Lessons in Sustainable Cooking

As a kid, Agustine Ramirez loved baking with his mom - a passion that stuck with him as he grew older. Over the years, his mom encouraged him to turn that passion into a career.

Now, as an aspiring pastry chef, he joined Impactful Bites, EntreNous Youth Empowerment Services' Hospitality and Culinary Arts project. The program works with high schools and community organizations to teach 16-to-29-year-olds the basics of the food service industry and provides them with skills and training for future jobs in the field.

"My mom pushed me to participate and has motivated me to do better ever since I joined," Ramirez said. "I've really enjoyed developing my cooking and hospitality skills."

Ramirez is one of eight students from the program who visited Southern California Edison's Foodservice Technology Center, which showcases the latest energy-efficient commercial food service equipment for restaurants.

Impactful Bites teaches young adults necessary on-the-job skills to work in the food service industry.

They learned about all-electric kitchens, the types of cookware available and the energy capacity needed to use the equipment. Then they put the appliances to a taste test - making pizzas with the electric ovens.

"It was a unique experience to use the electric pizza oven since there aren't many opportunities to try this technology," Ramirez said. "And the quality of the pizza was great. If anything, it's better and more efficient because you can adjust how the food is cooked, down to the degree."

SCE's Foodservice Technology Center hosted the students as part of its almost seven-year partnership with the California Restaurant Foundation youth program that provides young adults with job readiness training and culinary career opportunities. The Foodservice Technology Center helps educate future chefs on the impacts of transitioning to clean energy technologies, as electrifying buildings, including using electric cooking equipment instead of natural gas, is critical to meeting California's decarbonization goals.

"Hosting the culinary students and seeing both the food and enthusiasm they produce has been exciting," said Andre Saldivar, SCE's Foodservice Technology Center senior engineer. "We're hoping that both the experiences they have and skills they learn here can be carried into the real world and influence positive changes."

SCE partners with the California Restaurant Foundation youth program to provide students with culinary training in an all-electric kitchen.

Saldivar and his team host visitors often, and he especially loves seeing students light up when they get to experience electric equipment hands-on.

"Edison's involvement has been significant to the program," said Mario Morales, culinary instructor for the Impactful Bites program. "They get to ask questions about the equipment and how it all works. This helps expose our young adults to an industry that can give them a livable and sustainable quality of life and expand their interests."

Even if a career in cooking is not part of their future, the lessons learned will be.

"Ever since I joined the school, my entire mentality changed," says Uriel Garcia, another Impactful Bites student. "I don't want to be a chef, but the program also taught us patience and how to become more involved in the community."

Whether Ramirez and his classmates pursue careers as chefs or not, they leave with a better understanding of the industry and a glimpse into cleaner, more sustainable cooking.

Learn more about SCE's Foodservice Technology Center at sce.com/ftc.

For more information on SCE's clean energy efforts, visit sce.com/cleanenergy.