Forty-eight students from the Magnet Academy of Culinary Arts at Wekiva High School hosted the magnet program’s inaugural community tasting event Tuesday night. 

“The standard of excellence is what this is,” said Wekiva principal Anthony Russell. “If you probably get to looking at Webster’s Dictionary next to the word ‘excellence’ — ‘Wekiva Culinary Arts Department’ will be sitting right there.”

Taste of Wekiva saw 10 chefs from Orlando-area fine dining restaurants partner with students to present a menu of nine entrees, five drinks and four desserts. Represented restaurants included several Walt Disney World eateries, The Monroe, The Chef’s Table, Four Flamingos and more.  

Chef Christopher Bates, Wekiva Culinary program director and lead instructor, said the chefs designed the menus, while students learned how to cook and plate the meals. 

“Then the chefs left, and the kids were here doing all of the stuff that those guys would have given to a level two or level three prep cook,” Bates said. 

Wekiva Culinary received approximately $6,000 worth of donated food for the event. 

“One of the tables, they’re doing grated black truffle, and black truffle right now is going for about $600 an ounce,” Bates said. “So we’re talking $900 worth of black truffle was donated to us — just one ingredient out of all of this…[A]ll of these things were donated by people who really believe in the education of the next generation of culinary professionals.” 

One member of that next generation is Zariah Edwards, who served as the evening’s executive sous chef. She started at Wekiva Culinary as a freshman, there for “the free food.” As she progressed in the program, she discovered her passion for culinary arts, winning Chicago’s Seize the Spotlight competition with three of her peers in May 2025. Now a senior, Edwards has her eyes set on the future. 

“In the fall, I am going to [Florida International University], and I’m planning to study hospitality management there,” Edwards said. “One day I really want to be a general manager of a restaurant, and so this event management has definitely been like a stepping stone and a start of just trying to organize events.” 

According to chef Heather Wall, Edwards and her fellow students are well on their way to culinary success. 

“It’s been really great to see how enthusiastic they are and how much they want to learn and take things on,” said Wall, who works as a pastry sous chef at Disney’s Saratoga Springs and Old Key West resorts. “It was just really amazing to see how they went into it without that fear and hesitation that you could so easily get from something you’ve never seen before.”