Chef Barry Dowe is a retired culinary teacher who earned a degree in culinary arts at the College of Lake County and was recruited to take over Jill Tomasello’s culinary class while she’s on maternity leave.

Chef Dowe got a teaching credential when he was in college, which is when he started substitute teaching at the Lake County Tech Campus. When the tech campus hired Chef Dowe full-time, that was when he decided to go to school and get his culinary degree. He taught at CLC as a culinary arts instructor for several semesters in the last 11 years. Chef Dowe taught culinary arts for 11 years before he retired. He was then brought out of retirement and recruited by the head of Grayslake North’s CTE department.

Chef Dowe wants people who are interested in going to the CLC culinary art classes to know that they are very good and educational. He also added that now is be a great time to enroll because the class sizes are small.

“That is a very good program. It really really is. It has some wonderful instructors over there,” Dowe said.

Chef Dowe plans on having Mrs. Tomasello’s culinary class cooking every day. He enjoys the 90 minute blocks because it gives the class enough time to be able to prepare their dishes and cook. Chef Dowe also credits Mrs. Tomasello on how the students have well-controlled sanitation and safety measurements while in the class. Chef Dowe plans on making the class more fun by having the students make more delicious complex dishes.

“The most fun you can have in the culinary arts class is to cook things that are not only delicious but that are a little challenging,” Dowe said.

Students were surprised and happy when they found out they were getting a professional chef who was going to be their teacher. Students in the culinary class credit Chef Dowe for how resourceful and helpful he is. Students were glad when they got Chef Dowe as a teacher because they got to do more complex meals to further their cooking skills.

“When Chef Barry came in we started doing a lot more meals. We did more pasta dishes and different soups,” culinary student Deja Robinson said.

Chef Dowe will be teaching Mrs. Tomasello’s culinary classes for the rest of the semester and a few days into the second semester as he can only work a certain number of days during the school year due to him being retired. He hopes to be able to come back next school year as he likes the school and the students.

“I certainly hope to be back again next year. This is a wonderful school, and I’m really impressed with the quality of the students that I have with their commitment and their focus. It’s a joy. It really is,” Dowe said.

Chef Dowe encourages people to do culinary arts because it is a great profession that gets people to learn many new things they maybe didn’t know and further their cooking skills. All of this while making delicious dishes for people to enjoy.

“It’s a wonderful profession. It’s a wonderful skill to learn. Feeding yourself and feeding others is a joy,” Dowe said.

Chef Dowe’s original chosen passion was photography, which he started in his freshman year of high school and continued into his adult years. The effects of 9/11 and new technology is what stopped him, reverting back to his culinary passion. He had been cooking since he was 14-15 years old and got his first taste of the culinary lifestyle by starting out at his first job at 15. As he worked, he moved up and got to experience what it would be like to actually work in a restaurant with other cooks.

“I was the little man on the totem pole, but I was 15 years old and I was just thrilled to be cooking,” Dowe said