Local children will learn about healthy eating and cooking from top chef

Twelve Gerald Ford Elementary School students will learn about healthy cooking and eating from a Rancho Mirage golf resort chef today.

Joel Delmond, executive chef at Westin Mission Hills Golf Resort & Spa, will do a cooking demonstration, give a talk and answer questions as part of Super Chefs Cookery for Kids, an international education program that teaches young people about healthy cooking and eating.

Delmond studied cooking in his native France and chocolate and candy making in Switzerland.

He worked in Paris, the Netherlands and Italy and took culinary trips around the Mediterranean.

He came to the U.S. 25 years ago and worked at hotels around the country.

Delmond has been at the Westin Mission Hills since 1996. He has won awards and was invited to be a guest chef at the James Beard House in 2002.

The resort’s parent company, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, is a sponsor of the Vancouver-based Super Chefs program.