Chef Sultze works with Taher Food Service, a professional food service who Marshall contracts with for school meals, which sends groups of chefs on frequent trips across the world to study and experience local tastes and cultures, and then brings recipes back to make for various schools around the region.

“I love coming to Marshall. The kids are so great and the FACS (Family and Consumer Science) class is so involved. It’s always fun,” Sultze said. “They’re always so appreciative. They are very adventurous here, and will be willing to try anything.”

Chef Sultze will be making and serving the students a Taiwanese meal on Wednesday – Three-Cup Chicken with Taiwanese Garlic Rice, along with a cucumber salad. Her and the Marshall cafeteria staff will also be serving a made-to-order omelet bar for breakfast in the morning, where students can order what kind of omelet they would like.

“The three-cup chicken and garlic rice is just a very typical, like home style (meal) … Crispy garlic rice, Thai basil and chicken,” Sultze said of the lunch. “Super simple, but really good. I made a spicy cucumber salad to go with it, too, to get some veggies in there.”

Photo by Samantha Davis: Chef Jamie Sultze is visiting Marshall High School this week, where she is preparing and serving a Taiwanese meal for students.

Sultze went to China last April for the Chef Council trip, where she got to experience a handful of areas and different cuisines.

“The Chef Council (trip), it was two years before that, they took the trip to Taiwan. So, that’s where these recipes come from,” Sultze said. “Part of your duty when you go on the trip is, of course, eat all the food they have, but then translate it and bring it back to the kids, and give them the same experience. You may not be walking down the same streets, but how can we get that authenticity to them?”

While it’s a great way to broaden one’s cuisine knowledge and elevate their culinary career, Sultze enjoyed the opportunity to experience a few different areas in China that she can now share with students. She noted that on her council trip, which included a group of 21 chefs, specialists and food service directors, they visited Beijing, Chengdu and Guangdong.

“Beijing is very traditional. There’s a lot of history. We went to the Tiananmen Square … (The food) was all like a meat and vegetable kind of thing,” Sultze said. “You go to Chengdu, which is like the Sichuan Province, that’s the spicy stuff … It’s not necessarily that constant burn, but it’s that punch on your tongue and then it dissipates right away.”

“Guangdong is like the Cantonese region, where they’re very health focused, and they believe that food is fuel,” Sultze added. “That’s where my recipe came from, because I relate to a lot of the food as fuel (message), and what we put into our body matters.”

Photo by Samantha Davis: Chef Jamie Sultze prepares a Taiwanese lunch on Tuesday that she will be serving students at Marshall High School on Wednesday. Sultze is a regional chef for Taher Food Services, and went on a chef council trip to China last year where she got to experience new cuisines and cultures that she now gets to share with students.

Following Wednesday’s lunch, Sultze will also get an opportunity to work directly with students in FACS classes on Thursday.

“While we were in China, we went to a museum and we got certified master rookie chef for Kung Pao Chicken. I’m going to take it to the FACS classes to really make their own Kung Pao Chicken, a direct (dish) from China,” Sultze said. “At the museum, there were classes there, and it was the coolest thing. Even though there’s the language barrier, they were so excited.”

Following the chef council trips, Sultze said they travel regionally throughout the year to continue sharing different cultures and tastes with students.

“Once we come back, we write the recipe, we work with the dieticians, they make sure that everything’s good to go,” Sultze said. “It’s been really well received.”

Sultze also visited MHS last February, is her first year as a regional chef, where she served Korean tacos. She also said it won’t be long until she’s back in Marshall after this week, with another trip already planned for this April where she will bring in another new cuisine for students.