Culinary class chips, chisels, keeps their cool

Danny Villalobos
Staff Writer

This class comes with a warning: “You will be cold and wet.” No, it’s not a medieval Russian torture technique—it’s Ice Carving 233.

The class is in its first year and is already through its halfway mark of the 10-week semester, according to course instructor Chef Gary Marquardt.

“We’re doing this course just to try it out,” said Marquardt.

“It’s a good work in progress and it’s cool in many aspects,” said Gage Korte, 20, a culinary arts student, and one of 12 others registered in this semester’s ice carving course. “There’s many ways that I can apply this for my work, like, chocolate.”

The class meets once a week each Monday for six hours, from 3-9 p.m. The semester ends April 1.

Students recently competed in a local competition. Despite joining after completing just two classes to gain experience, two pairs of students were placed in third and fourth place.

“They actually beat an ice carving club from U of M, but were ultimately defeated by guys who had two years of experience,” said Marquardt.

“It was a really cool experience, I really want to go and do more in the future,” said Anfernie Milton, a 20-year-old culinary arts student in the class. Milton had won third place in the competition along with his partner, Anastatia Baumgardner, a 22-year-old culinary arts student.

“It was cold, but there wasn’t a lot of stress and it was another opportunity to cut ice,” said Jillian Henning, 29, a nursing student. She won the fourth place spot with her partner, Kate Weise, 44.

So far, this is the only competition in which the class has participated, but Marquardt said he would like to see future classes participate in more competitions.

“Next year I’m looking at the competition that they have in Plymouth and hopefully try to look at the huge one in Frankenmuth,” said Marquardt.

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