This course emphasizes definitions and explanations of cooking and baking terms and selection of ingredients and products. The students will learn about the foundation principles of food preparation through a study of the chemical and physical properties of food, the nature of reactions caused by environmental conditions during preparation, cooking or baking, and the affect of materials added during some phase of preparation or cooking. The student will explore common practices in food preparation including soups, stocks, vegetables, sauces, salads and dressings, etc.