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.

Renowned chef and restaurateur Michael Lomonaco will be honored at the annual Careers through Culinary Arts Program (C-CAP) culinary event on February 16, 2011, 6:30-9:30 p.m. at PIER SIXTY at Chelsea Piers to support the scholarship and enrichment programs offered by C-CAP. Since 1990, C-CAP has awarded high-school students $31 million in scholarships and donated $2.5 million worth of supplies and equipment to classrooms.

The American Culinary Federation Education Foundation (ACFEF) Accrediting Commission, which assures that culinary programs with ACFEF accreditation meet at least a minimum of standards and competencies set for faculty, curriculum and student services, selected three new members to its commission and announced several leadership changes at its biannual meeting held at Lincoln Culinary Institute, West Palm Beach, Fla., Jan. 16, 2011.

The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) has launched a first-of-its-kind course to raise the quality of food served at hospitals and other healthcare facilities nationwide. Foodservice Management in Health Care (MGMT 411) is an elective business-management course for second-semester CIA seniors. It is believed no other college course of this nature is being offered at this time.

With the aging American population, people are spending more time in hospitals, rehab centers, nursing homes and assisted-living facilities. Foodservice plays an important role in both the health and quality of life of patients and residents. At the same time, managing budgets is also important. The new CIA course introduces students to the challenges of running a healthcare foodservice operation and prepares them for management positions in that field.

The Board of Directors of the New England Culinary Institute announced in December the appointment of G. William Meckert, III, as the college's new president.

Meckert succeeds Fran Voigt, co-founder of the Montpelier, Vt.-based culinary institute. Voigt served as its president for the past 30 years and grew the school from seven students to the 650 who are enrolled in its various programs today. Voigt is the acknowledged visionary for the college, as well as its inspirational and institutional leader, and he will remain its chief executive officer.