CAFÉ Update February 01, 2021

01 February 2021

You Are Invited

Perfect Puree 12 pack

Coffee with CAFÉ

You are Invited to:

Join us at 11 a.m. Friday mornings for 20-minute trends presentations, especially aimed at your work in the culinary/baking/pastry classrooms.

Chefs with special expertise in given topics will introduce you to something new each Coffee with CAFÉ event. This way you can keep on learning so that your students are continually knowing what they will need to know in industry.

First up: February 19^th, 12 noon EDT.

Umami—what is it and how do you teach it?

Chef Chris Koetke will introduce the topic to you, followed by some great examples of how to teach this often-labeled “mystery” taste.

“ Umami: This fifth basic taste – alongside sweet, sour, salty, and bitter – was named umami, meaning "savoriness" in Japanese. Umami can be experienced in foods such as mushrooms, anchovies, and mature cheeses, as well as in foods enhanced with monosodium glutamate, or MSG, a sodium salt derived from glutamic acid. (Webster)

In Segment 1, Chef Koetke will give you an overall definition of umami as well as a PowerPoint which you would be able to use in class.

In Segment 2, Chef Koetke will show you some teaching tips on the topic of teaching flavor, including the concept of deliciousness.

Coffee with CAFÉ segments will be recorded, so you can watch them at a different time and/or use them as part of your classes.

Save the Date! We will have online registration available next week. There is no cost to attend!

Are You Looking to Publish?

“The Journal for Culinary Education Best Practices” is open to accepting opinion pieces and/or research articles for our upcoming spring issue. For more information, please contact the editor, Dr. Jean Hertzman at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

CAFÉ Talks Podcasts–New Lesson Plan!

Thanks to Dr. Randall McIntyre, we have our next lesson plan which will coordinate with the podcast interview with Jack Uldrich, futurist.

Description: What will tomorrow bring? How do we prepare for what is uncertain – is it possible to really plan ahead? Jack Uldrich walks us through a process of “unlearning” so that the stage can be set for effective personal and organizational evolution and to set a “strategy to survive and thrive in an era of unparalleled change.”

You can access the lesson plans we are producing by being a CAFÉ member. Click here for the list of interviews and ones that have the lesson plan links will be available to you as a member. (New lesson plans will be added each week.)

To see the listing of the CAFÉ Talks Podcasts, click here.

To sign up to receive notifications of new podcasts, click here.

To see a suggested podcast lesson plan on how to teach flavors, click here.

CAFÉ Membership

It’s time to sign up to support CAFÉ membership as CAFÉ looks to continue to support foodservice educators:

Free Monthly Magazine, “The Gold Medal Classroom”

Resource-full website for educators, www.CafeMeetingPlace.com

Free bi-weekly CAFÉ Talks Podcasts with wide-range topics

As members, access to podcast lesson plans, discounts to CAFÉ events, and a free subscription to “The Journal for Culinary Education Best Practices”

Linking the foodservice industry to the foodservice classroom by offering sponsored awards for innovation, technology, sustainability, and educators of the year

Offering classroom resources from industry partners in our D.E.A.L. (Deal for Education and Learning) of the Week

How are we doing? You can join as an individual, an institution or as an industry member.

We’re looking forward to in-person events beginning (possibly) in the fall of 2021 and definitely in 2022!

To join (and we hope you do!!), go to: https://www.cafemeetingplace.com/resource-center/membership

If you were a prior member and would like to renew your current membership, please go to https://www.cafemeetingplace.com/resource-center/membership and login to renew your current membership.

If you want to transfer from a previous Individual Membership to an Institutional Membership, please review the following instructions here.

CAFÉ 2021 Awards Program

2021 Technology Award

Thanks to Mercer Culinary, we are pleased to announce that a 2021 Technology Award will be offered to individuals/culinary programs that successfully introduced technology in their programs

This Award is sponsored by Mercer Culinary who is proud to reach out to educators and to recognize their efforts instructing students in the complex world of technology and culinary arts.

What are your efforts and successes in this area?

Click here for more information about the Technology Award.

2021 Idaho Potato Commission Innovation Awards

CAFÉ is proud to be partnering with the Idaho Potato Commission (IPC) once again as they sponsor the Innovation Awards for 2021.

This Award recognizes educators and/or programs at both the secondary and postsecondary levels who have shown to be innovative in their approaches to effective culinary arts education.

Click here for more information about the Innovations Award.

2021 Kendall College Entrepreneurship Award

Thanks to Kendall College for once again sponsoring the Entrepreneurship Award for 2021.

This Award identifies culinary programs that either (1) teach or encourage entrepreneurship in their programming or (2) implement revenue-generation and cost savings into their operations.

Click here for more information about the Entrepreneurship Award.

2021 Sysco Educator of the Year Award

Thanks to Sysco for again sponsoring the Educator of the Year Award for 2021! This award is open to secondary and postsecondary educators as well as culinary educators working within the non-profit training sector. There will be two awards given.

For more information about the Educator of the Year Award, click here.

2021 Green Award

We are pleased to announce that the 2021 Green Award will be offered to individuals/culinary programs that emphasize sustainability or other “green” aspects in their programs.

This Award is sponsored by the United Soybean Board who is proud to reach out to educators and to recognize their efforts instructing students in the importance of agriculture in their selection of products and designing of menus.

Past winners have implemented aquaculture farms, gardens, farm-to-table menus, waste reduction and more!

For more information about the Green Award, click here.