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.

Club Managers Association of America (CMAA) CEO James B. Singerling, CCM, on Jan. 16 announced his intention to retire in 2015, completing 25 years of service. The early timing of the announcement is consistent with the terms of Singerling’s contract and will allow him to assist in the transition to a new CEO by his retirement date.

“The opportunity to lead this organization and continue to develop the club industry and its leaders has been tremendously gratifying,” said Singerling. “Our industry is well-positioned to continue expanding the scope and reach of clubs across the nation while also providing jobs and supporting local small businesses as we have for decades.”

Singerling began serving as CEO in 1990 and is credited with elevating the professional role of club managers by creating industry-standard development and certification programs. Over the past two decades, he spearheaded efforts to adopt the general manager/chief operating officer model at clubs nationwide, raising the qualifications and quality of club managers. Singerling is also recognized for building new relationships for the industry with federal and state governments and within the association community.

Almost 25% of the motor cortex of the human brain is dedicated to the hands. Yet as chefs, says this former president of a prestigious culinary school, we take better care of our knives.

By Paul Sorgule, MS, AAC

I have been giving lots of thoughts to my tool kit lately. Like many chefs, I have a plethora of knives, forks, cutters, pastry tips, strange new gizmos and the like. My tool kit (if I brought everything with me to the kitchen) would require a two-wheel cart to drag it from location to location. Instead, I usually bring a handful of knives in a small tackle box.

Unlike some of the young “chefs in training” who have $300 Japanese knives, mine are pretty modest. Keeping an edge on the knife is the only real important factor in determining how well a knife cuts.

As I look at this arsenal of cutting equipment it suddenly came to me that the knife without the hand is pretty useless. This made me really start to wonder in amazement at the versatility of the human hand and how it truly is the most important tool in a chef’s kit.

It and 10 others join The Food Channel’s 2013 Trends Forecast. Smoked water, anyone? And “no choice” is becoming the new choice when dining out.

The Food Channel recently released its 2013 Trends Forecast, compiled in conjunction with CultureWaves® and the International Food Futurists®. Here’s an abridged look at what The Food Channel sees happening in the world of food this year. Click here for the full report.

1. Kickstarting New Food Concepts. Kickstarter, GoFundMe and other crowdfunding sites have been around a while, but we see them really kicking it up to a new level in the food and hospitality arena in the coming year. Got a new food product idea, or want to build a new restaurant? Go for it, and make it a crowdpleaser.

Cascade Culinary Institute builds a new culinary center whose physical and spatial attributes meld perfectly with its natural surroundings, facilitating student learning and the successful collaboration of education and community.

Located on the perimeter of the Central Oregon Community College (COCC) campus in Bend, Cascade Culinary Institute’s new Jungers Culinary Center is the anchor for a future mixed-use development, providing academic and commercial opportunities for the college and its students.

Portland-based Yost Grube Hall (YGH) Architecture collaborated with nationally recognized culinary and kitchen-design professionals to analyze the academic program and then develop a new curriculum and facility to support it. The new 15,000-sq.-ft. building reflects the college’s partnership with the region’s leading hospitality establishments and their staffs, resulting in a flexible facility program that will accommodate the culinary school’s needs for the next five to 10 years.

Using Kickstarter for funding, RADISH rolls out as a reality for a group of Providence students of various disciplines. And delicious, wholesome food served from an artists’ hub on wheels becomes the order of the day.

By Douglas D. Stuchel, MAT, CHE

RADISH, a food truck serving locally grown and organic menu items, was built to promote healthy eating and fostering creativity in Providence, R.I. The food truck was the brainchild of a few passionate students at Johnson & Wales University, Rhode Island School of Design and Brown University who were looking to put their exciting and progressive ideas to good use. Besides serving organic, farm-fresh food, the RADISH team also promotes artists, musicians, cooks and adventurers every month via its truck and website.

Jack Uldrich to launch Mercer Cutlery’s Speaker Series at inaugural CAFÉ event in Chicago, Feb. 22-24, 2013.

The Center for the Advancement of Foodservice Education (CAFÉ) is pleased to announce that Jack Uldrich will keynote CAFÉ’s inaugural event for postsecondary deans and directors of hospitality and culinary-arts programs, Feb. 22-24, 2013, at Kendall College in Chicago.

Uldrich is a renowned global futurist, independent scholar, sought-after business speaker and author. His books include the best-selling The Next Big Thing Is Really Small: How Nanotechnology Will Change the Future of Your Business and award-winning Into the Unknown: Leadership Lessons from Lewis & Clark’s Daring Westward Expedition and Jump the Curve: 50 Essential Strategies to Help Your Company Stay Ahead of Emerging Technologies.

Among menu trends this year, Kraft Foodservice chefs predict that “Food Nationalism” will take root with diners. And 2013 will be the year of the pretzel.

Trend analysis for 2013! What’s on the horizon? Kraft Foodservice’s team of chefs weighs in, giving thoughtful analysis on today’s most accessible trends. See the entire write-up at http://bit.ly/V1mGO6. “Like” Kraft Foodservice at www.facebook.com/KraftFoodservice.

1. Customization and Food as Experience Merge
Customization and food as experience are two mega trends that are now walking in step with each other. And diners are eating it up.