As a tour chef for some of music’s most recognizable names, Maureen Brice hasn’t always had every ingredient at her disposal. That didn’t stop her, though, from making an artist’s favorite dish before they took the stage, she explained to a classroom full of Poughkeepsie Middle School students.
“That’s just the way life is,” Brice, a restauranteur, private chef and wellness expert, explained. “If I don’t have cornstarch, then I can take a little flour and water and make a little slurry. If I don’t have fresh ginger, fresh garlic, I just use ground ginger, ground garlic.
“You don’t give up,” she told them. “It’s better to have something than have nothing.”
Brice visited the middle school home economics classroom Feb. 18 for a hands-on cooking demonstration in which she not only helped students make their own teriyaki sauce and see how it would be made into a full meal, but also shared how she became a chef for such names as Jay-Z, Pink and Aerosmith.
The event was a continuation of the Culinary Cultures and Class with Mama La, an outgrowth of the Community Schools partnership with Charlia Frank Inc., in which Poughkeepsie Middle School students have received instruction from the chefs behind Mama La’s Food for the Soul on Main Street. Chef from other local restaurants Mo Flames and Geneva’s Blues House also assisted the students, alongside Community Schools liaisons.
Eighteen students were chosen to take part in the lesson with Chef Brice. They were selected out of a group of roughly 75 applicants.
“There’s so much interest in culinary instruction,” Community Schools Interim Director Jessica Ortiz said. “That’s why we’re going to keep it going.”
Brice in her presentation touched on a range of topics, from the meaning of the word “teriyaki,” to how certain ingredients can be combined or substituted to create different flavors and textures, to the differences between fresh and processed ingredients. She also touched on themes common to the Culinary Cultures class overall, empowerment and preparation for success beyond school walls.
She walked the students through her own backstory, progressing from a kid whose mother and grandmother cooked, to a culinary student in New York City, to a restauranteur who happened to meet Jay-Z and go on tour. 
“I’m here today to inspire you to dream big. Something as simple as cooking, you would never know how far it will take you,” she said. “Whatever it is you decide to do in life, make it yours, make it your passion and just work really hard at it. No matter how many times the doors close on you, there’s always another door ahead of you that you need to open and you never know, that other door could be the one that takes to the place where you want to be.”
Each student was given a mason jar in which they mixed the ingredients to make their teriyaki sauce, following Brice and a printed list of instructions along the way.
“I wanted to teach you how to make your own teriyaki sauce so you don’t have to resort all the time to the store-bought stuff. The store-bought stuff has tons of ingredients, chemicals, that are unnecessary,” she explained.
They also learned how to make their own whipped cream and watched as the various chefs and Community Schools staff prepared the other elements of the meal they would soon eat – rice and zucchini noodles, quinoa, pan-seared chicken, broccoli and – for dessert with that whipped cream – apple crisp. Some of the students had the chance to make their own zucchini noodles – or zoodles – using a spiralizer.
The students each tried their teriyaki sauce before labeling it.
“You can take your sauce home,” she told them, “and make your moms and dads a wonderful, wonderful meal soon, right?”