Armed with a degree in business, Katie Veile decided not to let her student loans stand in the way of pursuing her lifelong passion at The French Pastry School.  

For the Love of Chocolate Foundation provides scholarships for qualified students in the specialized training of the pastry arts in the full-time programs taught by The French Pastry School of Kennedy-King College at City Colleges of Chicago.

The goal of the scholarships is to encourage and assist aspiring students, career changers and culinary-career professionals to advance their knowledge of the pastry arts. The program is specifically geared toward individuals who are in need of financial assistance. The French Pastry School’s full-time programs not only train students in the art of pastry, but also educate them about the pastry profession.

The school was founded by Chefs Jacquy Pfeiffer and Sébastien Canonne, MOF, in 1995 as a resource for intensive pastry education. Today it is often referred to as the premier pastry school in the world. The French Pastry School offers certificates in Professional Baking and Pastry Arts (24 weeks), Professional Cake Decorating and Baking (16 weeks) and Artisanal Bread Baking (eight weeks).

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.

Chef John Zehnder’s newest cookbook includes the most-requested recipes from the most-frequented restaurant in the United States.

When John Zehnder, CEC, AAC, reads a recipe book, he is more interested in the story behind the recipe. In his third cookbook, Zehnder, executive chef and food & beverage director of Zehnder’s Restaurant in Frankenmuth, Mich., brings together the most-requested restaurant recipes with Zehnder family stories that include anecdotes about well-known guests including automotive leaders and other celebrities. Zehnder’s of Frankenmuth—A Collection of Zehnder's Most Iconic Recipes offers 30 recipes in a spiral bound, 63-page book.

“Today people who purchase recipe books want more than just a list of ingredients and directions,” Zehnder says. “After a great deal of research, we knew that the story behind the recipe captivates foodies and home cooks. We decided to incorporate little-known family and restaurant stories to set the stage for our iconic menu favorites.”