Hospitality management students get plenty of hands-on experience at the Emirates Academy, where they prepare food while fasting.
DUBAI // They say if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen but for fasting students studying a degree in hospitality management, that is not so easy.
Kamila Madalinova and Sabah Rikabi are at the tail end of their first-year internship in the restaurant at the Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management.
It is the first Ramadan in Dubai for Ms Madalinova, 18, from Kazakhstan, who wants to be a chef.
The students must serve tables and cook to the standards of a five-star hotel over 12 weeks – several of which are in Ramadan.
“It’s been very difficult for me, especially when I had to cook,” said Ms Madalinova.
Mr Rikabi, 21, said it took some getting used to.
“I’m used to fasting, but fasting with cooking and serving is not easy. Long hours, a lack of sleep – it’s challenging,” he said.
“In the kitchen it’s hot but you also have air conditioning. The back and forth between the two, it gives you a headache.”
It has been a tough but rewarding experience for the pair, who said it was the best way to prepare for life beyond university.
“It puts us under real-world pressure,” said Syrian Mr Rikabi, from Syria.
Ms Madalinova agreed. “I really want to be a chef, and this is a really good experience to teach me to work and fast at the same time. It helps me to adapt.
“Last year I was studying in school and in Ramadan it’s not as hot as it is in Dubai, so this year it’s harder but I have got used to it.
The smells made it very hard and they cannot test the food as they normally would while cooking, she said. “We have to have this experience if we want to work in a restaurant or hotel,” Ms Madalinova said. “We can’t become managers without doing these basic things.”
The experience has been rewarding, Mr Rikabi said.
“This has also helped me on the social side, how to speak to people professionally. In this industry you need to smile a lot, even under pressure,” he said. “Then there’s working as a team, so it’s a good time to build skills.”
Chris Dutt, one of the academy’s lecturers, said the experience was invaluable.
“A lot of people are reluctant to talk, and environments like this allow people to shine in different lights and take them out of their comfort zone,” Mr Dutt said.
The students work eight-hour shifts, performing varied tasks such as cleaning tables, chopping vegetables and designing menus, as part of the internships for their three-year degree programme.
“Academically they’re pushed quite hard, but some people aren’t so academically inclined and they struggle. But these practical courses give them another avenue to excel,” Mr Dutt said.
“Some even go on to compete in international competitions. A degree that doesn’t give a mix of practical and theoretical doesn’t offer the same opportunity.”
mswan@thenational.ae
