Maple Leaf Farms is calling for entries for The 2011 Discover Duck™ Chef Recipe Contest now through August 5, 2011. Open to professional chefs and culinary students, the contest challenges entrants to create up to three original recipes that showcase duck in creative ways. Professional and student-chef recipes will be judged in separate categories, each with their own cash prizes.

“The possibilities are endless with duck. It’s so versatile,” said Maple Leaf Farms Marketing Manager Cindy Turk. “This contest gives chefs a chance to use their culinary creativity. We look forward to seeing a lot of innovative and inspired recipes.”

Recipe entries must include a Maple Leaf Farms duck product and may be submitted for any menu part. The recipes will be judged according to originality, flavor, simplicity (easily sourced ingredients and ease of preparation) and accuracy of the recipe ingredients and method.

Sullivan University’s National Center for Hospitality Studies (NCHS) will honor Chef Walter Bundy of Lemaire Restaurant, located in the Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, Va., with the prestigious Distinguished Visiting Chef award on Thursday, May 19. As recipient of the award, Bundy will present on-campus cooking demonstrations in addition to a question-and-answer session held exclusively for Sullivan University students.

Designed to connect today’s aspiring culinarians with industry leaders, The Distinguished Visiting Chef Series has been recognizing three top chefs annually since its inception in 1988. Bundy will be the 40th recipient of the award, joining an impressive roster of chefs that includes Bob Kinkead, Emeril Lagasse, Louis Osteen, Rick Tramonto and Marcel Desaulniers.

“We are honored and excited to welcome Chef Bundy to Sullivan University and to present him with the Distinguished Visiting Chef award,” says Tom Hickey, director of the NCHS. “He brings an innovative and modern style to traditional Southern cuisine, and I look forward to our students having the opportunity to experience his approach to cooking firsthand.”

Les Roches International School of Hotel Management, one of the leading hospitality-management schools in the world, is pleased to announce a new management program in its wide range of curriculum: the postgraduate diploma in business administration for culinary-arts professionals, a one-year program starting in August 2011 on the Les Roches campus in Bluche, Switzerland.

Want to sample the creations of one of the top 10 pastry chefs in America? Just visit the Apple Pie Bakery Café at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA). Francisco Migoya, CIA associate professor in baking and pastry arts and executive chef of the Apple Pie Bakery Café, has been named one of the best pastry chefs in America for 2011 by Dessert Professional magazine.

The Apple Pie Bakery Café is one of five public restaurants on the Hyde Park, N.Y., campus, all of which are also classrooms for students pursuing their bachelor's or associate degrees at the CIA. As such, in addition to being the restaurant's executive chef, Migoya teaches the sophomore-level Café Operations course for baking and pastry-arts majors.

By Michael DeJager, ’12, student-body president, JWU

Success in diverse working environments does not come easy. It takes a concerted effort on behalf of all parties to ensure that work flows smoothly. This process takes cultural intelligence, or an awareness and sensitivity to the nuances of cross-cultural communication. When employees have a sense of cultural fluency, communicating and interacting across cultures becomes natural.

Fresh off visits to the “Today” show and “Colbert Report,” Dr. Nathan Myhrvold came to The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) on March 24, where he delivered the baccalaureate graduation address. During commencement exercises, Myhrvold was named an honorary alumnus of the college by CIA President Dr. Tim Ryan, CMC.

While on campus, the former Microsoft executive also gave a presentation attended by 1,000 students in the college's gymnasium and simulcast to classrooms on campus. Myhrvold's 2,400-page Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking is generating the biggest buzz in the food world in years. Ryan was recently quoted in USA Today, calling it "one of the most important cookbooks of all time." Ryan has been in discussions with Myhrvold to consider how knowledge from Modernist Cuisine can be incorporated into the college's curriculum.