Using Kickstarter for funding, RADISH rolls out as a reality for a group of Providence students of various disciplines. And delicious, wholesome food served from an artists’ hub on wheels becomes the order of the day.

By Douglas D. Stuchel, MAT, CHE

RADISH, a food truck serving locally grown and organic menu items, was built to promote healthy eating and fostering creativity in Providence, R.I. The food truck was the brainchild of a few passionate students at Johnson & Wales University, Rhode Island School of Design and Brown University who were looking to put their exciting and progressive ideas to good use. Besides serving organic, farm-fresh food, the RADISH team also promotes artists, musicians, cooks and adventurers every month via its truck and website.

Jack Uldrich to launch Mercer Cutlery’s Speaker Series at inaugural CAFÉ event in Chicago, Feb. 22-24, 2013.

The Center for the Advancement of Foodservice Education (CAFÉ) is pleased to announce that Jack Uldrich will keynote CAFÉ’s inaugural event for postsecondary deans and directors of hospitality and culinary-arts programs, Feb. 22-24, 2013, at Kendall College in Chicago.

Uldrich is a renowned global futurist, independent scholar, sought-after business speaker and author. His books include the best-selling The Next Big Thing Is Really Small: How Nanotechnology Will Change the Future of Your Business and award-winning Into the Unknown: Leadership Lessons from Lewis & Clark’s Daring Westward Expedition and Jump the Curve: 50 Essential Strategies to Help Your Company Stay Ahead of Emerging Technologies.

Among menu trends this year, Kraft Foodservice chefs predict that “Food Nationalism” will take root with diners. And 2013 will be the year of the pretzel.

Trend analysis for 2013! What’s on the horizon? Kraft Foodservice’s team of chefs weighs in, giving thoughtful analysis on today’s most accessible trends. See the entire write-up at http://bit.ly/V1mGO6. “Like” Kraft Foodservice at www.facebook.com/KraftFoodservice.

1. Customization and Food as Experience Merge
Customization and food as experience are two mega trends that are now walking in step with each other. And diners are eating it up.

Unlike its domestic and imported-beer counterparts, craft beer has been able to defy overall beer market trends and continue expansion during the economic downturn and subsequent slow recovery. Who’s drinking the most craft beer? Older Millennials.

While the economic downturn has affected consumer spending across many sectors, craft and craft-style beers are defying recessionary trends with an impressive upward trajectory. Indeed, latest research by Mintel on the craft-beer market in the United States shows that sales of craft beer nearly doubled between 2007 and 2012—increasing from $5.7 billion in 2007 to $12 billion in 2012.

Moreover, the trend toward craft-beer options is set to enjoy robust growth through 2017, with Mintel forecasting the segment to grow to $18 billion by 2017—a result that will see the segment tripling in the decade between 2007 and 2017.

“While the craft and craft-style beer category remains a small segment of the $78 billion U.S. beer industry, the category has been able to stabilize the overall beer industry, which has experienced volume declines in the domestic and imported-beer categories since 2008,” says Jennifer Zegler, beverage analyst at Mintel.

John Dewey taught us that we do not learn from experience, but from reflectingon our experience. While recently this column has focused on the strategic uses of social media in teaching, this month it revisits the traditional tried and true.

By Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT

Over the past several months, we have been talking about social media, ways to use it in teaching, and advice for our students. This month, we will return to a focus on teaching practices and discuss ways of using notes, journals and reflective papers instead of blogs, the contemporary form of diaries and journals.

Context
For the past year or so, I have required students to participate in a blog on customer service as part of their assignments in the course, Customer Relationship Management. When I asked them recently if they thought the assignment was valuable to them and worth continuing, they indicated that other assignments were more important and useful. They also said they monitor so many professional blogs that this one does not add much to their education. They suggested having students take notes or keep a journal of incidents of customer service, instead. Therefore, I will try that assignment this spring and add the requirement to reflect on what they observed.

Chef Weiner offers a solid primer to print out and provide to students, ensuring they’ll understand a recipe fully and be on the look-out for pitfalls before they begin to gather their mise en place.

