Although only a small percentage of seafood consumed in the United States comes from the Gulf of Mexico, the impact of consumer perception is taking its toll on restaurants, finds Technomic.

Last summer’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico released an estimated 200 million gallons of oil over the course of three months. Despite the fact that only about 2% of fish and seafood eaten in the United States comes from the gulf, the spill has continued affecting consumer behavior. A new study by Chicago-based trend-tracker Technomic finds that 23% of consumers say their consumption of seafood at restaurants decreased during the spill. Perhaps more importantly, 19% of consumers were still eating less fish even as much as four months later as a direct result of the spill.

Renowned chef and restaurateur Michael Lomonaco will be honored at the annual Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP) culinary event on February 16, 2011, 6:30-9:30 p.m. at PIER SIXTY at Chelsea Piers to support the scholarship and enrichment programs offered by C-CAP. Since 1990, C-CAP has awarded high-school students $31 million in scholarships and donated $2.5 million worth of supplies and equipment to classrooms.

The American Culinary Federation Education Foundation (ACFEF) Accrediting Commission, which assures that culinary programs with ACFEF accreditation meet at least a minimum of standards and competencies set for faculty, curriculum and student services, selected three new members to its commission and announced several leadership changes at its biannual meeting held at Lincoln Culinary Institute, West Palm Beach, Fla., Jan. 16, 2011.

The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) has launched a first-of-its-kind course to raise the quality of food served at hospitals and other healthcare facilities nationwide. Foodservice Management in Health Care (MGMT 411) is an elective business-management course for second-semester CIA seniors. It is believed no other college course of this nature is being offered at this time.

With the aging American population, people are spending more time in hospitals, rehab centers, nursing homes and assisted-living facilities. Foodservice plays an important role in both the health and quality of life of patients and residents. At the same time, managing budgets is also important. The new CIA course introduces students to the challenges of running a healthcare foodservice operation and prepares them for management positions in that field.

The Board of Directors of the New England Culinary Institute announced in December the appointment of G. William Meckert, III, as the college's new president.

Meckert succeeds Fran Voigt, co-founder of the Montpelier, Vt.-based culinary institute. Voigt served as its president for the past 30 years and grew the school from seven students to the 650 who are enrolled in its various programs today. Voigt is the acknowledged visionary for the college, as well as its inspirational and institutional leader, and he will remain its chief executive officer.

Candy Wallace, founder and executive director of the American Personal & Private Chef Association (APPCA), has accepted the invitation to serve on the culinary Program Advisory Committee of The Art Institute of California-San Diego for a one-year term.

According to Laird Livingston, CEC, CCE, AAC, The Art Institute of California-San Diego’s academic director of culinary arts, the program’s Professional Advisory Committee is a sounding board for the industry, ensuring that the program follows industry standards and teaches relevant curriculum with industry-utilized kitchens and certified chefs meeting the American Culinary Federation’s (ACF) standards of excellence for accreditation.

Wallace bring nearly 40 years of dedication to the foodservice industry—the last 17 as the foremost authority on personal chefs in the United States—to her role at The Art Institute. She founded the American Personal Chef Association in 1996 as the first significant national effort to recognize the impact of personal chefs on Americans’ evolving lifestyles and to provide career and management training to those who aspire to become personal chefs with their own businesses. She led the positioning of personal chefs as culinary professionals, culminating in 2002 with a formal partnership with the ACF to award certification to qualified personal chefs. In 2006, Wallace embraced the professional-development needs of private chefs by restructuring her organization to become the American Personal & Private Chef Association.

By Birch DeVault, M.Ed.

Though baking comes with its own rigors and rules, learning international breads expands students’ repertoire and deepens the learning experience.

Baking and pastry, for many culinary students, can be either an exciting challenge or a daunting endeavor. In many ways, the very cognitive underpinning of baking and pastry arts is completely different from that of culinary arts. Working baking and pastry recipes into culinary classrooms can ease some trepidation students have toward the discipline.

Courtesy of The Mushroom Council

Mushrooms are the hidden treasure of healthy Hispanic dishes.

Mushrooms are an authentic part of Mexican and other Hispanic cuisines. Meatless options are not just a niche target anymore. More and more diners, no matter what cuisine they are enjoying, are turning toward healthier options. Because of the meatiness and umami of mushrooms, they can help make a meatless dish more satisfying as well as combine with meat or seafood to reduce costs, calories and fat and increase craveability.

From Tex-Mex to Hot-Mex to Healthy Mex
So, how do you make Mexican food healthy? One of the best ways is to use a food that has been an important, integral, authentic part of Mexican heritage since the pre-Spanish days: mushrooms. According to Spanish chronicles, the Aztecs used mushrooms for their meaty texture and versatility and because they were ideal for stews, tamale and taco fillings, moles and other traditional foods. In Mexico, portobellos, cremini, oysters and white buttons are traditions in the states of Mexico, Puebla, Tlaxcala, Sierra de Oaxaca, Chiapas and Veracruz.

Courtesy of McCormick & Company, Inc.

Ever-evolving mindsets drive new flavor pairings for foodservice professionals now and for years to come.

McCormick & Company, Inc., a global flavor company based in Hunt Valley, Md., enters its 11^th year of bringing together its flavor experts, top chefs, food bloggers and mixologists to define leading trends and assemble top 10 flavor pairings. McCormick’s 2011 Flavor Forecast® is focused on how foodservice professionals and consumers can reclaim the joy of eating. Spice consumption in this country is at an all-time high—growing more than three times as fast as the population¹ and currently exceeds 1 billion pounds per year².

Key influences shaping McCormick’s 2011 Flavor Forecast® include need for customization, reframed ideas about health and wellness, desire for ease and simplicity, love of culinary adventure and craving for taste experiences. All are represented in McCormick’s five trend-watch categories:

Courtesy of the United States Potato Board

A recent study confirms that potatoes do not contribute to weight gain.

Pressure from legislators and consumers is growing for restaurant operators to place nutrition information on their menus. At the same time, while everyone is talking about healthier eating, they still want flavor. This pressure to create culinary delights that please the label as well as the palate makes the job of the foodservice professional far more challenging.

Fortunately, there are foundational foods, such as potatoes, that consumers love and associate with comfort and great taste. And when prepared healthfully, they maintain a low-calorie, low-fat, nutrient-dense profile. In fact, research recently released by the University of California, Davis, and the National Center for Food Safety and Technology, Illinois Institute of Technology, demonstrated people can include potatoes in their diet and still lose weight.