15^th-annual report highlights top tastes driving the future of flavor and menu innovation.

Sparks, Md.-based McCormick & Company releases its McCormick® Flavor Forecast® 2015, highlighting eight enticing trends that will shape the future of flavor. Now in its 15^th year, the much-anticipated report drives flavor innovation and exploration throughout the food industry and in professional kitchens everywhere.

Reflecting the rapidly increasing demand for bolder, more intense flavor experiences, the McCormick Flavor Forecast 2015 pinpoints adventurous global tastes on the rise. The report also showcases new ways to elevate pantry essentials to starring roles.

AI Pittsburgh instructor Culp helped Culinary Team USA place third overall in Luxembourg, while U.S. chef-educators in individual competition represented their nation well.

Shawn Culp, CEC, department chair of culinary arts, baking/pastry and HRM at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Bridgeville, Pa., was part of the outstanding performance of ACF Culinary Team USA at the 12^th-annual Villeroy & Boch Culinary World Cup 2014 in Luxembourg, Nov. 22-26. Garnering two gold medals and the highest score in the cold-food competition, the ACF team representing the United States placed third overall in one of the largest international culinary competitions in the world.

Culp (pictured) and five other chefs comprising ACF Culinary Team USA competed in the hot-food kitchen Nov. 22, where they prepared a three-course dinner for 110 people in six hours. On Nov. 25, the team competed in the cold-food portion of the competition, where they presented finger foods, a cold buffet platter, starters, a three-course vegetarian menu and a pastry-arts menu and showpiece.

Technomic projects the top 10 food trends to take the nation by storm in 2015.

The restaurant industry is evolving faster than ever according to food research and consulting firm Technomic, based in Chicago. Technology, consumer and menu trends are all revolutionizing foodservice.

Technomic lays out 10 trends that its consultants and experts believe might be transformative in 2015. Predictions are based on Technomic research including consumer and operator surveys and site visits, backed up by data from its Digital Resource Library and vast MenuMonitor database.

1. Lights! Camera! Action!Dining is no longer just a personal experience, but a staged event that imparts bragging rights. Plating and lighting are increasingly designed with phone snapshots and social-media sharing in mind. Customers collaborate to put on the show; menus, marketing, even charitable efforts are crowdsourced.

Vegetarianism—and its many variations—is a way of life for a growing number of Americans. Students, thus, should learn to prepare vegetarian and vegan dishes that entice and excite even those customers who enjoy meat. To that end, Chef Zonka shares her first-week lesson plan in a vegetarian-cuisine course.

By Renee Zonka, RD, CEC, CHE

Did you know that last month (October) was National Vegetarian Awareness Month? I have been working with vegetarians in meal planning and recipe development my entire career. When I was a chef instructor, my classes were nutritional cooking and vegetarian cuisine. In the vegetarian-cuisine class, we made different courses vegetarian and then worked with different ethnic cuisines that lent themselves to vegetarian cuisine. We would prepare foods for different types of vegetarians—from vegans to the most liberal vegetarians. Accompanying lectures would include the health benefits and cautions of vegetarian cuisines.

How often do Americans eat vegetarian meals? And how many adults in the United States are vegetarian? In 2012, the Baltimore-based Vegetarian Resource Group (VRG), a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public on vegetarianism and the interrelated issues of health, nutrition, ecology, ethics and world hunger, asked 2,030 random adults via a National Harris Poll about their vegetarian eating habits, if any.

World’s first business school for food innovation and entrepreneurship to offer first courses next spring.

The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) announced plans on Nov. 8 to launch The Food Business School(FBS), its new center for executive and graduate education. The Food Business Schoolbroadens the CIA’s commitment to the future of food education and leadership with specialized programs for executives, recent graduates and mid-career explorers. The mission of the FBS is to enable and empower entrepreneurial leaders to design, deliver and lead transformative innovations that address the world’s most pressing food challenges—and its greatest business opportunities.

Registration for programs at The Food Business School will begin January 2015 with the first courses commencing next spring.