joining the program.
“There is not another one around close,” Waldrop said. “We’ve seen just over the last 36 to 48 hours, a lot of people express interest. Obviously, there was an interest in it and a need for it. With the influx of tourism that we’re getting, and we anticipate will continue and elevate, we’re already seeing more restaurants open. In addition to that, the cafeterias at the local schools need people who can cook. There are job opportunities and we anticipate additional ones. Somebody has to meet that need.”
Ellen grew up in El Dorado, having graduated from El Dorado High School in 2003, before going to the Culinary Institute of America in San Antonio. While in San Antonio, Ellen worked at a hotel where she learned about room service and a seafood restaurant where she learned about working with the catch of the day.
She said she’d been thinking about coming back to El Dorado, with friends in the area encouraging her to open a restaurant here, but was excited at the idea of coming to teach culinary arts at SouthArk.
“If I do open a restaurant, which might still be the ultimate goal, I’m going to need workers,” she said.
Ellen, who is in the process of setting up the curriculum for the program, said classes are currently scheduled for Mondays and Wednesdays in fall from noon to 8 p.m. She said the curriculum will include food from a variety of different countries as well as some basics about baking and pastries.
“We’re kind of in a little bubble here in southern Arkansas and it shows in the cuisine we have in El Dorado,” she said. “You can get fried chicken anywhere, you can get a burger anywhere. But if you want something special, you have to diversify it. It’s really not that healthy to eat a diet that’s lacking variety and diversity and nutrition. We’re going to have this influx of tourism as well and if people are staying here for a week, they’re going to be so sad because they’re only going to get one or two styles of food.”
Ellen said she’s making diet and nutrition part of the curriculum. She has a certificate in nutrition from the city college in San Francisco. She said while health food such as vegetables are good for somebody to eat, they can also help make the plate brighter and more vibrant.
“I went to where the health nuts live and got the health nut certification,” she said. “I’m in love with food and I want it to make people feel alive, not kill them. You’re making art and it should make somebody happy and not make them feel sick.”
In working to build the curriculum, the college has been working with about half a dozen representatives from local restaurants on what their needs are. Waldrop said part of the ultimate goal for the program is to get students internships and jobs locally. He said part of the overall goal as a community college is to help fill skilled work positions in the local area and adding culinary to the curriculum fit with that purpose.
Another option for the students, Waldrop said, is that the McWilliams House, which is next to the SouthArk Library, is in the process of being turned into a bed and breakfast style inn, which will need kitchen workers.
“I think it’s really important for the community so that they can kind of see how they’re developing and how they're progressing,” Ellen said. “That way they’ll be looking for these students once they get out of the class. That’s the whole idea, so we won’t have to outsource for cooks.”
As part of opening the program, the college is getting ready to renovate space on the east campus to serve as a kitchen for the students. Waldrup said it will also be used by the farmer’s market and can be rented out to members of the public who need access to a commercial kitchen.
The current plan for the space, which is what used to be the cosmetology lab, is to include two ovens, a third double decker oven, one flat top and counter space. Ellen said one of the things that she feels is important to include in the space is a proofer, which will help bread and pastries rise much faster than average. She said it’s similar to a refrigerator, but uses steam to help bread rise in a matter of minutes rather than several hours.
“I think that just having the basic equipment and a proofer,” Ellen said. “If we’re going to make meals and if people are going to make things in there for the farmer's market, I want them to have everything they need. I also want to have some (rules) in place to make sure they don’t leave a mess. I don’t want my students to leave a mess and I don’t want the farmer's market guys to leave to a mess.”
The space will also need to be up to code for the health inspector and other basic requirements of a commercial kitchen.
SouthArk received a grant from Delta Regional Authority to fund the renovations to the space. The grants are designed to help improve the quality of life for residents in the southeastern United States. This particular grant falls under Delta Regional’s program to provide assistance for workforce development.
As part of the curriculum, Ellen will be pulling from her time working in a seafood restaurant to teach students about preparing seafood.
“My specialty was kind of seafood,” she said. “My externship site was a place called Sandbar Fish House and it kind of specialized in things that were kind of randomly pulled out of the Gulf of Mexico and brought to us. It wasn’t really like any particular style of seafood. It was really just anything we could get our hands on and that was really special to me.”
Another thing Ellen has been working on is designing supplies for students. She’s put together a knife roll students will be able to get from the bookstore.
“It’s super swanky,” she said. “It’s not just me because cooks are freaks about knives. We covet our knives, they’re like our children. Being able to have knives as part of your curriculum – and I threw in some really fancy stuff with heatproof spatulas and a whisk – to me that alone would be worth signing up.”
Michael Shine may be reached at 870-862-6611 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow him on Twitter and like him on Facebook @MichaelAZShine for updates on Union County school news.
