From Farm to Plate

This reading sits behind one of the Chain panels: a process traced trade by trade from its first step to its last. The chain is the museum's argument that nothing in a city is made by one person.

The panel text

1. Soil. The horticulturist tests it, amends it, irrigates it. 2. Seed. Germination trays, greenhouse, transplant. 3. Harvest. Hand labor, cold chain, the refrigeration technician's compressor humming in the back. 4. Water. The aquaculture tank: fish and shellfish grown under a water-quality log. 5. Transport. A CDL driver, a refrigerated trailer, a log book. 6. Receiving. The kitchen's back door: temperatures checked, dates written, first in first out. 7. Prep. The line cook's mise en place; the baker's dough started the night before. 8. Service. Ticket, fire, plate, hands. The bartender pairs the wine. 9. The table. The restaurant manager's cost sheet says what it all cost and what it earned. 10. After. Dishwashers, the dry cleaner's linen run, the composter back to the soil.

A meal is ten trades deep. The kitchen on the wall behind you is where the school teaches seven of them.

Reading further

The panel's series (The Chain) hangs together in Gallery G1, the Chain of Trades. Each panel in the series is printed at 48 inches on aluminum composite, lent to schools and libraries, and archived here with its reading.

The program behind the panel: Culinary Arts

9.0–12.0 months full-time. Curriculum: Knife skills; stocks/sauces; garde manger; meats; international cuisine; plating; kitchen ops.

Courses

• 1. Universal Core: Safety, Math, Communication & Career — 148 hr (core), $1,185
• 2. Knife skills — 146 hr (trade), $1,925
• 3. Stocks/sauces — 146 hr (trade), $1,925
• 4. Garde manger — 146 hr (trade), $1,925
• 5. Meats — 146 hr (trade), $1,925
• 6. International cuisine — 146 hr (trade), $1,925
• 7. Plating — 146 hr (trade), $1,925
• 8. Kitchen ops — 146 hr (trade), $1,925
• 9. Capstone Project — 216 hr (capstone), $2,160
• 10. Externship / Worksite Placement — 324 hr (externship), $1,295
• 11. Certification Exam Preparation — 90 hr (exam_prep), $900

Credentials: ACF Certified Culinarian; ServSafe Food Handler.

Every course above carries a written exam, an observed skills demonstration, a signed log and a safety audit; the program ends with the capstone, the externship and the credential exam.