CAFÉ Summer Workshop for Foodservice Instructors Hosted by Florida Culinary Institute

02 September 2009

A community service project that our students do is that they feed the homeless each Monday night during the school year. (KT)

We have a Chinese New Year party every year (sometime in January/February). We make dim sum, shu mai, brew jasmine tea and green-tea ice cream. I buy all the ingredients at the Asian market nearby and I bring decorations that reflect the year. Gon hoi fat choi! (MG)

We use guest speakers from across the spectrum of restaurants, catering, hotels and corporate dining, including using our own food-and-nutrition cafeteria dining specialist. Speakers come to the school with a wealth of knowledge and experience in the foodservice industry. They do food demonstrations and arrange field trips for interested students. It is important for students to have the opportunity to experience what the foodservice industry has to offer. Students are brought into these foodservice facilities and given job-shadowing opportunities to see for themselves what the foodservice industry has to offer the student. Students have come back better motivated and focused on completing their high-school educations. (AR)

Each table does an international food demo for the entire class. They are graded on: recipe selection, sanitation and clean-up. They report about the country and meal patterns (which is read to the class). They are graded on table-setting, proper knife skills, proper measuring and use of appliances, and taste and appearance. (KG)

I find that food and students go hand in hand. Besides intense labs and hours of café/catering duties, I wanted to find a fun and rewarding way to teach the kids a lesson in foodservice in mass quantities. I decided for their hard work through the year, I would arrange a field trip to Busch Gardens Williamsburg. I wrote a letter to the VP and asked if I could bring my culinary-arts students and have a guided tour of their commissary and a lecture from the F&B manager. They agreed. The students learned first-hand how to plan, cost, hire, plan training and quality control of one of the most popular theme parks in the world. These students saw the value of skills and how hard it is to make a large theme park foodservice run smoothly. At first they saw a day at a park, but in the end, they learned the magnitude and saw first-hand a huge commercial entertainment operation. (DF)

The Mystery Cookie exercise: Students are given a simple chocolate-chip cookie recipe. The chocolate chips and vanilla extract are highlighted or circled. The students are instructed to replace these components with other flavoring components such as almond, orange or lemon extract. Dried berries or nuts such as cranberries, blueberries, coconut, pecans, almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts are also substituted. They may use white or butterscotch chips or candy pieces. (Note: Try different flours as well—whole wheat, spelt, soy.) They can also use a combination of any of these components. The mixing procedure is also removed, and they are asked to write down the creaming method and steps for mixing the cookies. Students get to see how creative they can be and can taste everyone else’s cookies. (DM)

Break up students into small groups. Have them discuss a particular holiday dinner. Make students make lists of foods divided by food groups. Have students develop a holiday menu using the food groups. Make a collage out of the final results. (PB)

In beginning-foods class, when we have our safety and sanitation test, I use “glo germ” powder on the students’ written tests without them knowing. After the test, I tell them they have been infected with artificial germs. I then show them with a black light how the “glo” germs have been spread all over their faces, desks, bodies, etc., by their hands. The kids love it and are very impressed by this “experiment” because the glow-in-the-black-light germs are all over. (“Glo germ” are plastic simulated germs used for training for sanitation and to demonstrate the importance of good hand-washing) (WB)

For a clean and efficient way to grate ginger, first peel the root, then wrap a grater in clear cellophane. Grate the ginger as you normally would with the cellophane around the grater. You will be able to keep the ginger from getting stuck in the grater, plus avoid injuring your finger. (JW)

In organizing cooking labs, it helps to keep students close together no matter how much space is available. This ensures efficiency and cleanup as students proceed through the entire lab exercise. (MW)

This year we are going to make a CD for the students. When job-hunting they can show the future employer all the nifty food stuff the student makes, which is plated and garnished. A photo will be taken and burned on his or her CD for future use. A CD or hard copy can be left for the interviewer. Copies can also be made for a bragging wall in the hallway for future students to view what we made. (DR)

When using your pocket thermometer, you have to sanitize before and after use. You can use an alcohol swab for both operations. Make sure you don’t get the swabs with lotion in them. The cost is about 1 cent each. (LNR)

My senior team designed a restaurant. From concept to menu design, recipes, inventory sheets, pricing of menu items, etc. But this year I plan to go to local merchants and get flooring samples and materials, and students also have to design the interior boards of dining-area layout and kitchen layout. (BB)

The students and I get with our local center for mentally challenged students and have a cooking camp. It is wonderful because the campers learn life skills and the students learn that their skills change the lives of others! We give out ribbons and awards to our campers, and it is truly great to see their self-esteem rise. (TJN)