National advisory board recommends a more-modern approach to culinary education for the 16 schools in the United States.

Visiting a restaurant today often means watching chefs and their culinary staffs perform in open kitchens, tasting a variety of small plates featuring seasonal ingredients and enjoying a gourmet twist on comfort food. Gone are the days of five-course, white-tablecloth meals every weekend. So as American restaurants continue to evolve, so, too, does culinary education.

Recently, Le Cordon Bleu (LCB) College of Culinary Arts assembled its National Advisory Board (NAB) in Scottsdale, Ariz., to address the demands for today’s culinary professionals and how their educational programs can evolve. The board, comprised of a variety of chefs and industry business leaders, agreed that today’s educators need to focus on the fundamentals of cooking, while also having the flexibility to integrate a more modern approach.

Many students arrive for class thinking they don’t need to know about beverage because they deal with food. Here’s why they’re wrong.

By Albert W. A. Schmid, MA, CCP, CHE, CFBE, MCFE, CCE, CEC, COI

The message outlined in black letters on the white t-shirt is clear: Beer is Food! The first time I saw this t-shirt, I smiled, but beer does not hold a unique distinction among alcoholic beverages because wine and spirits are food, too.

In simple terms, beer is made from grain and wine is made from fruit. If a beer is distilled, it becomes either vodka or whiskey. If a wine is distilled it becomes a brandy (or sometimes vodka). There are other spirits that might be considered either depending on how you look at them, such as tequila from the agave plant, rum from sugar cane and vodka from potatoes. In any case, the alcohol starts with a food product, and we consume the final product as part of a meal or snack.

At The Culinary Institute of America, a final-semester project to plan and execute an event marketed to the public is one of the most rewarding parts of students’ educations.

By Dr. Pat Bottiglieri

Foodservice Management is taught in the final semester of the senior year in the Bachelor of Professional Studies Program at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA). Prior to taking this course, students will have successfully completed most of the required management and liberal-arts courses and all of their culinary, baking and pastry courses. Foodservice Management provides students with managerial concepts and theories for a senior level of management practice.

In addition, the course includes a capstone project. The project requires students to plan and execute an event that is marketed to the general public. The events must generate a profit. And, as the CIA is a not-for-profit college, any surplus is “reinvested”—divided between an external charity that students select and an internal scholarship fund. This part of the course is worth 25% of each student’s grade.

Mediterranean salads top the list when casual diners seek change.

A Mediterranean-style salad holds the most appeal as a new flavor for diners at casual-dining restaurants, according to a Culinary Visions™ Panel study conducted by Chicago-based Olson Communications.

“When restaurants want to add new salads they should look to the Mediterranean for inspiration,” said Sharon Olson, president of Olson Communications. “We discovered a full 60% of customers are highly likely to choose that type of salad when they have ethnic salad choices that also include Latin and Asian.”

“Artisan” on the menu used to entice diners. Not so much today. And “local” trumps “organic.” Meanwhile, overall restaurant spending is expected to grow.

Interest in where food comes from, as well as changes in restaurant spending, will both drive the foodservice rollercoaster in 2012, according to Mintel’s latest report.

“Overall, restaurant economic prospects for 2012 look positive,” says Eric Giandelone, foodservice director at Chicago-based Mintel. “In spite of the down economy, Mintel estimates that the U.S. restaurant industry will be worth $416.4 billion in 2012, showing that operators really have listened to consumer wants and needs and made appropriate changes.”