The Baker College of Port Huron student-operated, fine-dining restaurant and bar at the Culinary Institute of Michigan (CIM) has opened its doors, serving up Michigan products and beautiful local views. The CIM Port Huron is located at 2000 St. Clair Street, Port Huron.

Named COURSES, the teaching restaurant opened to the public on April 23 offering lunch three days a week—Wednesdays through Fridays, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., with the last reservation for seating at 1:15 p.m. Reservations are required and can be made by calling (810)357-0875.

“Our menus will feature Michigan products and locally grown foods, when available,” said Paula Recinella, COURSES manager and CIM instructor of culinary arts and food and beverage management. “We know our patrons will love discovering quality Michigan products, and this is a great way we can contribute to a healthy, local economy as our Baker College students gain valuable real-world experience.”

A group of students from The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) campus in Hyde Park, N.Y., is spending the first semester of senior year at the college’s campus in San Antonio, Texas, focusing on the ingredients, techniques and cultural traditions of Latin American cuisines. It is part of the CIA’s Latin Cuisines Concentration, which launched May 5—Cinco de Mayo.

The students, pursuing bachelor’s degrees in culinary-arts management from the CIA, will study the foods of Mexico and other Latin American cuisines that are ripe for broader exposure in the United States, including those of Brazil, Peru, Central America and the Caribbean. They will explore the nuances of flavor development and culinary expression of these cuisines, while learning from expert faculty and visiting instructors, such as award-winning chef Rick Bayless, all under the direction of the CIA’s Chef Sergio Remolina.

Students also will be immersed in the history and cultures of these nations and regions. For instance, they will learn that Cinco de Mayo is not the “Mexican Fourth of July,” but rather the commemoration of an 1862 military victory. According to Remolina, only in recent years has it turned into a day of celebration in the United States.

The National Honey Board (NHB) and Women Chefs & Restaurateurs (WCR) have collaborated to establish the “Laurey Masterton Golden Amulet Award,” recognizing women entrepreneurs in the foodservice industry. Launching in 2015, the WCR award is a tribute chef and beekeeper Laurey Masterton, beloved WCR member and NHB spokeswoman, who lost a courageous battle with cancer in February.

A trailblazer and entrepreneur, Masterton is widely recognized for helping to establish downtown Asheville, N.C., as a vibrant farm-to-table food scene, starting with the launch of her eponymous “Laurey’s” Café-Catering-Comfort in 1987.

Imagine working side by side with a top caterer in Seattle, helping with the grape harvest for the oldest continuously operating, family-owned winery in California, or experiencing farm-to-table initiatives on a farm in Hawaii. These opportunities and others are available to women working in the food, beverage and hospitality industries through the 2014 Les Dames d’Escoffier International (LDEI) Legacy Awards. 

Established in 2009, each LDEI Legacy Award offers a one-week workplace experience to non-Dame women in the United States, U.K. and Canada. Award recipients will work alongside some of the culinary and hospitality industry’s top women professionals, all members of LDEI, an international organization of women leaders in food, beverage and hospitality whose mission is education and philanthropy.

For an application, log on to www.LDEI.org and click on 2014 Legacy Awards. Deadline to apply is April 21, 2014.

Six awards will be offered in five categories: one each in Culinary, Pastry, Wine, Food/Wine Journalism and two experiences in Farm-to-Table. The professional experience programs include:

·      Culinary-Catering with Lisa Dupar, Lisa Dupar Catering in Seattle.

·      Entrepreneurship-Pastry for Production with Shari Carlson of Dessert Dreams, Dallas

·      Wine with Carolyn Wente, Wente Family Estates in Livermore, Calif.

·      Food/Wine Journalism at Good Housekeeping magazine with Susan Westmoreland and Sharon Franke, New York City

·      Two Farm-to-Table with Judith Winfrey, Love is Love Farm, and Charlotte Swancy, Riverview Farms, in Atlanta. And one on the Big Island of Hawaii with Lesley Hill and Wailea Agricultural Group

Award winners will be reimbursed for airfare and hotel accommodations for six nights for up to US$2,000. Winners will be announced in early June and 

Emmi Roth USA, an award-winning producer of specialty cheeses, has announced the winner of its Grand Cru® Recipe Contest for Postsecondary Culinary Students. Caroline Ausman of Burlington, Wis., took top honors with her recipe for Manicotti en Croûte with Brandied Fig Sauce.

The contest, presented in conjunction with the Center for the Advancement of Foodservice Education (CAFÉ), challenged postsecondary culinary students to create a flavorful and creative pasta recipe highlighting Roth Grand Cru, a washed-rind Alpine-style cheese crafted in Wisconsin.

Ausman is currently enrolled as a student at The Art Institute of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and is pursuing an associate degree in baking and pastry. She attributes her culinary and pastry passion to working alongside her mother in the family kitchen while growing up.

“I truly feel at home in the kitchen, working with my hands and creating from scratch. This contest was an amazing opportunity for me to showcase what I love doing,” said Ausman. “Although developing the recipe was a tremendous, and sometimes challenging, process, I really learned a lot!”

The 13^th-annual Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival presented by FOOD & WINE, which took place Feb. 20-23, 2014, featured more than 250 of the industry’s leading winemakers, spirits producers, chefs and culinary personalities who entertained and educated approximately 60,000 passionate gourmands and aficionados during this star-studded, four-day destination event. This year's Festival raised more than $2 million for the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management and Southern Wine & Spirits Beverage Management Center at Florida International University.