The steps to making decadent chocolates are many and varied: from harvesting the pods to designing tempting packaging that belies its rich, melt-in-your-mouth appeal. Every other year, the Fine Chocolate Industry Association (FCIA) hosts its Recognition of Excellence ceremony to award individuals and businesses that have contributed to this diverse community of chocolate makers.

On January 19, 2013, Chef Jacquy Pfeiffer received the FCIA’s Lifetime Achievement Award for his role in cofounding The French Pastry School of Kennedy-King College at City Colleges of Chicago and mentoring future generations of chocolatiers. Other honorees at the San Francisco ceremony included Santiago Peralta for Outstanding Fine Chocolate Maker; Andal Balu for Innovation in Fine Chocolate Products; and Mary Jo Stojak for Outstanding Service to the Industry.

The FCIA is a nonprofit organization founded by a group of chocolate professionals who wished to support the art of fine chocolate making by encouraging innovation, quality and best practices. They accomplish this through offering educational opportunities, effectively communicating values of artisan chocolate making and recognizing those who embody the highest standards. Recipients of these awards are nominated by peers from the chocolate industry and voted on by members of FCIA’s international organization.

The Kentucky Restaurant Association has named Sullivan University National Center for Hospitality Studies graduate Kendall Knies the 2013 Culinary Student of the Year. The 2013 Restaurateur’s Gala and awards ceremony took place on Jan. 21 at the Brown Hotel. Knies is a native of Celestine, Ind., and a 2012 graduate of the Baking and Pastry Arts program at Sullivan. She is currently employed at The Bakery at Sullivan University. Knies was one of four Sullivan students who recently participated in the IKA World Culinary Olympics in Erfurt, Germany, where she earned a diploma.

The Kentucky Restaurant Association is a nonprofit organization run by its almost 1,000 members. The association is involved in a range of activities such as student scholarships, legislation and expos. State headquarters are located in Louisville. The organization honors the success of one culinary professional in each category of restaurateur, manager, supplier, employee, chapter member and student at its annual gala.

Highly accomplished chef, restaurateur and author Waldy Malouf has a new mission. After a successful 13-year run as co-owner and chief operating officer of Beacon in New York City, Malouf became the senior director of special projects at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, N.Y., on January 21, 2013.

Malouf returns to the college from which he graduated in 1975 to work with the college’s food and beverage team to contribute to the ongoing refinement of all nine restaurants at the CIA’s three U.S. campuses. Both the kitchens and dining rooms of the restaurants are capstone classes for CIA degree students, where they put their culinary and hospitality education into practice. CIA restaurants have been a key component of the curriculum for the past 40 years, and they have earned dozens of awards and accolades during that time.

“The closing of Beacon presented the CIA with a rare opportunity to bring one of New York City’s finest restaurateurs—and an alumnus—onto our staff,” said CIA President Dr. Tim Ryan, CMC. “With his depth of knowledge and success in the dynamic and constantly evolving restaurant industry, Waldy will support our faculty in delivering the crowning element of a great hands-on education for our students.”

As the city’s financial district bustled through its morning rush hour outside of the historic Union League Club of Chicago, inside, 98 students of The French Pastry School of Kennedy-King College at City Colleges of Chicago took the first steps toward beginning their new vocation. Graduates of the full-time programs, L’Art de la Pâtisserie and L’Art du Gâteau, celebrated their commencement on the same day that the school received one of the highest honors that educators can be given by the French government: Ordre des Palmes Academiques (Order of Academic Palms), a recognition that was instituted by Napoleon to award “teaching and the development of knowledge.”

On Jan. 14, Sullivan University student Kamisha Jones won first place at the S.Pellegrino Almost Famous Chef North Central Regional Competition at Kendall College in Chicago.

Jones is a Louisville native and a sixth-quarter student at Sullivan University’s National Center for Hospitality Studies. She bested seven other competitors with her poached, pan-seared duck breast over Moroccan-spiced whipped sweet potatoes with apple infused demi-glace and cranberry/apple chutney, garnished with roasted apple and microgreen salad. Jones will compete against the other regional winners in the Almost Famous Chef finals March 8-11 at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone, St. Helena, Calif. Jones was one of two Sullivan University students to participate in this year’s competition, as Alison Settle of Sullivan’s Lexington campus also submitted a dish.

Chef Elaine Sikorski, CEC, CCE, an instructor at Kendall College School of Culinary Arts, is the author of the recently published Cooking to the Image: A Plating Handbook (Wiley, 2012). This is Sikorski’s debut publication. Resulting from years of teaching and cooking practice, Plating relates the look of plate presentations to chefs’ beliefs about food, situated in the larger culinary context. Beginning from a historical menu perspective, the book offers a complete design methodology to plating. Chapter topics include “Platter to Plate: Classical Style,” “Plate Frame: New American Style and Fusion Style,” “The Emerging Menu: Interactive Table Setting” and “Design and Culinary Plate Archetypes.” End chapters address finding inspiration, critiquing culinary art and culinary values.

According to Sikorski, more professional cooks are thinking visually about creating food. To do so successfully, a chef needs to recognize how form and function translate to appearance and flavor on a plate. “About 10 years ago, I was teaching plate presentation at Kendall, and realized that I could tell students that something wasn’t working, but I couldn’t really tell them why,” Sikorski says. “I couldn’t express what I knew.