Chef Jason Ziobrowski of InHarvest inspires culinary grads of Victory Trade School.

“Everyone, no matter how talented, has to pay his or her dues,” said Jason Ziobrowski, CEC, corporate chef of InHarvest’s Eastern Region, to graduates of the culinary-arts program at Victory Trade School (VTS) on Nov. 8. “You are no exception. Pay yours, and pay them willingly. And remember to network while doing it! At the end of the road, you’ll be well rewarded.”

With those words, Ziobrowski began the commencement speech he was invited to deliver to more than 500 assembled graduates, their families and friends, as well as representatives of the foodservice community, at the Springfield, Mo.-based school. He shared his story of being inspired to pursue professional cooking when, as a boy, his grandmother praised his tuna-fish sandwich, leading to his culinary-arts degree from Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I., followed by stints in professional kitchens of restaurants, clubs and corporations throughout the country.

Ziobrowski recounted the highs and lows, twists and turns of a varied 20-year career that led to the building of his family, earning certification as an executive chef from the American Culinary Federation and, ultimately, becoming a corporate chef for InHarvest (a leading U.S. supplier of heirloom and exotic grains and grain blends to foodservice, retail and manufacturing) and serving customers in the vast swath of the nation east of the Mississippi River.

Ziobrowski told graduates to zealously explore new ideas from every source. “Read everything you can get your hands on,” he said. Look not only at food TV for inspiration, but also the chalkboard menu at a mom-and-pop establishment. Research the finest restaurants, but don’t ignore the corner Jewish deli and lunchtime taco truck. “Look down the street at your competitor,” he continued, “but remember that the best source of trend information is right here in this room: your customers and guests.”

Through the free videos he helps produce for Unilever, Steve Jilleba stresses the need among current and future cooks to understand culinary origins and the impulses that inspired authentic flavors around the globe.

By Lynn Schwartz

“Today, everything moves quickly. There is a lot of cross-culturalization, and culinary traditions get mixed and blended,” says Steve Jilleba, CMC, corporate executive chef for Lisle, Ill.-based Unilever Food Solutions. “Original recipes and cooking techniques can become lost forever.”

The risk of unrecoverable culinary practices inspired Unilever and The Culinary Institute of America to partner in a preservation initiative, The World Culinary Arts DVD & Internet Project. “Savoring the Best of World Flavors” is an interactive series that provides a first-of-its-kind video reference library for future generations, documenting and conserving best culinary practices worldwide.

To date, this ambitious undertaking offers seven volumes featuring more than 16 countries including India, China, Japan, Vietnam, Greece, Sicily, Spain, Mexico, Peru and Brazil. “We are trying to preserve a country’s authenic culinary traditions,” says Jilleba.

To accomplish that, Jilleba and his team travel to a specific country and film the “experts” as they prepare time-honored recipes, divulge necessary ingredients and reveal cooking techniques. The interviews often discuss the dish’s development, geographic and historical implications, and examine how a dish has evolved in contemporary kitchens. The camera also catches visits to a variety of open-air street markets and long-standing food shops. The result is that the viewer, comfortably transported far and wide to each locale, is privy to a country’s past, present and future food culture—something most chefs would never have the opportunity to witness on such a large scale. The videos and podcasts are free of charge to foodservice professionals and students, and many of the recipes are available to download.

Through culinary and reflective journaling, students can become empowered to consider broadly and deeply what they are learning and what they need to do in the future. Your role is simply to encourage them to write.

By Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT

Last month, we discussed helping students take charge of their lives by using peer coaching. This month’s column is about using journals, a powerful strategy to assist students in taking charge of their education and their lives.

Journaling
The use of journals has a long and productive history in education. They have been used at all levels of education for a wide range of purposes. They have been used to foster creative-writing skills, research interests, interpersonal skills, intellectual reflection, personal rumination and critical thinking. Inviting—or requiring—students to keep journals in a way to encourage them to write, and writing is one of the most effective a ways to clarify thinking and improve writing, something we want to promote in all our students.

Culinary Journals
Many successful chefs have kept journals of good recipes, ingredient combinations, plate presentations, food events and menu ideas. They become repositories of good ideas to which the chefs can refer when needing to come up with new ideas or new practices. They are also very helpful in reviewing the progress and development of a chef’s thinking and career growth.

Some culinary faculty members encourage students to keep culinary journals while they are in school, as well, so that the students develop the habit of collecting and reviewing information. It builds good habits of note-taking for the future. In some schools, faculty members collect and read the journals, but most just encourage students to keep journals and use other techniques—tests, papers, cooking assignments and observation of performance—for evaluative purposes.

Give back, says Chef Weiner, and teach your students to, as well. Whether self-serving, altruistic or both, the many rewards—both personal and professional—far outweigh any inconvenience.

By Adam Weiner, CFSE

Last December I wrote the 12 things that every culinary student needs to know. It was kind of my gift to you. This year I am going to take the completely opposite approach. It is time for your students and you to start giving gifts to others.

A. For Your Students
Volunteering is important for students for a variety of reasons. Foremost, it is just a good thing to give back. At the holidays and throughout the year there are people who need help and would enjoy and appreciate your students’ volunteer efforts.

If being altruistic isn’t within your students’ skills set, then let’s talk about them volunteering for their own gain. First, I have had a number of my students hired while doing volunteer work as other chefs were volunteering or were watching. You can guess what happened. The chefs were impressed with the volunteering spirit, the students got jobs.

