GARDEN TO TABLE

Vegetables and herbs harvested from the garden make their way to the testing kitchen, where El Centro Food and Hospitality Institute Curriculum Director and Chef ALISON MATIS (above) turns them into treats for guests to enjoy.

Visitors can attend the demonstrations with the price of admission. They fill the Test Pavilion on Monday mornings to take in Matis’ cooking demonstration, jokes and soapbox speeches about making your own salad dressing. They learn how to cook with ingredients from the garden, cooked with tools found in most kitchens.

Braised radishes and edamame salad were the stars one spring Monday. While most cooking classes involve ingredients, gadgets and know-how that the average chef doesn’t have, Matis works to make sure her recipes are practical and fresh.

“I think about what I am doing and what people have at home,” she says. “That is what will make it successful.”

Matis works for the culinary arts program at El Centro College downtown and provides an entertaining demonstration. “The crowd usually laughs at all my dad jokes,” she says.

The menu rotates monthly with changes in the garden, and Matis uses the list of what is being grown to plan her demonstrations. In a city with more restaurants than any in the nation, Matis knows the importance of cooking fresh and healthy food at home. “Seeing vegetables used in a different way is crucial to our society.”

Our Neighborhood

By PATTI VINSON