Global Cuisine, a class for all grade levels, offers culinary advancement and an increased knowledge of foreign cultures through food to students at Revere High School.

Teacher Jessica Mackey instructs the class and finds unique ways to guide students through learning different global cuisines. Mackey creates her own lesson plans and curriculum for the class.

“Students enjoy working in the kitchen and making food, [and] that’s why they take this class. The curriculum is based on the Ohio State Family and Consumer Science Content Standards. I use the standards to develop my courses,” Mackey said.

The state created these standards to provide life skills to family consumer science students.

Global Cuisine allows students to discover unique flavors and tastes from around the world and explore traditional flavors of countries like Italy, Germany and Mexico. Students identify and learn new cooking methods, special kitchen tools and techniques from different parts of the world.

Senior Kelly Scheetz is a current student in the Global Cuisine class where she hopes to further expand her culinary skills.

“I hope that I can remember some of their recipes, so I can make it in the future, and I hope to learn about other cultures,” Scheetz said.

As the class approaches a new country, Mackey walks the class through the heritage and nuances of their culture before moving onto the food.

“I first introduce the customs, the foods and if possible, the terms or some of the language,” Mackey said.

Senior Brendon Patena, another Global Cuisine student, takes pride in the knowledge he has gained from the time he has put into the class and enjoys the cultural studies aspects of the class. The class uses a hands-on approach and it is something that the students have learned to appreciate.

“We look at the country as a whole first, we study a demographic . . . almost like a history class . . . . I hope that I can take their cooking styles and maybe have them influence my cooking . . . . I really enjoy cooking all of the food especially when [my] school day is going very slowly.” Patena said.

The class recently studied Middle Eastern food; they learned the culture and made rice pudding with a traditional Egyptian recipe. The mother of seniors Valerie and Ramage Anton presented the recipe and introduced new cultural ideals.

Global Cuisine aims to provide skills to the students that will transcend their high school years, and apply to life later on.