GCCTC's Annual Christmas Buffet

GCCTC’s 29 th Annual Christmas Buffet

By Danielle Nyland

The Greene County Career and Technology Center celebrated another holiday season with their 29th annual Christmas Buffet, held on December 7th this year. This year, the 37 culinary students spent the days and weeks leading up to the buffet decorating the cafeteria and buffet area, as well as preparing delicious food for those that attend.

The process started months ago with planning; decorating started about 2.5 weeks ago, and the majority of the food is prepared the day before, with the help of two visiting chefs. Oliver Beckert of Trump International Hotel DC and Jeff Cecil of Sullivan University travel to the school and help the students create the perfect Christmas feast. Chef Cecil has been assisting the GCCTC students for about 4 years. This year is Chef Beckert’s second year working with the students for the Christmas Buffet, but he’s been working with the GCCTC students at Trump International since the inauguration of President Trump.

”Dan reached out to me about some of the students coming down to the inauguration to assist in the kitchen. I told him I would love that,” says Beckert. “I was really excited to have them. The ten students that came down really helped a lot. They helped make the amenities for each room, for about 800 – 900 guests.”

Some of the amenities students created included a basket of fruit, a basket of local cheeses, a custom dessert burger modeled after the Big Mac, and a boar of Pennsylvania Avenue with the capital, the White House and other buildings built out of chocolate.

“When Dan invited me for the dinner last year, I made sure I made time to come. It was a lot of fun. The students even came back to Trump International to help with another event. It’s been a great experience for them. Some of them may even join us at the hotel in the future,” he adds.

Foods this year include several German and southern dishes. Beckert will work with the students to create salmon, sweet potato cakes, and potato and horseradish soup. Cecil will work with the students in the creation of the southern dishes, such as Kentucky hot brown and that southern classic, grits.

The annual Christmas Buffet sees about 400 – 500 guests during the two hours it runs, with guests ranging from local to Butler, Morgantown, and even Kentucky. The event takes lots of careful planning and a lot of support. “Mr. Krupa gives us great support for the event,” says teacher Dan Wagner. “He gives us anything that we need to make the event a success.”