The warm scent of flour tortillas fills the air as students chop tomatoes and onions. A 12-foot long table is prepared with aluminum foil as the class gets ready to create a burrito large enough to feed the class on Nov. 18-19.

Every year Sharon Scharf’s home economics class undertakes the challenge of building a nine-foot burrito. Scharf got the recipe from La Victoria Spanish food company. While the company no longer sponsors this program, Scharf still carries on the tradition.

La Victoria sponsored the nine-foot burrito program from ’99 through ’01 to promote the company’s products through new recipes.

“It’s the highlight of the first semester of home economics,” Scharf said. “Have you ever heard of anyone else doing something so wild and crazy?”

Every year the Peoples Church kitchen is filled with the smell of frying beans, fresh tomatoes and the sweet smell of green onions. Containers of cheese, olives, sour cream and salsa are spread out on the counter ready for the students to take.

An assembly line is made to spread all the ingredients on the long line of tortillas. This may seem like a fantasy meal but in the midst of all the madness, something is bound to go wrong.

“This year I bought cabbage instead of lettuce,” Scharf said. “We all had to wait for the lettuce to arrive.”

The attempt to create a burrito big enough for Big Foot leaves the students with a smile.

“The nine-foot burrito is one of the best parts of home economics,” Jennifer Beckmen, ’07, said. “Eating the food we make is definitely my favorite part about the class.”

Scharf hopes that students leave this project with happy memories and a sense of accomplishment.

“The project always makes everyone’s tummy happy,” Scharf said. “It’s extremely fun but it is a lot of work also. It leaves me and the class with a real sense of accomplishment.”

Fun moments like these leave students with memories they will never forget.

“Making the burrito was a lot of fun, and I think I will remember it for years to come,” Kirstein Voss, ’08, said. “Getting to eat what you made is what I like most about home economics.”

Next the home economics class will attempt to make eleven different types of cookies.

For more information on campus home economics classes, students and teachers can contact the high school office at (559) 299-1695, ext. 5. For information on La Victoria, visit their site online at www.lavictoria.com.