More popular than chocolate and potato chips, snacking occasions bearing fruit are growing.

Fresh fruit is not only the top snack food consumed in America, it is also one of the fastest growing, according to new snacking research from Port Washington, N.Y.-based The NPD Group, a global information company.  NPD’s recently released “Snacking in America” report finds that growing concerns about health and eating right are contributors to the increasing popularity of fruit as a snack.

Like the many herbs cultivated for healthy, flavorful dishes and cocktails at the new Seasons 52 in West Los Angeles, executive chef and partner Jessica Koine finds a place to grow.

By Lynn Schwartz

It is not unusual for chefs of small, independent restaurants to be committed to a seasonal menu. They often support local farms and farmers’ markets in an attempt to bring the freshest ingredients to their customers. But it is impressive when a corporate, multiunit company is forward-thinking enough to practice a similar sustainable philosophy.

Seasons 52 (a brand of Orlando-based Darden Restaurants, Inc., the world’s largest full-service restaurant company, including Red Lobster, Olive Garden and The Capital Grille) is capitalizing on the growing consumer interest of eating with the seasons. Not only does Seasons 52 purchase locally, but they are dazzling customers with an extensive, indoor herb garden and a spectacular outdoor “living wall” of culinary and non-edible plants. As executive chef of the recently opened Century City venue in the heart of West Los Angeles, Jessica Koine must create seasonal, health-oriented dishes that are less than 475 calories. She must also cultivate her green-thumb abilities while tending to more than 150 edible plants.

Assigning students to write a white paper can help them focus on an audience, develop an appropriate voice, learn to make a solid case with evidence and conduct careful research.

By Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT

Last month, we discussed the value of old-fashioned writing assignments, such as notes, journals and reflective papers instead of blogs. This month, we will review the value of using white papers as thoughtful and effective assignments for students.

History of White Papers
White papers have historically been used for a range of purposes, most commonly to persuade decision makers to adopt a policy or consider a new program or a set of strategies. In many situations, they were background papers to provide an in-depth analysis of a situation, event or potential development so that key executives had the information to make better decisions. Sometimes, they were just background documents; often, they contained recommendations for decisions and information about implementation steps. They were typically written for a specific audience and crafted to make a persuasive case backed by strong evidence.

Steam is a very efficient method of cooking, but students approaching it for the first time tend to overlook several important considerations to ensuring food quality.

By Adam Weiner, CFSE

In January I wrote than, in my opinion, students need to have a good working knowledge of the following recipes and technique. In the past I have written articles about teaching braising (September 2010), baking (July 2011) and sautéing (January 2012) in 50 minutes. In the next several months (with an occasional break here and there to spice things up), I will write how to teach other basic cooking techniques.

This month, steaming.

Rotating groups through learning modules keeps students engaged while enhancing their skills development.

By Carrie Stebbins, CWE

If you teach practical lab classes and have not yet tried a lesson plan where you have students rotate through a number of modules, each teaching a specific skill, I encourage you to try!

This works especially well early in a class when you have several fundamental skills you want your students to practice. With a lab class of 20 students, I plan four modules with five students in each group. I give each of the groups a mise-en-place list.

Coors Recycles® teams up with Recyclebank® to reward consumers for their environmental efforts.

Coors Brewing Company, inventor of the first 100% recyclable aluminum can in 1959, last month kicked off its latest sustainability initiative by announcing a partnership with Recyclebank®, the company that rewards people for taking everyday green actions with discounts and deals from more than 4,000 local businesses and national brands. The program, Coors Recycles®, will support the Recyclebank mission to promote environmentally conscious waste disposal through a monetary contribution and special packaging.

Highly accomplished chef, restaurateur and author Waldy Malouf has a new mission. After a successful 13-year run as co-owner and chief operating officer of Beacon in New York City, Malouf became the senior director of special projects at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, N.Y., on January 21, 2013.

Malouf returns to the college from which he graduated in 1975 to work with the college’s food and beverage team to contribute to the ongoing refinement of all nine restaurants at the CIA’s three U.S. campuses. Both the kitchens and dining rooms of the restaurants are capstone classes for CIA degree students, where they put their culinary and hospitality education into practice. CIA restaurants have been a key component of the curriculum for the past 40 years, and they have earned dozens of awards and accolades during that time.

“The closing of Beacon presented the CIA with a rare opportunity to bring one of New York City’s finest restaurateurs—and an alumnus—onto our staff,” said CIA President Dr. Tim Ryan, CMC. “With his depth of knowledge and success in the dynamic and constantly evolving restaurant industry, Waldy will support our faculty in delivering the crowning element of a great hands-on education for our students.”

As the city’s financial district bustled through its morning rush hour outside of the historic Union League Club of Chicago, inside, 98 students of The French Pastry School of Kennedy-King College at City Colleges of Chicago took the first steps toward beginning their new vocation. Graduates of the full-time programs, L’Art de la Pâtisserie and L’Art du Gâteau, celebrated their commencement on the same day that the school received one of the highest honors that educators can be given by the French government: Ordre des Palmes Academiques (Order of Academic Palms), a recognition that was instituted by Napoleon to award “teaching and the development of knowledge.”

On Jan. 14, Sullivan University student Kamisha Jones won first place at the S.Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef North Central Regional Competition at Kendall College in Chicago.

Jones is a Louisville native and a sixth-quarter student at Sullivan University’s National Center for Hospitality Studies. She bested seven other competitors with her poached, pan-seared duck breast over Moroccan-spiced whipped sweet potatoes with apple infused demi-glace and cranberry/apple chutney, garnished with roasted apple and microgreen salad. Jones will compete against the other regional winners in the Almost Famous Chef finals March 8-11 at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, St. Helena, Calif. Jones was one of two Sullivan University students to participate in this year’s competition, as Alison Settle of Sullivan’s Lexington campus also submitted a dish.

Chef Elaine Sikorski, CEC, CCE, an instructor at Kendall College School of Culinary Arts, is the author of the recently published Cooking to the Image: A Plating Handbook (Wiley, 2012). This is Sikorski’s debut publication. Resulting from years of teaching and cooking practice, Plating relates the look of plate presentations to chefs’ beliefs about food, situated in the larger culinary context. Beginning from a historical menu perspective, the book offers a complete design methodology to plating. Chapter topics include “Platter to Plate: Classical Style,” “Plate Frame: New American Style and Fusion Style,” “The Emerging Menu: Interactive Table Setting” and “Design and Culinary Plate Archetypes.” End chapters address finding inspiration, critiquing culinary art and culinary values.

According to Sikorski, more professional cooks are thinking visually about creating food. To do so successfully, a chef needs to recognize how form and function translate to appearance and flavor on a plate. “About 10 years ago, I was teaching plate presentation at Kendall, and realized that I could tell students that something wasn’t working, but I couldn’t really tell them why,” Sikorski says. “I couldn’t express what I knew.