The Research Chefs Association unveiled the latest in culinary arts and food science and technology in Portland, Ore., in March.

The Research Chefs Association’s (RCA) 2014 Annual Conference and Culinology® Expo brought nearly 1,300 food R&D students and professionals to Portland, Ore., for a week of competition, education and food tastings all celebrating Culinology—the blending of the culinary arts and food science.

“I’ve never seen so much energy, passion and thirst for knowledge and collaboration than I did this year in Portland,” says Charles Hayes, CRC®, RCA president. “Our conference competitions, showcased live on the Culinology Expo floor for the first time, added to the excitement of the events and truly gave these teams the recognition they deserve.”

This year, hundreds attended the Expo on March 13, where they viewed the Student and Professional Culinology Competitions and sampled the latest in food-product development from nearly 150 exhibiting companies. During the Culinology Competitions, teams representing three countries executed a Pacific Northwest regional, food-truck-cuisine concept featuring a grab-and-go seafood item for school foodservice (grades 9-12) while addressing sodium concerns. This year’s winners included:

Which good fats to eat and which bad fats to avoid? There’s room for more education.

Despite years of effort by numerous organizations to help the public understand the pros and cons of consuming different types of dietary fats, a new survey by the Hass Avocado Board (HAB) reveals that most Americans are still unclear about the definition and role of “good” and “bad” fats.

In the HAB survey of more than 1,000 adults, nearly half (42%) of people incorrectly thought that all fats play a role in increased cholesterol levels; when “don’t know/unsure” responses are included, the number increases to 51% of people. In addition, more than one-third of people responded inaccurately that monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats are bad and should be reduced or eliminated from the diet.

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.