His interest began when he was a young child picking apples to help his grandfather make cider. Then he watched cooking shows on TV, and in the eighth grade he made some cookies that won him second place in a baking contest.

Charles Hermann’s culinary journey has since led him from Pleasant Valley High School to Brockton, Massachusetts, where for the past four years, he has been Executive Chef and Catering Manager at Teen Challenge, New England, a recovery program for drug and alcohol addicts.

Tasting the fruit of his labor

“My grandfather got me involved in food preparation when we lived in New Jersey,” Hermann said. “We’d catch fish and I’d watch him clean and cook them. He had a vegetable garden the size of an Olympic pool and he had apple trees where we’d pick apples and make apple cider.”

Hermann occupied much of his childhood TV time watching PBS cooking shows with famous chefs like Julia Child. Then he figured he might be able to do something with a career in the kitchen after he won a second-place prize for his peppermint chocolate chip cookies.

“I liked being in the kitchen, but I wanted to be sure about going into a culinary career so I split my days at Pleasant Valley and Bartonsville Vocational and Technical high schools while I worked at the Willow Tree Inn in their dining services.”

From Saylorsburg and PVHS in 1994, it was on to the Culinary Institute of America in New York where he earned his bachelor’s degree in 1997.

From French cuisine to Italian seasoning

Hermann was taught the art of cooking at CIA where he learned “everything begins with a French technique.”

In 1998, he was a chef at Spoleto’s, an Italian restaurant in Easton, Massachusetts. He later prepared meals at Siena, another Italian bistro located in Providence, Rhode Island.

“In between, I owned The Artful Table, a creative American cuisine catering business in Yarmouth Port, Cape Cod,” he said.

Living his culinary dream would come to a halt, however, when Hermann made some bad choices that changed the direction of his life.

From bar stool back to the kitchen stove

With mounting stress, Hermann began drinking, which eventually became an addiction. He admitted himself at the Teen Challenge (that includes adults up to 65 years old) residence, a nonprofit, worldwide, faith-based recovery opportunity for long-term addicts.

TC offers a 12- to 16-month program and boasts of a high success rate, despite the low graduation numbers with fewer than 10 out of 70 making it through to the end.

“TC is a trade-based operation. You can sign up for culinary services, carpentry or other offered vocational programs,” Hermann said. “My staff assists in food and catering preparation, but they are not here to become professionals or chefs.”

Hermann has 15 regular staff members who serve the residents of TC three meals a day. They have also catered large banquets and weddings up to 500 people.

‘A mother’s pride’

As a graduate of TC, Hermann’s successful recovery brought him back to Brockton to help others with their addiction struggles.

“Many who come here have lacked the maturity to lead responsible lives. They come from unstable backgrounds, often with no father there for guidance,” Hermann said. “They have to learn how to live in society, and at TC, we offer them life skills and how to confront conflicts so they can become good husbands and good fathers. Graduates have returned to our Christian-based program to give back in gratitude for the help they received.”

Hermann’s parents, Ed and Sally of Pocono Summit, expressed pride they had for their son and for what he has accomplished.

“He’s always had the passion and the drive. He took his education seriously. He knows a lot about nutrition and he has made videos on things like how to use kitchen knives properly,” Ed said.

Sally, who admitted she’s not a good cook and doesn’t like to cook, agreed with her husband about their son’s dedication to his craft.

“He’s a mother’s pride,” said Sally, “and being a chef is not an easy profession.

“I love him to death,” she added with a laugh, “but he’s so far away and I miss his cooking.”

Some home cooking

Charles, who will soon celebrate his first anniversary with his wife, Ruth, gets back to see his parents when he can, and when he does, he fondly recalls his experiences in Northeast PA. He also had worked as a chef in the area at Caesar’s Palace and a few of the popular Pocono honeymoon resorts.

“I love the area, the farms, the hunting and fishing,” he said. “Someday I could see myself moving back and working there again.”

When asked what’s his signature dish, he said his special love is seafood.

“I’d say it’s an Italian seafood stew with mussels, clams, scallops, shrimp and some red snapper in a zesty tomato sauce. It’s a great mixture full of flavor and I’d serve the stew with some crusty sourdough bread.”

Charles Hermann is setting the table for his students to recover their lives and move on to follow his recipe for a successful life.