Dynamo Digest is a new component to the USHBC website.

The U.S. Highbush Blueberry Council has launched Dynamo Digest, a blog component to its website. The new blog at www.blueberrycouncil.org/foodservice/dynamo-digest aims to offer an extensive range of information, tips and advice from chefs and foodservice professionals. In association with “Little Blue Dynamos,” the blog's name also reflects the dynamic communications needed to match the ever-changing conditions of the foodservice industry.

Mark Villata, executive director of the USHBC, is excited about the initiative and what it has to offer. “There is a constant influx of information with which people in foodservice need to be kept up to speed,” he says. “Dynamo Digest will be a valuable resource for creative ways to use blueberries, and will go beyond that.” In addition to introducing ways to use various forms of blueberries like fresh, dried, frozen and liquid, the blog will also divulge insights from dietitians, chefs and foodservice professionals on topics such as produce news, school programs, menu trends and dining experiences.

Winners of the 2013 C-CAP Meatless Monday Chili Recipe Contest were announced in March by Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP), the national leader providing scholarships, education and career opportunities in the culinary arts to underserved youth, and Meatless Monday, an initiative of the nonprofit The Monday Campaigns, which provides healthy and environmentally friendly information and recipes.

Thousands of C-CAP high-school seniors became “head chefs” in their classrooms and were introduced to the Meatless Monday public-health campaign encouraging everyone to start each week with a healthy meal. While working with their culinary-arts teachers to concoct the original meatless chili entrée, the teens were encouraged to use the recipe contest to explore new fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes.

On March 2, Monroe College hosted more than 40 high-school students from throughout the New York City metro area as they competed for the titles of America’s Best High School Chef and Pastry Chef in the fifth-annual competition sponsored by the Monroe College School of Hospitality Management and the Culinary Arts in The Bronx.

First-, Second- and Third-Place Winners

America's Best Chef:

1. Abdallah Farraj, Port Richmond High School, Staten Island

2. Anthony Evans, Harry S. Truman High School, Bronx

3. Carlesha Alston, Food and Finance High School, Manhattan

The team of Eric Stein, MS, RD, CCE, a chef-instructor at the Kendall College School of Culinary Arts, and Jaime Mestan, CSC, a Kendall culinary alum (’08) and research chef at Ed Miniat, Inc., in South Holland, Ill., took second place, a silver medal and a cash award of $3,000 at the second-annual Professional Culinology® Competition, March 8 in Charlotte, N.C., held in conjunction with the Research Chefs Association’s (RCA) Annual Conference and Culinology Expo.

Stein and Mestan beat two other teams with their three-concept entry that comprised an “N.C. BLT,” fried shrimp-and-grits ravioli with Texas Pete dipping sauce, and “The Ultimate Southern Sundae.” The competition, which was sanctioned by the American Culinary Federation (ACF), called for two-person teams to submit menu ideas reflecting North Carolina regional cuisine via an appetizer for fine dining, a shareable appetizer for casual dining and a fine-dining or casual-dining dessert.

Prior to the competition, teams prepared their concepts and shipped them frozen to Charlotte. On competition day, each team created the fresh versions of its commercialized concepts and was judged in part against how well the plated, commercialized products matched up against the gold standards prepared on site. Entries were judged by a panel of culinary R&D experts against criteria that included originality of concept, nutritional profile, manufacturing feasibility, flavor, aroma, texture, presentation and safety standards.

Frederic “Fritz” Sonnenschmidt, CMC, AAC, spent 34 years as a faculty member and dean of The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) before his retirement in 2002. More than a decade later, he returned to the college’s Hyde Park, N.Y., campus to deliver words of encouragement and inspiration to 69 recipients of associate degrees in culinary arts and baking and pastry arts.

“Cooking and baking is an art. It is a science. And it is a way of sharing,” Sonnenschmidt told graduates at the commencement ceremony on March 1. “Listen and learn and be willing to share your knowledge and allow others to share with you. That’s how you will stay on the cutting edge.”

Sonnenschmidt founded the Gourmet Society student organization at the CIA when he began teaching in 1968. The college was still located in New Haven, Conn., at the time, four years before moving to its current location in the Hudson Valley. The Gourmet Society remains active on the CIA campus to this day.

Monroe College’s new King Graduate School master’s program, launching in August, will boost upward mobility in hospitality.

