The savory smell of vegetables, chicken and spices wafted through Building 508 early Wednesday evening, as sunlight peeked through the front door.
About 25 UF students gathered in the small space off Museum Road to learn about mastering basic cooking techniques from a retired chef. Hosted by Field & Fork, UF’s campus food program, this class was the second in a series called “Cook Like a Chef.”
Chef Fred Cremo, 64, trained at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, and worked in multiple restaurants. Four years ago, Cremo — or “Chef Fred,” as his students call him — began looking to give back. Now, students can attend four classes per semester with him for free.
He said he’s hoping these classes will make students feel more confident cooking. Most of the classes are hands-on, such as the knife skills class.
“I wanted to connect the dots between the pantry where this food was available to students,” Cremo said, “and this farm, where they’re growing beautiful produce.”
During the class, he gave practical tips for simmering, sautéing and other important cooking elements. He cooked mushrooms two different ways Wednesday, one right and one wrong, and asked students to identify what mistakes he made.
Students learned how to cook and season mushrooms, brussel sprouts, zucchini, onions and tomatoes properly, as well as how to deglaze chicken and heat oil properly.
The vegetables came from Field & Fork’s farm. The farm also feeds into the Hitchcock Field & Fork Pantry, which offers free, sustainable, organic vegetables to UF students and employees.
Emilia Arnold, a 22-year-old intern at the farm and UF sustainability studies senior, started volunteering after attending one of the cooking classes. Growing up around Gainesville, Arnold wanted to use her interest in the environment to help others.
Now, she works as an intern, harvesting produce and working with plants in the greenhouse. She said the cooking classes help young people develop life skills to use for the rest of their lives.
“Learning where your food comes from makes you appreciate it more and the work that goes into it,” Arnold said.
At the end of each demonstration, each attendee received a taste of the dish. The serving platters were put into a composting bucket to be put back into the environment.
Hallie Sykes, a 20-year-old UF architecture junior, was drawn to the class after being invited by a friend and visiting the pantry. In high school, she went through a four-year culinary program, after being put into the introduction class by accident.
She said she didn’t know how to cook pasta before that, but now she cooks constantly and seeks to learn all that she can.
Despite having culinary training, she said she appreciated the chef defining the exact temperatures of each technique, which had never been differentiated to her before.
“We live so much of our lives eating every day,” Sykes said. “I think it’s important to learn how to actually cook, also safely.”
Elizaveth Gonzalez, a 20-year-old UF computer science junior, has taken several classes from Cremo. She said she wanted to expand her palette and know the steps to making a great dish without an exact recipe.
She has cooking nights with her roommates to try new foods and share each other’s different cultures.
“College is so stressful,” Gonzalez said. “Making sure you get a good meal at the end of the day is always really important.”
Gonzalez said she enjoyed seeing how Cremo used vegetables together that she would’ve never thought of and seasoning the chicken.
“It showed me … you can literally just make anything taste good,” she said.
Her go-to dish to cook is a Cuban chicken stew called Fricase de Pollo, which her parents always made.
The next class on March 25 will be touching on building a seasonal pantry, and the last one on April 1 will be a composed salad competition. Students can watch out for signups on the Field & Fork Instagram.
Contact Summer Johnston at sjohnston@alligator.org. Follow her on X @summerajohnston.
