The Institute of Culinary Arts at Robert Morris University held its fifth-annual symposium for culinary students, educators and hospitality professionals on April 13, 2012, at the main RMU campus in downtown Chicago. Titled The Five Taste Senses, the conference focused on the culinary approach to food through the five taste senses of sweet, salty, bitter, sour and umami—a Japanese term meaning “pleasant savory taste.”

The symposium began with keynote speaker Chef Cleetus Friedman, owner of City Provisions, Chicago’s green, locally focused catering company and recipient of the coveted Sustain Illinois 2009 Award. After opening remarks, the symposium opened with three tracks that included the following sessions:

Mary Margaret McCamic, instructor of wine and communication studies at the Morrisville, N.C., campus of The Chef’s Academy (www.thechefsacademy.com), the Culinary Division of Harrison College, recently was awarded the prestigious Wines of Australia Scholarship.

The overall top-scoring graduates of the Wine & Spirit Education Trust’s (WSET) Diploma of Wine and Spirits (DWS) program of study in five markets—Canada, United States, Europe, Asia/Pacific and Ireland—are awarded the scholarship by Wines of Australia. McCamic completed her DWS studies, the highest level offered through WSET, last September and, based upon her overall results, was the nation’s top scorer to earn the designation as Wines of Australia’s 2011 United States representative.

McCamic is among nine scholarship recipients worldwide who gained a unique insight into the Australian wine industry with an eight-day study excursion last month. Prior to receiving the competitive award, McCamic earned her bachelor’s degree in English and creative writing and her master’s degree in teaching from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As she was settling into her career as a high-school English teacher, McCamic developed a passion for wine, leading her to study at New York’s International Wine Center in Manhattan, where she completed her WSET wine courses, one of the most challenging courses of wine study in the United States.

Alfonso Contrisciani, CMC, recently joined the Hocking College McClenaghan Center for Hospitality Training in Nelsonville, Ohio. Contrisciani has 32 years of culinary experience, including orchestrating several presidential dinners in Washington, D.C., as well as President Obama’s Inaugural Balls, and has been featured on Food Network.

He teaches savory, baking and pastry and meat-, poultry- and fish-fabrication classes at Hocking, and will serve as director of Continuing Education and Contract Food Service.

“Hocking College culinary program currently has all the elements key to training the chefs and hospitality operators of tomorrow,” Contrisciani said. “Located in the center of Ohio's agricultural district, the students have all the necessary sources of local and regionally produced fresh products to learn their craft.”

Chef David Kramer, associate professor of culinary arts at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, Ill., is one of six chefs and foodservice professionals nationwide to win a 2012 United Fresh Produce Excellence in Foodservice Award. Nominated by Chicago-based Testa Produce, Inc., Kramer won in the Business in Industry & Colleges category. The awards program, created by the United Fresh Produce Association and sponsored by PRO*ACT, honors chefs and their companies for innovative and influential use of produce in the culinary arts.

The winners were selected from nearly 120 nominations submitted by produce companies and foodservice operations across North America. A panel of produce and foodservice-industry leaders reviewed each nominee’s demonstrated incorporation of fresh produce into menu development, use of protocols for correct storage and handling of produce, leadership in produce-related community service, and special events and recognition by their company and industry peers.

The team of Eric Stein, M.S., R.D., a chef-instructor at the Kendall College School of Culinary Arts, and Jaime Mestan, C.S.C., a Kendall College culinary alum (‘08) and research chef at Ed Miniat, Inc., in South Holland, Ill., took first place in the inaugural Professional Culinology® Competition, March 23 in San Antonio, Texas, held in conjunction with the Research Chefs Association’s (RCA) Annual Conference and Culinology® Expo.

Stein and Mestan beat two other teams, winning a gold medal and a $5,000 cash award with their entry of lobster paella bites, chicken and white-bean empanadillas and loaded patatas bravas (a cherished white-potato tapa of Spain). The competition, which was sanctioned by the American Culinary Federation (ACF), called for entries to consist of three frozen heat-and-serve tapas suitable for serving in a casual restaurant chain.

Russell Scott, one of only 66 Certified Master Chefs in the United States, has been named dean of education of The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) at Greystone, effective April 2, 2012. In his new role, Scott will be responsible for the quality and effectiveness of all education programs at the CIA campus in St. Helena, Calif. He will oversee faculty and staff on the education team, direct the development and delivery of the curriculum, and lead the support of students enrolled in the campus’ degree and certificate programs.

Scott was previously an associate professor at the college’s Hyde Park, N.Y., campus from 1998 to 2005. During that time, he taught several culinary courses and served as executive chef and instructor in the American Bounty Restaurant. “It is very gratifying to rejoin the CIA family and to once again be part of the jet stream of culinary knowledge,” he says. “I am indeed privileged to be able to work directly with the finest staff and faculty in hospitality education.”