A short, focused speech poses an opportunity for students to make an impression and explain themselves. It is also a way to build interest in what they are doing or want to do, as well as enlist support and sway opinion.

By Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT

Because last month this column discussed networking, this month we will focus on elevator speeches—what they are, why they are important and how to deliver them for maximum impact. Since you probably know about elevator speeches and probably use them, this column might be something you want to distribute to students who do not know about or would benefit from being reminded about elevator speeches. Therefore, the bulk of this column is aimed at students.

In a continuation of last month’s focus on teaching nutrition within a short class period, Chef Weiner explains how to emphasize the remaining six of 10 unchanging basic facts.

By Adam Weiner, CFSE

Last month I wrote about why culinary teachers find it challenging to teach about nutrition, and gave the first four topics to cover in a 50-minute classroom:

1. To lose weight, you must consume fewer calories than you burn (or burn more than you consume).

2. To be healthy, you must consume a wide variety of foods.

3. Generally, the closer food is to its natural form, the healthier it is.

4. Yes, Virginia, you really do need to have some fat in your diet.

This month we finish our list of 10 things to teach about nutrition.

A combination high school, urban farm and environmental education center in Connecticut is leading the way as a model in healthy lifestyles for students from all socioeconomic backgrounds.

By Morgan Wotherspoon

For decades now, the idea of sustainable agriculture has been gaining momentum. Our country is looking for better ways to grow our food and eat healthy. Sustainable agriculture is a method of growing and raising food that is healthy for consumers and animals, is more in tune with the environment, humane for workers, respects animals, provides a fair wage to the farmer, and supports and enhances rural communities. (Visit www.sustainabletable.org for more.)

Common Ground High School, Urban Farm and Environmental Education Center are taking this concept to the next level. This charter school in New Haven, Conn., is integrating sustainable farming, culinary arts and its school-lunch program. It’s a unique model for the future of high-school culinary-arts programs.

An e-learning module focusing on the versatility, nutrition and palate-pleasing power of California table grapes.

Courtesy of CIAprochef.com

With its mild, Mediterranean-type climate, California is paradise for grapes. Everyone knows that the Golden State grows world-class wine grapes, but table grapes excel there, too. In fact, California produces almost all of the United States’ commercially grown table grapes.

Chefs know they can count on grapes to add refreshment to a cheese plate, color to a fruit plate or a wholesome crunch to a salad. But if you think of grapes only as a garnish, you’re missing a lot of the fruit’s culinary potential. In the hands of professional culinarians with an innovative bent, fresh grapes can go in directions you may never have imagined. Carbonate a grape? Why not?

Contest Guidelines:

• Recipes must be submitted in preferred format.
• Entries must include at least one (1) high-resolution, digital photograph of finished dish.
• Contest entrants must be currently enrolled in a postsecondary culinary school/program in the 50 United States. You must include name, email address, telephone number, mailing address, name of culinary school and name of referring culinary instructor with entry.
• Contest entries become property of Emmi Roth USA and may be used in marketing/public-relations activities.
• Entries must be the original work of the entrant, may not have won previous awards, may not have been published previously, and must not infringe third-party intellectual property or other rights.
• April 13, 2012 DEADLINE FOR ALL ENTRIES
• Entries must be emailed to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with Emmi Roth USA in subject line.
• Up to 50 free samples will be provided to the first 50 instructor respondents to contest posting, which started March 1, 2012. Sample will include up to 14 ounces of Emmi Kaltbach Cave-Aged Le Gruyere Switzerland AOC (two random-weight retail cuts, weighing 5 to 7 ounces each). Interested instructors should write to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with name, title, school/institution, shipping address (No P.O. boxes), telephone number and email address. Samples will be shipped via UPS from Monroe, Wis. Please allow approximately two weeks for delivery of samples from response date.

Prizes!

