MOSCOW — In helping facilitate one of Idaho’s few food science camps last year, William Tai knew the program was something special when he tasted his student’s pizzas made from scratch.

The University of Idaho hosted its second STEM food science summer camp, or “Pizza-ology,” which ended Wednesday. The program brought in 18 high school students from around Idaho to learn all things food.

Tai, camp director and doctoral candidate for STEM education at UI, said “Pizza-ology” began last year as a master’s non-thesis project created by former UI student Belinda Sell.

Sell secured a $5,000 grant from the Idaho STEM Action Center to get the program started. With help from Tia and Meize Guo, a postdoctoral fellow at the Doceo Center for Innovation and Learning, Tai brought in 12 high school students to pilot the unique program.

“Food science camps, specifically having hands-on STEM learning, are rare to come by, especially in Idaho,” Tai said. “So to actually see one happening in this area, especially since we have so much agriculture around us, is really huge. It’s really amazing.”

Tai said he knew the program had to come back for another year. He gathered Sell and Guo and secured $35,000 from the Idaho STEM Action Center. He said the funding was huge. He was able to hire staff and host the program free of cost to its students.

The funding enabled Tai to work with local restaurants, and give high schoolers new experiences. “Pizza-ology” partnered with Rants & Raves Brewery, Maialina Pizzeria Napoletana, Patty’s Kitchen and Mikey’s Gyros.

They hosted a segment called lunch and learn at the spots. Tai said students were able to tour the kitchen and ask questions about how they source their ingredients and run the restaurant.

As well as lunch and learn, students were able to ferment their own cheese at the University of Idaho Dairy Center, make hot sauce with Irish Spike’s in Moscow and learn how to cook steaks with a two-star Michelin chef.

Chef Steven Frank taught students how to cook a steak three ways, and gave them advice to enhance their dishes.

“This experience really gives kids the opportunity to problem-solve by themselves,” Frank said. “I’ve had a lot of cooks act like ‘deers in the headlights’ when something happens in the kitchen and they have to think on the fly. These kids get to learn how to work in the kitchen without all the added stress.”

Tai said the program aims to teach high schoolers two things: explore farm-to-table and sustainable food practices, and introduce students to a variety of food-related careers in agriculture, restaurant management and research.

“If they didn’t know how to make anything, they do now, especially from scratch,” Tai said. “What we’re doing here is really giving these kids the confidence to explore not only in their cooking, but the science behind what makes these dishes so good.”

Ruth Huber, an 11th grader from Kellogg, said she learned the patience of cooking.

“I’ve been cooking a really long time, since I was four, and it’s been hard to learn that not everything always works out,” Huber said. “You can always try again and it helps a lot to be patient with yourself and your food.”

She said her favorite part about the camp was being able to make food she’s never tried before. Huber tried sushi and kimchi for the first time during the program.

Ashleigh Miravete, a 12th grader from Kellogg, said she’s eaten so much pizza during the camp she doesn’t want to eat another slice for a while.

She said the program has made cooking less intimidating.

“It’s been very informative,” Miravete said. “It’s made cooking a lot less scary, I feel like I can definitely do this.”

Pearce can be reached at epearce@dnews.com