A veteran culinary educator recalls mingling among “the beautiful people” at the last annual TomatoFest.

By Jim Gallivan, MAT, CCA, CCP, CFBE

Several years ago, I agreed to write a column every two weeks for the Dover Post News. The idea was to bring up some new and intriguing food topics for the community, and to stimulate interest in Atlantic Culinary Academy in Dover, N.H., as a viable academic entity.

The first article, “Foods in the Attic,” was about heirloom produce, specifically tomatoes, and was written prior to my 16^th-annual pilgrimage to TomatoFest in Carmel, Calif.—the premier heirloom-tomato event in the world.

Constant readers know that I now work for The Art Institute of Atlanta. (Say “Atlanna.”) And heirloom tomatoes continue the mystery. Wherever they are grown—with variants of soil, weather, water—they all implicate and intrigue. So, another journey westward for TomatoFest No. 17.

TomatoFest is an invitational event. While I reveled in being one of the 65 chosen ones (mostly chefs from the Monterey Peninsula and the Bay Area),I did enjoy being one of“Inner Circle.”  What that meant is that I saw colleagues from the very beginnings of the event, and enjoyed a few fringe benefits, as well.

New survey reveals the focus of today’s culinary education

A new study by Culinary Visions^® Panel surveyed culinary educators and students about topics, techniques and trends that are being taught in culinary-arts programs around the country. 

Culinary instructors feel that local and sustainableare the menu-development imperatives for today’s chef to understand. Classic preparation methods are important, yet modern cooking techniques are also on the curriculum.

Today’s culinary students are learning about traditional and unconventional foodservice venues and working with ingredients from around the world to gain an understanding of authentic ethnic and ethnic-inspired foods. Students are also being challenged to create delicious menus that hit important health and wellness goals.

Following are trends that industry professionals believe are important to culinary students:

Due to release June 1, Culinary Educators’ Teaching Tools & Tips written by Colin P. Roche, Bradley J. Ware and Claudette Lévesque Ware is the first text of its kind.

By Brent T. Frei

At this year’s CAFÉ Deans and Directors Retreat in Chicago in February, Dr. Colin Roche, CEC, CCE, FMP, CHE, ACE, announced the pending release of a new book, Culinary Educators’ Teaching Tools & Tips (ISBN: 978-1-4652-4398-0, $45.00). An associate professor and the department chair for the College of Culinary Arts at Johnson & Wales University in North Miami, Fla., Roche co-wrote the book with Dr. Bradley J. Ware, CCC, CCE, a professor in the College of Culinary Arts at JWU in Providence, R.I., and Dr. Claudette Lévesque Ware, a professor in the John Hazen White School of Arts and Sciences at JWU in Providence.

Culinary Educators’ Teaching Tools & Tipswas written to serve as a valuable source of information for secondary and postsecondary culinary and hospitality educators, filled with specific, concrete and achievable lab and classroom teaching techniques.

“The Gold Medal Classroom” caught up with Roche to ask a few questions related to the crafting of this book.

GMC:Why did you see a need to write a book on this topic?

Roche:“The impetus for the book came when I realized that most culinary/hospitality instructors get hired because they are content experts—which is why they should get hired. However, they usually have very little experience, if any, in teaching. Unfortunately, they often receive little to no training when they start, outside of maybe a quick orientation. The new instructor is put into the classroom unprepared, without any formal training and forced to figure it out on his or her own. This is how I started, and looking back, I am sure that I wasn’t very effective in the classroom in those early years.

To baking-and-pastry students with dreams of owning and operating their own bakeshops, whether to create from scratch or utilize a convenience-added product has everything to do with quality and consistency.

By Mark Kwasigroch

Your mission: Make a batch of turnovers that are light, buttery and flakey. Do you …

One, commit to a multi-step process that includes preparing a base dough with bread flour and all-purpose flour, enclose butter at exactly the right temperature, chill rolled-out dough before rolling out again (then repeat), then cut, fill, fold and bake to consume literally hours for perfect turnovers? 

Or two, lay out ready-to-use puff-pastry dough, cut into squares or circles, fill to make sweet or savory, crimp and bake for beautifully golden, fresh-from-the-oven turnovers in minutes?

Today, more American bakeshops (and even bakeshops in France) seek short-cut solutions to creating high-quality classic pastries, breads and other baked goods. This should come as no surprise; after all, the phrase “from scratch” entered the English lexicon as recently as the 1950s—the same decade that produced the first electric can opener. In an industry beleaguered by excruciatingly short profit margins and a dearth of qualified help, “speed scratch,” or the use of convenience products to eliminate time and labor in food preparation, makes a lot of sense.

If you’re 45 or older, you probably prefer a baked potato over french fries, according to results of a recent study. However you like your potato, it’s the vegetable of choice for nearly one-quarter of Americans, and virtually everyone in this country eats them.

In the latest consumer survey by the Idaho Potato Commission (IPC) conducted in January 2014, 97% of Americans said they eat potatoes, and more than 81% enjoy them as a side dish, snack or main course on average of three days per week.

Conducted prior to Potato Lover’s Month (February), the survey polled 1,000 nationally representative Americans ages 18 and over, and delivered unambiguously pro-potato results. “America’s favorite vegetable is now consumed three times a week, up from two times weekly in 2009,” says Frank Muir, IPC president and CEO.

Other revelations include:

• More men than women (84% vs. 78%) eat potatoes once a week
• Regionally, Midwesterners are most likely to eat potatoes at least once a week (88%)
• Popularity of preparations rank with ease of preparation–baked (29%), mashed (25%), french fries (17%), hash browns (9%), potato chips (5%)
• Consumers ages 45+ favor baked potatoes (36% vs. 23% for ages 18-44)
• Consumers ages 18-44 prefer french fries (21% vs. 12% for age 45+)
• Nearly 25% choose potatoes as the vegetable they crave; leafy greens follow at 20%
• 72% said they would eat Idaho® potatoes in preference to potatoes from other states