By Michael DeJager, ’12, student-body president, JWU

Success in diverse working environments does not come easy. It takes a concerted effort on behalf of all parties to ensure that work flows smoothly. This process takes cultural intelligence, or an awareness and sensitivity to the nuances of cross-cultural communication. When employees have a sense of cultural fluency, communicating and interacting across cultures becomes natural.

By Christopher Koetke, CEC, CCE

Are we heading for a worldwide famine by mid-century? Is our very civilization unsustainable? Is it too late to stop the train and turn it around? The answers are yes, yes and no.

Julian Cribb, Australian author of The Coming Famine (University of California Press, 2010), paints the picture of a perfect storm in which a number of sustainability issues will reach criticality and come together over the next few decades to portend a worldwide famine that will change the face of our world.

The concept of “peak oil” is something that we’ve all become familiar with over the last decade. Put simply, it’s a situation where demand outpaces the discovery of new reserves of a finite resource, so supply gets scarce and expensive. In Cribb’s estimation, water and agricultural outputs will also reach their peak in the near-term horizon.

In fact, we’re already seeing some evidence. While the United States, Australia and Europe are awash in food, literally throwing half of it away, the rest of the world is not. For the last half century a billion people in the developing world have been going to bed hungry every night. The resulting “food insecurity” has devastating effects.

Johnson & Wales University's Cuisinart Center for Culinary Excellence in Providence earns LEED gold certification.

Johnson & Wales University (JWU) has been awarded LEED® gold certification established by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) for its Cuisinart Center for Culinary Excellence. One of the newest and most prominent facilities on the Harborside Campus of the university's expansive Providence, R.I., campus, the 82,000-square-feet Cuisinart Center for Culinary Excellence features a state-of-the-art environment specifically designed to accommodate the university's advanced culinary curriculum.

Culinary Legend Honored at 2011 Augie™ Awards

Paul Bocuse was honored as the Chef of the Century at The Culinary Institute of America's (CIA) fifth-annual Augie™ Awards at the Marriott Marquis in Times Square in New York City on March 30. In addition to Bocuse, four other foodservice and hospitality greats were honored at the event, which raised about $500,000 for scholarships to support the education of future culinary leaders.

"Paul Bocuse was the culinary equivalent of Elvis Presley—a source of great inspiration, the object of our adoration, and the model for our emulation," said CIA President Dr. Tim Ryan, CMC, in presenting Bocuse, 85, with the award. "Just as musicians around the world from the Beatles to Bruce Springsteen aspired to be like Elvis, legions of young chefs dreamed of being Paul Bocuse."

Premium and natural descriptors resonate with consumers of beef and pork menu items, finds Technomic.

Nearly two out of three consumers recently surveyed by Chicago-based trend-tracker Technomic say they think beef and pork products labeled or menued with premium descriptors such as “grass-fed,” “lean,” “organic” or “natural” will taste better than other beef and pork products that do not carry these same labels. Terms describing premium types and cuts of meat had a strong influence on perception of flavor and price thresholds, while terms describing natural farming and preparation were likely to influence consumers’ perception of healthfulness.

Leading fast-casual restaurant chains not only weathered the economic storm, they prospered, reports NPD.

Visits to the leading fast-casual restaurant chains grew 17% over the last three years while the rest of the industry experienced its steepest traffic declines in decades, and consumer demand for fast-casual offerings exceeded the unit growth of leading fast-casual chains, according to foodservice market research by Port Washington, N.Y.-based The NPD Group, a leading market-research company.

By Lynn Schwartz

Daniel Holzman of The Meatball Shop in Manhattan doesn't miss the pressure of fine dining. That's partly because he's smiling all the way to the bank.

Daniel Holzman makes meatballs. Lots of them—beef, spicy pork, chicken, vegetable and a daily special ball, which one can customize with sauce—tomato, spicy meat, mushroom gravy, Parmesan cream or pesto. Holzman, executive chef, and Michael Chernow, general manager, own The Meatball Shop, located on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The two born and bred New Yorkers have set out to give the customer a ballistic food adventure in their "fuss free kinda joint." A limited, meatball-focused menu offers up simple, sustainable eats with no strings attached (like an expensive bill) until 4 a.m. With an impressive upscale culinary background, Holzman had plenty of options, and the meatball business is no accident. It's a calculated choice. A choice designed to incorporate a satisfying lifestyle, good-quality food, customer value and fun.

By Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT

Site visits, or field trips, are great educational experiences that provide students with an industry perspective we cannot provide in our classrooms.

Last month, we discussed Organizing Review Sessions, which help students prepare for examinations. However, the activity that broadens their education the most is probably field trips to restaurants, foodservice facilities, dining rooms, food markets and other organizations in our industry. While the logistics of these visits can be a challenge, this "Mayo's Clinic" will focus on making these trips into valuable educational experiences, a task that requires some careful planning ahead of time and the attention to appropriate follow-up assignments.

Planning for a Field Trip
One of the hardest activities for many of us is identifying the correct site for a field trip and then integrating it, effectively, into the courses that we are teaching. Often, the sequencing of the field trip becomes a challenge because the availability of the site might not match the timing of when appropriate topics are covered in the course. Sometimes, I have used a field trip to start attention to a topic and at other times, been forced to use it to review material later in the course.

By L. Adam Weiner, CFSE

Mind the chef, don’t steal and watch food costs. Students should live by these and eight other essential dos and don’ts to remain employed in that job for which you’ve trained him or her.

Last issue I addressed how to help your students get jobs. This issue will be about how to make sure they keep their jobs. Here are 11 key points to cut out and give to your students:

1. Be on Time. Depending on which survey you read, 90% to 97% of firings occur because of failing to arrive on time, not showing up at all and/or leaving early. Timeliness and attendance are so important because the schedule of the kitchen is based on everyone being there, and everyone being on time. If you come in 15 minutes late in the morning, the kitchen will be behind all day.

Courtesy of the Hass Avocado Board

A series of educational resources, first to earned CAFÉ’s new Endorsement Program seal.

This series of individual lessons/labs instructing on proper handling of and cooking and baking with Hass avocados, as well as applying sound nutrition principles to concept and menu development, provides comprehensive training developed by several experts using a versatile, year ‘round food.

The series focusing on Hass avocados from the Hass Avocado Board is the first resource from the foodservice industry to earn CAFÉ’s new Endorsement Program seal. CAFÉ’s Endorsement Program, through an independent panel of career educators, recommends select educational resources as applicable and desirable for use in a foodservice-educational environment in high schools and postsecondary schools nationwide.