LJWorld.com

Anthony Cannon cooks for his family about three times a week. He especially likes anything Italian, with garlic and olive oil.

Cannon, a junior at Lawrence High School, realizes most of his peers don't know how to cook, or at the very least, they wouldn't take time to do it.

"When I was little, I helped my dad when he stayed home and made dinner," Cannon says. "I got interested in making food and watching people enjoy eating it. I realized I could make a career out of it."

He's been beefing up on knowledge about cooking in recent weeks - not only for his career, but also for a national culinary competition coming up this weekend.

Cannon and three other high-schoolers involved with the Eudora-De Soto Technical Education Program will travel to Charlotte, N.C., for the National ProStart Student Invitational hosted by the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. Twenty-three states will send competitors.

The team qualified for the event by winning the Kansas Restaurant and Hospitality Assn.'s contest last month.

The competitions involve two phases. First is a "Jeopardy!"-style quiz competition that covers a wide range of topics such as food safety, nutrition, customer relations and kitchen basics.

Photo by Richard Gwin

Samantha Creason, a junior at Mill Valley High School, studies as part of a vo-tech program in the culinary arts at taught by Jason Gray in Eudora. She and three other high-schoolers involved in the Eudora-De Soto Technical Education Program will travel to Charlotte, N.C., for the National ProStart Student Invitational hosted by the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation. Twenty-three states will send competitors.

The second phase is a team presentation on how to deal with specific problems that might arise in a restaurant or hotel. Examples are a cockroach infestation, power outage, employees stealing money and a woman changing a baby in the middle of a restaurant.

"There's no possible way to be prepared for every situation you're going to face," Jason Gray, the group's instructor, says of hospitality management. "The moment you think you've seen everything, something will happen that you've never heard of or dealt with before."

The winners and runners-up get thousands of dollars in scholarships to top culinary schools, among other prizes.

The vo-tech program is a joint venture of the Eudora and De Soto school districts. If all available slots aren't filled by students from those two districts, students from other area schools are invited to participate.

The students in the culinary arts division learn about food preparation and play host to dinners for the community about once a month.

The other team members are Paul Marks, a junior at De Soto High School; Samantha Creason, a junior at Mill Valley High School; and Nick Tillman, a sophomore at Eudora High School.

Photo by Richard Gwin

Jason Gary teaches in the Eudora-De Soto Technical Education Program. Students in the program will travel to Charlotte, N.C., for the National ProStart Student Invitational hosted by the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation

Creason says she became interested in hospitality management through a family friend, who owns a bed and breakfast. Creason now works at a hotel in Overland Park.

"I just thought it would be fun to get involved in something like that," she says. "It really fascinates me."

Gray says the students are entering the hospitality management industry at a good time. He noted recent news reports that restaurants in the Legends shopping area near the Kansas Speedway are suffering from a lack of workers.

"There's a huge demand for this," he says.

Of course, a first-place victory this weekend and ticket to a culinary school would sweeten the deal even more.

"We are bringing home a trophy," Creason says.

Here are sample questions for the quiz portion of the National ProStart Student Invitational of the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation:

1. What is the process of heating milk to a certain temperature so that harmful bacteria are destroyed?

2. Mandarin, Szechwan-Hunan and Canton are all types of what cuisine?

3. What spice is made of turmeric, coriander, cumin, red and black pepper, cinnamon, ginger, star anise, cloves and nutmeg?

4. What is the harmful greenish color on a potato that is exposed to light?

5. What is the name of the technique in which grains are sauteed briefly in oil or butter, then simmered in stock or water with various other seasonings?

6. What is equal parts of cooked flour and fat used to thicken liquids?

7. How long should one spend washing his or her hands?

8. What is the maximum allowable storage time for eggs that are kept in their shell under the proper storage temperature?

9. What percent of dissatisfied customers let management know that they are unhappy?

10. What temperature must water be when washing dishes using a dish-washing machine?

11. How many ounces are in a half-pint?

12. What is the outer layer off a grain and the part highest in fiber?

13. What is a cold, Spanish, tomato-based soup?

14. What is the process of covering meat or poultry with a layer of fat to keep it from drying out during cooking?

15. What is the process of browning fruit or vegetables with a small amount of sugar in the presence of heat?

16. What temperature should hot food be held at?

17. What is the name for a Middle Eastern dip made of chick peas?

18. What type of short-grained rice is used in the Risotto method?

19. What is a vegetable sauce made from a puree of vegetables or fruit that can be served hot or cold?

20. What is the term used to describe opening a mollusk?

21. What is the name for a relish made of fruits, spices and herbs?

22. What temperature should cold food be held at?

23. Items such as conch soup, jerk rubs, shrimp and papaya salad and mango pork are examples of what type of cuisine?

24. What is the name of the American-Jewish potatoes, traditionally served with apple sauce and sour cream?

25. What is the longest part of a grain called?

26. What style of service features servers serving guests from a tableside cart, called a gueridon?

27. What is the word for coating food with a dry ingredient such as flour or bread crumbs?

28. What is a sauce made from unthickened juices of cooked meat?

29. What is a very fine meshed china cap, used to strain very small solid ingredients?

30. At what temperature does water boil?

1. Pasteurization; 2. Chinese; 3. Curry; 4. Solanine; 5. Pilaf; 6. Roux; 7. 20 seconds; 8. One week; 9. 4 percent; 10. 180 degrees; 11. 8 ounces; 12. Bran; 13. Gaspacho; 14. Barding; 15. Carmelizing; 16. 135 degrees; 17. Hummus; 18. Arborio; 19. Coulis; 20. Shucking; 21. Chutney; 22. 41 degrees; 23. Caribbean; 24. Latkes; 25. Endosperm; 26. French; 27. Dredging; 28. Jus; 29. Chinois; 30. 212 degrees.