Culinary students from around the world visited the Kendall College School of Culinary Arts in Chicago to prepare locally inspired dishes from their native countries in a global cooking competition in last January. Teams from schools in seven countries and the Laureate International Universities Culinary Network joined Kendall College in this two-day competition.

Participating schools and countries included: Universidade Potiguar in Brazil; Universidad Latina de Costa Rica, Heredia; Universidad de Las Américas in Ecuador; Universidad del Valle de México (two teams); Royal Academy of Culinary Arts in Jordan; Universidad Interamericana de Panama; and Kendall College in the United States.

National competitions were conducted at the various campuses throughout the previous three months to determine the teams that would participate in the global competition. At the competition at Kendall, the finalists had three hours to prepare for their four-course meal for the following day. The next day, each team had an additional two-and-a-half hours to finish their dishes and 30 minutes to serve all four courses to the judges.

Culinary Institute of America (CIA) students Eric Hollandsworth and Christian S. E. Hanrahan are the two most recent recipients of The Jones Dairy Farm Scholarship Fund at the CIA, said Philip Jones, sixth-generation president of Jones Dairy Farm and a professionally trained chef.

By Jamie Leeds

The president of Women Chefs & Restaurateurs calls on us to acknowledge the achievements of women culinarians and hospitality professionals in recognition of National Women’s History Month.

In 1987, Congress declared March National Women's History Month. A special Presidential Proclamation annually honors the extraordinary achievements of American women. The National Women’s History Project (www.nwhp.org) based in Santa Rosa, Calif., has declared 2011’s theme “Our History Is Our Strength.”

Women Chefs & Restaurateurs (WCR) was founded in 1993 by Lidia Bastianich, Elka Gilmore, Joyce Goldstein, Johanne Killeen, Barbara Lazaroff, Mary Sue Milliken, Anne Rosenzweig and Barbara Tropp. WCR’s mission then and now is to promote and enhance the education, advancement and connection of women in culinary and hospitality fields. We offer a variety of networking, professional and support services—including a vibrant scholarship/internship program that creates opportunities for future and established professionals to gain needed or desired skills at home and abroad.

Lovers of ethnic foods are exhibiting a greater taste for exotic flavors.

Consumers love tickling their taste buds with Italian, Mexican and Asian cuisines—so much that all three have become so mainstream, they’re hardly considered ethnic anymore. According to Mintel’s Global New Products Database (GNPD), however, lesser-known ethnic fare has enjoyed robust product growth in recent years, as ethnic-food lovers and their palates are hungry for more exotic ingredients and flavors.

Retailers continue to expand prepared food offerings while gaining ground on restaurants.

Consumers taking part in a recent survey conducted by Chicago-based trend-tracker Technomic say they are sourcing prepared meals from a wider range of retail foodservice operations than they were two years ago, many times at the expense of restaurants. Traditional supermarkets, convenience stores and mass merchandisers have been able to grow their share of the food-away-from-home market as they expand their foodservice platforms and build upon consumer desire for convenience, quality and variety of offerings in retail locations.

Chefs desire global cuisines, whole grains, versatility and U.S.-grown.

According to proprietary research conducted by the Arlington, Va.-based USA Rice Federation among 500 chefs and operators, U.S.-grown rice usage continues to trend upwards on menus because of growing demand for ethnic cuisines, increased appeal of whole grains, rice’s versatility and chef/operators’ support of America’s farmers and the economy. Nearly 90% of chefs and operators report that they currently menu rice, and more than half say their usage of rice will increase in the coming year.

By Brent T. Frei

Snack orders—either as a fourth meal of the day or replacing one of the three squares—are increasing in foodservice.

Perhaps more than any other campaign by a foodservice entity, Taco Bell, a subsidiary of Louisville, Ky.-based YUM! Brands with 5,600 stores nationwide, in 2006 gave Americans permission to indulge in a fourth meal each day without guilt with its “fourthmeal” campaign. The concept also raised consciousness of what we’re eating at each meal. While breakfast all day was last year’s trend, this year, snacking is literally meal-replacement, according to The Food Channel in conjunction with CultureWaves®, the International Food Futurists and Mintel International.

By Lynn Schwartz

Thanks to Whole Foods Market, Scott Crawford is able to utilize all of his skills while practicing what he believes in.

Scott Crawford works for a company that has a strong commitment to sustainable agriculture. The company searches for the highest quality, least processed, most flavorful and naturally preserved foods. They believe that food in its purest state is the best tasting and most nutritious. Based on this commitment, one might assume that Crawford works for a small, high-end restaurant, but actually, this is the philosophy of Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market. And Crawford is the prepared-foods coordinator of the mid-Atlantic Region. The company’s dedication to food, people and planet, unique for the grocery industry, is what gave Crawford the courage to change his culinary direction and join an organization with 54,000 team members (their term for employees) and more than 300 stores.

By Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT

A seminar can be a great place to push students’ thinking and provide them with a different educational experience.

Last month, we discussed using how to make large classes seem small and less intimidating to students; this month, we will talk about the delight of some faculty members and the fear of others: teaching seminar classes, courses most often with fewer students and focused on specific, limited themes or topics.

Definition of a Seminar
Of course, many colleges have used the word seminar to distinguish certain courses as in Freshman Seminar or Major Seminar, often courses with large enrollments that have nothing to do with the original conception of seminar. However, most seminar courses are typically organized around a single topic or set of topics, they involve fewer students (often just enough to sit around a table or in a circle), and they require an approach to teaching and learning different than the typical lecture and discussion. Those of you who have had a chance to teach seminar courses know how different the experience can be and often how critical it is to help students adjust to this alternative structure.

By Adam Weiner, CFSE

What will a potential employer see if he or she looks up your student on Facebook? This and six other points will help you help your grads find meaningful employment.

With the end of the school year approaching, a number of your students will be out in the job market looking to turn all of their culinary skills (that you taught them) into gainful employment. Now for some painful reality: Unless you teach them how to get and keep a job, all of the technical skills that you have taught are in vain. You might feel that you don’t have time to teach these skills or that they aren’t part of your curriculum. Yet, you must remember that even if your student is potentially the next Bobby Flay, it is useless if he/she can’t get a job and keep that job.

This article will be about how to teach your students to get a job, and the next article will regard teaching how to keep the job.