Chef Alonso Makes a Healthy Family Feast

The Colton Public Library hosted their second Healthy Fall Cooking Workshop on Nov 12. The cooking workshop at the Colton library is a series of three healthy cooking demonstrations by Chef Alonso Alonso. At the second cooking workshop, the theme was Fall Feast, meaning large healthy dishes for family get-togethers like Thanksgiving or Christmas. During the beginning of the workshop, Chef Alonso announced the types of dishes he was going to make and emphasized on the healthy ingredients in making each dish. His first dish was Bolognese pasta with whole wheat penne pasta for a healthier twist. He also made a spicy pasta dish with sausage. The sides were salad and garlic bread. Chef Alonso explained he was using Smart Balance instead of butter to make the dishes a bit healthier and also using extra virgin olive oil instead of regular vegetable oil. During the demonstration he asked for a pair of volunteers to be his sous chef, so Hector Marquez and Angel Becerril volunteered to help out. During the cooking demonstration, Chef Alonso was explaining how the Smart Balance butter differed from regular butter. “The Smart Balance butter pops more than regular butter,” he said. Audience members were asking him questions while the demonstration was going on, to ensure they had everything written down to make their own healthy dishes at home. After the demonstration, students tasted the dishes Chef Alonso made that night. After receiving their food, sisters Stella Gonzales and Virginia Martinez said, “This is really delicious. Last time we were here he made soup, and that was really good too.” Gonzales mentioned, “I like how he incorporates the kids (to help and volunteer), and they really enjoy helping him.” Chef Alonso explained how his culinary career started out at a very young age. He explained, “I was always learning how to cook, from the age of 7. It was in high school, when I had to take home economics as a requirement, where it really hit me. After that class, I kept taking home economics every year, out of choice!” Chef Alonso is a graduate from the Art Institute in San Bernardino where he went to culinary school.