By Dr. Frank C. Costantino

From “Gold Medal Classroom’s” editorial director, Mary Petersen:

At our recent Deans and Directors Retreat in Chicago, attendees were able to not only learn from the futurists present, but also discuss current challenges in their programs throughout the United States. We were able to witness some great innovations and best practices as well as take a peek into the future. And we all realized that we need to look at our models of education and start thinking about even more creative outreach to those requiring credentials for their careers.

One model that was interesting to me addressed the challenge of full-time instructors who need to earn a master’s degree to stay in the world of higher education. Because many of our chefs come out of industry and go into education with associate and, perhaps, bachelor’s degrees, and because many of our accrediting groups require higher terminal degrees than they did a few years ago, this program can meet their needs.

I asked Dr. Frank Costantino to share his vision, which has become a reality, of a program in New York that has an innovative delivery system that can help instructors achieve a master’s degree. Frank transitioned from industry to academia and created an Executive Leadership Program in Hospitality Management for others just like him. He will be attending the 9^th-Annual CAFÉ Leadership Conference in June and will be able to answer questions about the program as well as his own journey.

Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Los Angeles strikes meaningful collaboration with USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism to reinvent nutritious recipes for food-pantry patrons.

More than six million U.S. households relied on emergency food from a food pantry one or more times in 2011¹, and with a limited choice of fare, many food-pantry patrons could benefit from suggestions on how to prepare the items they receive, especially fresh produce. Chef instructors at Le Cordon Bleu in L.A. have partnered with the University of Southern California to contribute their culinary expertise and develop new recipes that make produce less intimidating for the novice cook.

To help arm food-pantry patrons with the necessary information to cook fresh fruits and vegetables to create a healthy meal, chef instructors at LCB in L.A. worked together to craft 60 new recipes and modify a list of 200 easily prepared recipes that feature fresh produce. These efforts are part of a University of Southern California (USC) Annenberg research program known as Quick! Help for Meals. The recipes are designed for clients of food pantries to provide suggestions on how to prepare the food they receive.

Ryan receives Innovation Award at Restaurant Industry Conference.

Acknowledging Dr. Tim Ryan’s leadership and commitment to the food and restaurant industry, the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) honored the president of The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) with its 2013 Innovation Award. Ryan received the award at the UCLA Extension Restaurant Industry Conference on the university’s campus on April 3.

“Recognition by such an outstanding institution as UCLA testifies to the excellence of our college’s educational programsand industry conferences,” Ryan said. “We are proud of our continuing innovations, including new majorsand concentrationsthat will further prepare CIA students to shape the future of cooking and the foodservice industry.”

The award recognizes highly influential leaders who have greatly contributed to the evolving landscape of the food, beverage, and restaurant industry. Previous award winners have included Jose Andres, Wolfgang Puck and the Hillstone Restaurant Group.

“Dr. Ryan has earned this honor through his many commitments to the industry and its future, and UCLA Extension is thrilled to name him as the recipient of the 2013 Innovation Award,” said Van Anderson, program director at UCLA Extension.

CMAA and Club Benchmarking release club industry 2012 Economic Impact Report.

The Club Managers Association of America based in Alexandria, Va.,announces the recent release of the 2012 Economic Impact Report in conjunction with Club Benchmarking. This report details the economic impact of the 2,500 clubs managed by members of CMAA in 2011.

Statistics at a Glance

 • The total income for clubs in 2011 was $18 billion.

 • The total direct economic impact for clubs in 2011 was $19 billion, including all tax    revenues generated as a result of club activities.

 • Clubs employ 326,000 employees, with payrolls equaling $9 billion.

 • Clubs serve between 1.7 and 2.0 million members.

 • Clubs raise and contribute $124 million in funds to charitable causes.  

 • Clubs distribute $12 million in student scholarships.

 • Clubs spend $2.4 billion on goods and an additional $1.7 billion on services in their local communities.

 • Clubs as a whole pay $2.6 billion in total taxes; $1.6 billion of which are local and state taxes.

Although the trend in the United States was thought to have run its course in 2011, the number of American adults eschewing gluten is growing, making “gluten free” the health issue of the day.

About a third of U.S. adults say they want to cut down or be free of gluten in their diets, the highest percentage making this claim since The NPD Group, a leading global information company, began asking the question in 2009. NPD’s Dieting Monitor,which continually tracks on a biweekly basis top-of-mind dieting and nutrition-related issues facing consumers, reports that 30% of adults—or roughly one in every three—claimed to cut down on or avoid gluten completely in January 2013.