HILLTOWNS — Berne-Knox-Westerlo Food Services Director Lateef Clark boasts an immense portfolio of professional and academic experience, which he uses not just to run the school district’s kitchens, but to teach students skills that will help them in all of life’s aspects.

Clark was hired by the district last summer, through the Board of Cooperative Educational Services, but before that he spent nearly 20 years as an executive chef, more than four years as a culinary instructor, and five years as a sous-chef (or under-chef). He holds a master’s degree in business administration and an undergraduate degree in culinary arts, as well as various certificates, licenses, and diplomas.

All this has led Clark around the world and to the White House, where, as part of an exhibition, he prepared a garde manger, or a platter of cold dishes, which he described as one of his proudest professional moments.

“The White House showcase was surreal for me because you always see it on TV, but to be there was a treat,” Clark told The Enterprise this week. 

He wound up there while he was an instructor at the Culinary Arts Institute in the late 2000s, after a colleague of his who was familiar with White House staff helped arrange to bring instructors “to showcase what the local culinary programs were doing,” Clark said. He added, “The partnership we developed with the staff allowed some of our students to complete an internship there.”

“[I] never thought in a million years the career path I chose would take me to places I only dreamed about,” Clark said.

Clark took his first job in a restaurant at 15, but his cooking education began when he was 7, under the tutelage of his grandmother. He said she taught him “the basics” and had him read notes she made in “The Joy of Cooking,” a massive yet minimalist cookbook that compacts thousands of recipes into its pages, and which famed cook Julia Child has described as an essential text of the American culinary tradition.

The notes, Clark said, were how his grandmother made the book’s recipes her own. Now, Clark is helping BKW students do the same.

He recently led a group of business and animal-science students to a second-place victory in the New York Beef Council’s fourth annual Top Beef Contest with an original beef tip crêpe recipe.

“I started off as a cook many years ago, taking instruction and critique from those chefs who came before me,” Clark said. “I would say to myself, ‘Hopefully I can share my knowledge that I’ve learned and pass it down to others.’ It’s very important for kids to learn the basic skills and knowledge of cooking. 

“Cooking isn’t just all about techniques and skill; it’s about life as well. We call it life skills, developing awareness about your surroundings and others’. The kitchen has always been a sanctuary for nourishment and cuisine. And sharing what I know. Whether it’s in a professional setting or in the hallways of BKW, I’m always thinking, learning, and teaching.”

He went on to quote the Japanese sushi chef Jiro Ono, who’s renowned for his spartan work ethic: “Once you decide on your occupation, you must immerse yourself in your work.”

“And this,” Clark said, “is what I will keep doing until I can’t do it anymore.”