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Coren Lands is not your typical school cafeteria manager. He is a real chef.
Lands studied at the Art Institute of Atlanta for Culinary and the Ashford School of Gourmet Cooking. He spent more than 20 years working as a chef in the Atlanta area at an assisted living facility, country club, and hotel before moving back home to Baton Rouge.
Now as executive chef at Helix Community Schools, he’s creating more kid-friendly dishes.
“What I like most about what I do is the ability to give our kids an experience they won’t get from other cafeterias,” said Lands who is affectionately called ‘Chef.’ “I like to give them a variety of different foods to taste so they won’t be afraid of food and encourage them to experiment with food. I also do most of my cooking from scratch and we offer a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables and salads.”
Chef has been with Helix since 2014. He manages a staff of 12 employees who provide breakfast and lunch for students at Helix Aviation Academy's Plank and airport campuses, Helix Mentorship Academy and Helix Legal Academy. He also teaches culinary arts at Aviation as part of the school’s enrichment program.
A typical day for him starts at 3 a.m. prepping breakfast and lunch for the day. He cooks the food for students at Aviation, orders all the food for all four campuses and manages the overall food budget.
“My role is maintaining a great dining experience for our students and broadening their perception and tastes,” Chef said. “My philosophy is ‘no student left hungry.’”
His menus are based on his experience as a father of three children and feedback from students.
“Kids will tell you if your food isn’t good,” he laughs.
He likes to introduce them to Asian, Oriental, and Italian cuisine, but also makes sure he has their typical favorites on hand --- pizza, nachos, and chicken wings. The students also love the salads and his homemade ranch dressing.
He usually cooks beans on Monday, tacos on Tuesday and a hearty meal on Wednesdays like lasagna. He also makes sure he adds the Louisiana favorites as well such as red beans and rice, gumbo and crawfish etouffee.
Being in the kitchen is a labor of love that runs in his family. His father is a chef and he grew up helping his mother and his aunt prepare food for church dinners.
Now the tradition continues in a different sort of way.
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