Culinary Education Foundation scholars beat the odds

MANILA, Philippines - The first batch of graduates from the Culinary Education Foundation Inc.’s (CEF) Cooking For Life Program (CLP) recently completed the TESDA-accredited course in Commercial Cooking based on the NC2 competency level.

AnnieP. Guerrero, founder  of CEF, made sure that the course syllabus of CLP  included Green Chefmanship, Values Formation, and Cooking for Livelihood. Chef-instructors from the Center for Culinary Arts (CCA, Manila) volunteered to develop the students to be competitive workers in the hospitality industry.

Faith is said to be a foundation of hope and creation. And when it is properly used, it has profound and far-reaching effects. This kind of faith holds true for Maria Cari de Jesus as it is faith and positivity that fed her belief — the zeal to achieve her culinary dream even at a young age. A determined person, one wouldn’t suspect the challenges she has to overcome: Cari is suffering from multiple health problems. Nonetheless, it didn’t dampen her spirit as she rose up to become one of CEF’s hardworking graduating scholars. Just recently, Cari, along with fellow scholar Maricar del Mundo, had their first two-day cooking demo for the exchange students (from India, Canada and Germany) of AEISEC-Ateneo.

 â€œI always believe that destiny is not a matter of chance, but a matter of choice. Even when I became a single parent and left to raise two children on my own, I never allowed myself to dwell on negative thoughts. For me, life has to go on, and it always presents something to look forward to, if you look and work hard for it,” said Cari.

“CEF made me a stronger. Back then, I was feeling hopeless. But now, I developed a positive outlook in life, thanks to my friends here in CEF,” shared Maricar.

As for Ginky Fontanilla and Ana Joy Marquez, both regard the scholarship as a stepping stone to their culinary dreams. “I learned great recipes. Now, I’m confident and even aspire to become a professional cook someday besides being a full-time mother,” said Ana.

“I never thought I would have another chance to study professional cooking, being a solo parent and breadwinner. But the scholarship came and I am so thankful and proud to be chosen as one of the first batch of students,” said Ginky, who has eventually landed a job at Heavenly Urban Chef commissary.

CEF’s mission also reached out far-flung regions, providing the same access to free quality culinary education to Karen Bantiyan, a 32-year-old single parent and hands-on mother of a 12-year-old boy from Lamut, Ifugao. Her passion in cooking was influenced by her father who never gets tired of teaching his children and who loves to cook and prepare simple authentic native dishes of Ifugao.

 â€œI feel so blessed, I’m forever thankful for this opportunity. Through this I met and gained very good friends. I can’t wait to share the knowledge that I learned to help my kababayan in Ifugao,” shared Karen. 

 The Culinary Education Foundation is the CSR arm of The Cravings Group.

For information, call 925-3969 or visit www.cefmanila.com.