Grant

COVENTRY — With a brand new food truck at their disposal, local culinary arts students are looking forward to taking their cooking skills on the road.

“I feel really lucky to be able to experience this,” Janelle Jarvis said Wednesday morning, standing at the back of the food truck, the words “student crafted flavors on the move” written above her.

Joined by several of her peers in the Regional Career and Technical Center at Coventry High School’s Culinary Arts program, Jarvis had just taken a tour of Oaker Eats, the school’s grant-funded food truck. She’d had a look at its prep space and cooktops; she’d peaked out through its order window.

“I’ve never been in a food truck before,” she continued, “so the fact that I go to a school that allows something like this to happen makes me really grateful to be here.”

Coventry Public Schools was among 13 school districts chosen last year to receive a custom-built food truck valued at $125,000 through the Rhode Island Department of Education’s Menu for Success Student Food Truck Initiative.

When he and Education Commissioner Angélica Infante-Green announced the initiative last December, Gov. Dan McKee touted it as an opportunity to uplift Rhode Island’s food service industry while providing students with unique learning opportunities.

“We look forward to the creativity and excitement this initiative brings to our school communities across Rhode Island,” McKee said.

After nearly a year of excited anticipation, Coventry High School’s food truck finally arrived on campus Wednesday.

Built in around 400 hours by Restaurant Equipment Paradise, the truck is equipped with a six-burner range, a char-broiler, a flat-top griddle, a steam table, refrigeration units, air conditioning, a hand sink, and a sink for dishes, among other features.

The truck’s exterior was designed by students in the career and tech center’s Advertising, Marketing, and Design program based on a sketch by Chef Natalie Kehlbeck, a culinary arts instructor at the high school.

The truck is wrapped in shades of gray, red and black, each side boasting an elephant flanked by a chef’s knife and a whisk; large block letters spell out “Oaker Eats.”

With little food truck experience herself, Kehlbeck said she’s eager to learn something new alongside her students.

“It’s something for us to learn too,” she said. “We’re excited to learn with the kids and give them an opportunity to get interested in another aspect of the industry.”

Students accustomed to the high school’s spacious kitchen will need to get used to working in a tight space, Kehlbeck said, and will have to learn to adapt to the elements. Students will also need to develop procedures to ensure they have everything needed for each event, she said.

Oaker Eats will have no set menu, said Chef Tony Marsella, who also teaches culinary arts at the high school.

“Maybe we’re doing an event at the school and we’re doing burgers, or maybe someone’s having an event and they want pizzas,” he said. “With the equipment we have on there, we can do anything from breakfast to cooking steaks.”

Marsella added that he looks forward to hearing what students have in mind for the truck, and then working with them to figure out how to make those ideas reality.

“This is really for the students to do what they want, to show their creativity,” he said. “That’s what’s important, I think.”

It’s for that reason, he added, that Oaker Eats, unlike many other food trucks, won’t focus solely on one or a few signature dishes.

“We want to be able to adapt to what our clientele wants,” Kehlbeck chimed in. “That way we can be versatile for the kids’ experience too.”

While she’s still considering her options, Jarvis said she’s thinking about pursuing culinary arts after she graduates next spring. And in the meantime, she’s excited to learn more about the field by spending time aboard Oaker Eats.

“I think this will show me another side of the food industry,” she said. “We won’t just be in a kitchen; we can serve food on the road.”

For Allyson Diorio, also a senior in the Culinary Arts program, getting the chance to serve meals from a food truck is an exciting prospect.

“I know a lot of schools don’t get this sort of opportunity when it comes to programs like this,” she said. “It’s cool that we’re lucky enough to have an opportunity like this.”

Diorio added that she’d love to see Oaker Eats join other mobile eateries at food truck events.

How exactly the food truck will fit into the curriculum of the Culinary Arts program, which currently comprises around 70 students in grades nine through 12, is still being determined. But the possibilities are numerous, Lori Ferguson, director of the Regional Career and Technical Center, pointed out.

“We certainly could use it for so many different things,” Ferguson said, noting that the truck could potentially be posted at sports games or at community events.

There are still a few tasks to be completed before the truck can hit the road, however. Various inspections, including by the fire marshal and the health department, are still needed, for example.

Marsella said his hope is to get all of those approvals this fall.

There’s at least one event that Coventry’s food truck will surely be attending.

Oaker Eats will be featured at an event in May organized by the state Department of Education to showcase all 13 grant-funded food trucks. Marsella said the plan for that event is to serve a pasta dish prepared fresh using the school’s new pasta maker.

“This is all new for all of us,” said Chef Nicole Burlingame, who graduated from the high school’s culinary program in 2004 and now runs its cafe. “I think it’s going to be exciting to learn and to bring the kids along on the journey.”

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