By Adam Weiner, CFSE

Last month I stressed the importance of not limiting your students to simply learning how to follow recipes or how to cook by technique only. Students need to learn both skill sets. As I mentioned last month, it is important to follow recipes in a commercial kitchen to ensure that no matter when a customer orders something, it will always taste the same, be the same size, and the food costs for each plate will be the same.

The following is what students need to learn about reading and writing recipes. Feel free to copy it and give it to your students. However, you might want to remove the “Note for Instructors” below if you want to use that little trick on your students.

New resources, recipes and menu ideas are available online for students’ use, to teach them to understand how to help consumers make informed food choices—not only during National Nutrition Month in March, but all year long.

Courtesy of the Soyfoods Council

Soyfoods have played an important role in Asian cuisines for centuries. In recent years they have become popular in Western countries because of their nutrition and health properties.

Soyfoods are excellent sources of high-quality protein and provide a healthy mix of polyunsaturated fat. In addition, independent of their nutrient content, there is very intriguing evidence indicating soyfoods reduce risk of several chronic diseases including coronary heart disease, osteoporosis and certain forms of cancer. All individuals are well advised to eat a couple of servings of soyfoods every day.

The International Culinary Schools at The Art Institutes announces a call for entries in two competitions: The Art Institutes Best Teen Chef Competition for high-school seniors and The Art Institutes Culinary Scholarship Competition for high-school graduates.

Entrants must submit an entry/release form, a favorite recipe and an essay, as well as transcripts. The deadline for entry is Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013. To enter and view the competition rules, visit www.aicompetitions.com/culinary2013.

The Art Institutes Best Teen Chef Competition, now in its 14th year, is an opportunity for high-school seniors in the United States and Canada interested in pursuing a culinary career to experience the excitement and discipline of the industry. For the second year, the Culinary Scholarship Competition offers high-school graduates the opportunity to compete against their peers, as well.

Selected finalists will participate in a cook-off competition at each participating Art Institutes school on March 2, 2013, judged by professional chefs and culinary faculty. Entrants selected to participate in the cook-off competition receive recipes in advance and have an opportunity to take part in a pre-competition coaching session.

The first-place winner in the high-school-senior competition at each participating Art Institutes school will earn a $4,000 tuition scholarship. The second-place winner at each participating Art Institutes school will earn a $1,000 scholarship. The first-place winner in the high-school-graduate competition at each participating Art Institutes school will earn a $1,500 scholarship.

Eli Kaimeh, chef de cuisine at the world-renowned restaurant Per Se in New York City, returned to his alma mater to deliver the commencement address at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) on Dec. 20, 2012. He spoke to graduates at the college's Hyde Park, N.Y., campus about the importance of respecting the food world and each other.

Kaimeh, 34, has been heading the kitchen at Per Se for almost three years and has been with the restaurant since its opening in 2004. Per Se earned the title of Best Restaurant in America and sixth best in the world from England’s Restaurant magazine in 2012. It was also honored last year by the Continental Restaurant Awards as the Best Restaurant in North America. Per Se holds the highest possible rating of three stars in the Michelin Guide and received a rare four-star review from The New York Times.

The New England Culinary Institute’s (NECI) Baking and Pastry Department chair, Chef Michael Rhoads, was awarded a silver medal the prestigious “Salon of Culinary Art” competition held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City in November 2012.

The “Salon of Culinary Art,” organized by the Société Culinaire Philanthropique, is presented each year during the International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show. The salon welcomes competitors from around the world who showcase their skills using traditional and modern techniques to present current trends in the culinary world.

“Chef Michael’s showing at this important culinary competition is a monumental win, for him and for NECI,” said Chef Jean-Louis Gerin, the school’s vice president of culinary operations and executive chef. “The competition couldn’t be harder, and Chef Michael’s silver-place trophy demonstrates his exceptional skill.”

The Société Culinaire Philanthropique is one of the oldest chefs associations in the United States. Founded in 1865, it regroups chefs, cooks, pastry chefs, bakers and butchers, including some of America's most famous chefs. This year marked the 144th Annual Salon of Culinary Art competition.