10 Questions with Cameron Keuning

10 Qs with Cameron Keuning

Latin teacher

Reporting & photo by Sandra Cheng Right photo courtesy of Cameron Keuning

1

What do you like to do outside of school?

I coach baseball. I really love baseball and watching sports in general. I’m actually a really avid bowler as well. I bowled a lot when I was in high school and I like to go now and then just to keep it up.

2What is your favorite holiday activity? Eating, not baking, 4 Christmas cookies.

When and why did you become interested in teaching Latin?

I took it when I was a high schooler and I didn’t really like it. I was a really bad Latin student. When I got to college, I started to really like it and started to get better. I realized that I had a passion for it and wanted to teach it.

What is your favorite holiday movie?

Christmas Vacation.

8

If you had to eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

3

5What is your biggest pet

Airpods are a big pet peeve of mine—even peeve? 9 if nothing’s on, but if there’s one in one ear, it bothers me really badly.

6

What is your favorite book?

My favorite English book is Too Late the Phalarope by Alan Paton. From Latin, my favorite book is Pro Archia Poeta by Cicero.

7

What do you like about teaching?

I’m a people person, so I really enjoy interacting with everybody, especially kids. I enjoy seeing the smiling (or very tired) faces.

10

What are your winter break plans?

For winter break, I go back to see my family. They all live in Detroit, so my wife and I will fly back to see them. Then we’re going to spend a few days in Florida as well, just relaxing and trying to get a little bit warm.

If you had to choose any other profession, what would it be?

A linguistics professor. I’m really into language, linguistics, grammar, syntax and all that sort of stuff.

HERSHBERG’S HOME KITCHEN

Senior Caden Hershberg turns an everyday task into an expressive hobby

SYDNEY GLEASON REPORTER | CHRISTIANA KETEMA REPORTER

The rhythmic sound of the knife hitting the cutting board, the colorful array of ingredients spread across the counter waiting to be used and the beeping of the preheated oven. These are all familiar sights and sounds to senior Caden Hershberg as he comfortably makes his way around the kitchen.

For Hershberg, cooking has been an interest for as long as he can remember. What started out as an 8-year-old wanting to make baked goods turned into a long-lasting hobby that he has continued to advance his skills in.

“I started baking around nine years ago. I would make banana

POKE DELIGHT — Caden Hershberg plates ahi tuna poke for his family on an average Tuesday night. His family adores the diverse selection of food he prepares.

(Photo courtesy of Caden Hershberg) bread, brownies and cookies Check out Caden’s because no one else in cooking Instagram my family could do that,” account, Hershberg said. “It evolved into cooking in middle @hersh_homecooking school, and over time I got better and am now able to make more difficult and gourmet dishes.”

After getting past the boxed brownie phase and starting to experiment more in the kitchen, he began making dishes for himself and his family.

“For my birthday last year, Caden poached a pear with his sous vide and topped it with a homemade cardamom cream and riesling glaze,” Hershberg’s mother Komal Jain said. “In all honesty, it wasn’t the most difficult, but it was the most thoughtful because he captured all my favorites in one dish.”

Some people find inspiration for the dishes they create through family traditions and recipes, but for Hershberg, whose family shied away from the kitchen, cooking became a hobby that he was able to learn about independently.

“While his grandmother is a great cook, I don’t think she was much of an influence,” Jain said. “I really dislike cooking—always have and always will—but cooking is just something Caden found on his own, spurred on by some food sensitivities and his desire to find recipes that tasted good but still met his [gluten and dairy] restrictions.”

After lots of trial and error, Hershberg can now confidently navigate his way around the kitchen and has developed his own tastes and preferences in food.

“As of now, my favorite dishes are Mediterranean because it’s healthy and I love protein, like fish and poultry, so any dish that’s centered around one of those is always good,” Hershberg said. “They have a lot of vibrant shellfish too, like langoustines, and they are amazing.”

Cooking is more than just putting ingredients together. Through years of practice, Hershberg has gained more of an appreciation for creating food himself, something that isn’t gained from just following the directions on a mac-n-cheese box.

“Overall, it’s definitely helped my time management and has improved my artistic ability because plating showed me a different way [to be artistic],” Hershberg said.

Seeing Hershberg’s success has begun to affect the people around him.

“He’s very creative and loves to experiment with food,” said Mary Nazarian, Hershberg’s close friend. “He definitely inspired me to

cook more for myself since watching him put together dishes makes me want to be able to do it too.”

Cooking has helped Hershberg outside of the kitchen as well. With college just around the corner, Hershberg plans on incorporating his love for food into his education.

“I want to major in food science [in college],” Hershberg said. “You learn why certain things happen to specific foods and can also go into how you can grow foods to be more eco-friendly like terrace farming.”

Food science is made up of various components, including chemistry, nutrition, physics, engineering, microbiology and food processing.

“There’s a science behind it. Average everyday cooking I wouldn’t say is a science, but as you go into elegant foods and up the ladder towards Michelin star level restaurants, everything from the quality of ingredients, the timing and making sure that all flavors complement each other is so calculated that the precision and execution of dishes makes it a science,” Hershberg said. “As for my intended major, it overlaps agriculture and obviously food and science. It seems difficult but is beneficial in the long run for consumers and the food system.”

Not only has cooking led Hershberg to want to learn more about food, but it has also fostered a new appreciation for different cultures and this interest has influenced what he likes to cook.

“Western [European cuisines], like French, Italian and Spanish cuisines, have inspired me because you can elevate the flavors in foods that make it good,” Hershberg said. “A lot of well-known chefs have come from those regions so it’s easy to follow in their footsteps, create what they’ve made and twist little things on your own.”

Although Hershberg allows himself to be inspired by professional chefs, he doesn’t plan to make cooking more than a hobby because of the intensity of culinary school and his appreciation for the interpersonal connections he is able to create through the experience of cooking for others.

“Cooking is a very cut-throat profession, and I like it [more] as a hobby. I feel like if I do it as a profession in which I’m cooking for 10 hours a day and not for myself, I’m going to lose the love I have for it,” Hershberg said. “I love it because I like cooking for myself and someone next to me so that we can both enjoy it together and not for random people that are eating at my restaurant or one that I would work at.”

Though the thought of cooking professionally is off the table for Hershberg, the unlikely career path has not stopped his family from entertaining the idea.

“The Culinary Institute of America reached out to Caden the other day, and we cannot figure out why, as Caden’s hobby is just that, a hobby,” Jain said. “But it was fun to consider a ‘Chef Caden.’”

How to Make the Perfect Steak: 1. Pull steak out of fridge around 30 minutes before cooking 2. Cover in a light layer of avocado oil and season steak with salt and pepper 3. Heat oil in a frying pan until sizzling

Post Prep: 4. Add garlic and allow to cook 5. Place meat in pan facing away from you and sear on both sides 6. Turn heat down and add butter, rosemary and thyme

Bon Appetit!

7. Baste steak in butter, turning every 30 seconds or so until fully cooked 8. If cooking a thick piece, such as a fillet, finish in the oven 9. Let rest for about five minutes START ‘EM YOUNG — Little Caden Hershberg devours a vanilla cake, showing his zest for food years before he found his love of baking and cooking. (Photo courtesy of Komal Jain)