The People Who Take Care of Your Kids

A significant part of the Language Villages’ immersion experience is the food. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner are served as they would be in the various countries we emulate. At Lac du Bois villagers wake up to chocolat chaud and baguette, at Waldsee spoons dip into muesli, and at Mori no Ike seafood bedecks the plates early with a baked salmon and miso soup combination.

If you join us in a Village dining hall at meal time, after the approximately 135 stomachs are sated and the villagers stack the plates and separate the silverware, you will likely hear the entire ensemble break in to song thanking the kitchen for their favorite meal – be it Pannekaker(Norwegian pancakes and sauces), Wiener Schnitzel (German breaded pork cutlet), Milenasa (Argentinean chicken fried steak), or排(pái)骨(gǔ) (Chinese spare ribs).

The person responsible for the fine and healthy fare at each Village, 16 kitchens in all, is the head cook. This year’s crew, from our backyard of Bemidji to the far reaches of Moorhead, Minooka, Decorah or even Iowa City, our head cooks take on the challenge, stress, and delight of the culinary arts with care, flare, and enthusiasm.

Kuai Le finds freedom in the kitchen. A year-round Language Village head cook, he spends his summers at Sēn Lín Hú. He keeps one hand busy in the creation of new dishes and the other in meal presentation. He thrives on the atmosphere in the kitchen, accentuated by the people, the rhythm of the work day, and the inescapably intense periods of stress.

Daniel works year-round in the Language Villages food service team. This summer will be his first as head cook at El Lago del Bosque-Callaway. He is well-rounded, having been a lead cook during the year and worked various summers as a baker, assistant cook, and kitchen helper. The sense of accomplishment of having evoked contentment within the Village community through food plays a key role in Daniel’s job satisfaction.
 
Udo manages meals at Waldsee. He has worked on staff for seven years and has contributed to life at the Village in many ways – as a counselor, store manager, lifeguard, assistant cook and kitchen helper. In his second year as head cook, he looks beyond the sated villagers and the achievement of having served 12,600 individual meals at the end of the five weeks. He sees his assistant cook slicing onions and julienne peppers with confidence and gusto and the kitchen helper taking pride in a sparkling kitchen. Training staff is a large part of the head cook’s job.

Mathias takes the helm of the kitchen this year at Skogfjorden.  A communications major at Luther College when not cooking, the kitchen provides a tactile experience, something he misses during the school year. Through the preparation and serving of meals, Mathias finds a personal connection to villagers. What he produces gets the kids through each day. He can immerse himself in the language and culture while actively contributing to the collective energy present at the Language Villages.

These four and the other 16 head cooks could not manage these fantastic feats on their own. About 170 people staff the kitchens every summer, and each head cook leads a team of five to eleven. Some come from the program, having been counselors or former villagers, others come from the surrounding communities. It is a learning and growing experience to be a part of these slicing, dicing, tilt skillet- and Hobart-operating teams. Steeped in language and culture, kitchen staff members absorb lessons in diet and nutrition, sanitation, and meal presentation through hands-on and intense labor.

Open the kitchen door an hour before dinner. You’ll find heads hatted, aprons aflutter, sauces bubbling, salads surfacing. Throw out an Hola, Grüss dich, Bonjour, Ni hao – you’ll find more than one smile amidst those that keep your children running, playing, learning, living.

Food Service Department, 8659 Thorsonveien NE, Bemidji, MN 56601
(800) 450-2214