Furthermore, volunteering is good résumé value. With so many students coming out of culinary programs at the high school, vocational and college levels, it is important that your students have something (preferably a lot of somethings) on their résumés that separates them from the pack.

Graduates need to crawl before they walk and walk before they run. What are the skill sets that chefs and restaurateurs expect your students to have when they start their employment? Can your students meet those expectations?

By Paul Sorgule, MS, AAC

Designing a culinary program is no different than developing any other sound business with potential for growth. The key is to focus on two primary areas as a start:

• Identifying the need
• Envisioning the opportunities

I would encourage all those responsible for the health and viability of a culinary program to assess their curriculum with these two areas in mind. First, does your program adequately address the current needs of the industry that it serves? Have you engaged this industry in the process of ensuring that the content and measureable results meet the skill sets that are critical for entry-level culinarians? Are your graduates “kitchen ready”?

Although all culinary programs are mindful of preparing graduates for a career that brings them to positions of greater responsibility, graduates must first demonstrate their ability to function as part of a kitchen team. Graduates need to crawl before they walk and walk before they run. What are those skill sets that chefs and restaurateurs expect your students to have when they start their employment? Do you engage industry leaders in identifying those skill sets and is your curriculum designed to adequately address them?

Greener Fields Together™, which documents farms’ sustainability gains, lauds four well-known produce suppliers that were recently recognized for significant improvements in waste reduction, CO² emissions, water and energy use, and more.

More of the fresh produce headed to restaurant kitchens and grocery stores nationwide is now verifiably “greener” and more sustainably raised. This accomplishment is thanks to Greener Fields Together, the sustainability and local-produce initiative created by the PRO*ACT produce supply-chain management company, which works with partner farms to implement and track continuous, farm-to-fork sustainability improvements. Via independent verification service SureHarvest, Greener Fields Together has documented significant sustainability improvements made by four of its national farm partners: D’Arrigo Bros. Co. of California, Mission Produce, Grimmway Farms and Rainier Fruit Company.

Detailed case studies evaluating and verifying strides made by these companies are now available on http://www.greenerfieldstogether.org/national_farms_featurettes.php. Highlights include:

D’Arrigo Bros. By merging several facilities into a single location situated in the heart of its farming fields, D’Arrigo saves an estimated 300,000 truck miles previously traveled each year to haul product from field to cooler. This is the equivalent of taking 123 cars off the road each year and cutting annual CO² emissions by 593 metric tons. By reducing travel time and distance from field to cooling facility, D’Arrigo also has improved product safety and quality.

Mission Produce. Mission has implemented an innovative, fully automated system to manage water and nutrients at its San Luis Obispo, Calif., avocado orchard. The system enables Mission to irrigate and fertilize precisely when and where the trees need it to optimize production using less water and fertilizer per unit. The company’s investment in water-management innovations has resulted in significant savings.

The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF) is accepting nominations for its 2014 “Restaurant Neighbor” and “Faces of Diversity” awards.

Entering its 16th year, the Foundation’s “Restaurant Neighbor Award,” founded in partnership with American Express, celebrates the outstanding charitable service performed by restaurant operators. Likewise, the “Faces of Diversity” award, sponsored by PepsiCo Foodservice and founded in 2007, is presented to members of the restaurant industry who, through hard work and perseverance, have achieved the American Dream.

Sullivan University’s Louisville campus and the National Center for Hospitality Studies congratulate associate department chair of culinary arts chef Rob Beighey and director of baking and pastry arts chef Derek Spendlove and team coach chef David Wheatley on their most recent victory at the American Culinary Federation Chefs Competition in Indianapolis.

The Collins College of Hospitality Management breaks ground for LEED Gold-certified expansion.

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona’s Collins College of Hospitality Management commenced construction of its $10 million building expansion during a groundbreaking ceremony on Nov. 7.

The 15,000-square-foot expansion includes two buildings and addresses the college’s growth needs in a sustainable way by striving to achieve LEED Gold certification. In addition to more classrooms and faculty workspace, the project will create a home base for the college’s three-year-old graduate program and a social space for students. Classrooms will utilize cutting-edge technology and innovative “flex” furniture designed to move and adapt to the evolving needs of today’s classroom. The project was designed by Ontario-based HMC Architects. Gilbane Building Company is the project’s construction management at-risk firm.

A veteran educator takes a road trip in search of the perfect bite.

By Bruce Konowalow, CCE

Finding good food in out-of-the-way places has been second nature to my wife, Carolle, and me. We have traveled 300-plus miles for a smoked-beef sandwich at Ben’s in Montreal, midnight trips to Chinatown in New York City, early-morning sojourns to the backdoor of Bridgeport, Conn.’s Zeislers bakery for fresh pastries still hot out of the oven, and have taken trips to eastern Long Island, Cape Cod and Connecticut for a good lobster roll.

Part of this quest has always been to find the holy grail of burgers, beefy nirvana. I do not know if there really is a best burger, but the experience is the thing. Those trips have taken us to quaint seaside clam shacks, rustic barbecue venues and hole-in-the-wall joints in big cities.

That being said, it came as no surprise to my wife when I asked her if she wanted to go to Amarillo to have a great burger at a little joint called the Coyote Bluff Café, a burger restaurant we had just seen on the Travel Channel. We were living in Dallas, so Amarillo was a good six-hour drive with few pit stops. The trip required a couple of tanks of gas and an overnight stay, so we knew these $8 burgers were going to cost about $75 each.  We scurried to the library for a couple of tour books and hit the road.