• First- and second-place prices given at $1,000 and $500 respectively.
• Prize winners will also receive an Emmi Roth USA cheese gift basket.
• Referring instructor of the first- and second-place winners shall receive one (1) FREE registration to a 2012 CAFE Conference or Workshop.
• Winning student(s) might be featured in a press release and/or Emmi Roth USA Newsletter.

Eligible recipe entries will be evaluated by a panel of Emmi Roth USA judges on creativity, novelty and/or uniqueness of application and flavor quality in the Center-of-the-Plate application. Winners will be notified on or before May 11, 2012, via telephone and certified mail. For complete info, click here.

A team of Anne Arundel Community College culinary-arts students swept the competition at the 13th Annual Gumbo Fest in Annapolis. Team Anne Arundel won first place in both categories—the Judge’s Choice and People’s Choice—at the Feb. 26 competition at the Double Tree Hotel in Annapolis. Eleven other teams from area restaurants also competed in this year’s Gumbo Fest.

Team members included Stephanie Bishop (Arnold), Lora Pumphrey (Glen Burnie), Stephanie Silva (Belcamp) and Michael Willard (Annapolis). Proceeds of the event, which attracted about 400 members of the public, benefited the Light House homeless prevention support center in Annapolis.

“The secret to our winning recipe is the housemade andouille sausage and the four-hour roux,” said Chef John V. Johnson, CEC, CCE, AAC, an AACC instructional specialist and the Team Anne Arundel coach.

Dr. Tim Ryan, CMC, president of The Culinary Institute of America (CIA), is the recipient of The Valley Table magazine’s first Farm-to-Table Award recognizing leadership in the support of regional agriculture. The award was presented to Ryan at the Hudson Valley Restaurant Week launch event at the college on February 28, 2012.

“The CIA’s commitment to sourcing ingredients and produce from regional farms has been a tremendous boon to farming in the Hudson Valley,” said Janet Crawshaw, publisher of The Valley Table and organizer of Restaurant Week. “Lessons in sustainable agriculture and sustainable cuisine have been integrated into the college curriculum, so the CIA is graduating chefs with a heightened awareness of and appreciation for local farm products.”

On February 25, the halls of one of the biggest buildings in the world brimmed with activity as the best in the food industry came together to support the 7th Annual For the Love of Chocolate Foundation Gala. As star chefs served delicious morsels in the myriad showrooms of The Merchandise Mart in Chicago, models strutted in edible couture, a dance party gained momentum, and crowds gathered around a 9.5-by-6-by-5-foot replica of Chicago’s Cloud Gate covered entirely in Jelly Belly® Jelly Beans and Chocolate Dips®.

Do you want to teach your staff or students about a specific area of the professional kitchen? Are you looking for a comprehensive yet concise resource? If so, the American Culinary Federation’s (ACF) latest series, National Apprenticeship Training Program for Cooks, and its accompanying CD-ROM resources, is for you. Compiled and published by American Technical Publishers (ATP), the 10 modules are available for $25 each, with a 25% discount for purchases of five or more. A compiled textbook, containing content from each of the modules, is also available for $80.

The series outlines culinary techniques that have been validated by the culinary industry and sanctioned by the U.S. Department of Labor and the American Culinary Federation Education Foundation (ACFEF) National Apprenticeship Committee. Each month, ACF will highlight a new module on its website, www.acfchefs.org

The recent Farming for the Future Conference promoted new ideas and learning to the benefit of all.

By Jamie Moore

I recently organized the 2012 “Sustainability in the Food Service Industry” pre-conference sessions at the Pennsylvania Association for Sustainable Agriculture’s (PASA) 21^st-annual Farming for the Future Conference, which brought together more than 2,000 farmers, processors, consumers, students, environmentalists, business and community leaders and chefs.

These sessions, which placed both noncommercial and commercial foodservice professionals in the same room as farmers, are an important step in understanding each other’s needs and challenges. As a PASA board member, I created “Sustainability in the Food Service Industry” in 2011 to give local producers a forum to introduce their products to chefs primarily from Parkhurst Dining (a division of Eat’n Park Hospitality Group). From there, our chefs took what they learned to new levels.