Gale Gand to appear at Lexington College event

Gale Gand--acclaimed pastry chef, restaurateur, cookbook author and TV personality--will make a guest appearance and sign her newest cookbook, Gale Gand's Brunch!, at Lexington College's "Taste of Lexington" event on March 11.
The annual event welcomes community leaders, hospitality industry professionals, educators, prospective students and executives of hospitality-related businesses to meet students, faculty and staff, tour the campus and sample hors d'oeuvres prepared by Lexington College students. Money raised at the event will go toward scholarship funds for the next generation of women seeking careers in hospitality.

The event will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. at the West Loop campus. For more information, visit www.lexingtoncollege.edu.

USA Pears culinary contest open to culinary students

Culinary students across the country are invited to submit original recipes for the second annual USA Pears culinary contest. Entrants can submit an appetizer, salad, entrée, dessert or beverage with USA pears as a prominent ingredient for consideration.

Recipes are due no later than Jan. 29. Three finalists will be selected to travel to Portland, Ore., in March 2010, where they will prepare their recipes for a panel of judges. The winner will receive $5,000.

For more information, visit www.usapears.org.

Kendall to host 9th Annual Illinois ProStart Invitational

On Jan. 16 Kendall College's School of Culinary Arts in Chicago will host 16 teams of high school students from across the state in the 9th Annual Illinois ProStart Student Invitational. The teams will participate in a full day of culinary and restaurant management competition, hosted by the Illinois Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (IRAEF) and sponsored by Sysco Foodservice-Chicago.

Students will compete in two events: a culinary competition and restaurant management competition. In the culinary competition, students will have 120 minutes to prepare two identical portions of a three-course meal consisting of a starter, entrée and dessert. Students will be judged on knife skills, method and technique, sanitation and safety, professionalism, presentation, recipe costing, organization and teamwork. In the management competition, teams will analyze a management situation and answer foodservice, hospitality and business-focused questions covered in the ProStart curriculum. The case study requires students to analyze the real-life situations using knowledge and communication skills from the management perspective.

The winning teams from each event will be awarded scholarships to pursue post-secondary education in foodservice and restaurant management, the chance to compete in the National ProStart Invitational taking place April 30 to May 2 in Overland Park, Kan., and additional prizes. For more information, visit www.prostart.restaurant.org.

NECI appoints new president

The New England Culinary Institute (NECI), Montpelier, Vt., has appointed Robert (Skip) Myers, Ph.D, as president. Myers most recently was president of Daniel Webster College in Nashua, N.H.

Myers will succeed Fran Voigt, who was president since NECI was founded nearly 30 years ago. Voigt, the co-founder of NECI, will remain at the college for the next several years as CEO and will help Myers transition into his new role. The appointment is part of NECI's strategic plan to become more competitive in its field, providing expanded offerings that will include a more traditional college curriculum in addition to food-related courses, more associate and baccalaureate degree options and a larger online presence.

(l to r) NECI co-founder Fran Voigt and president Robert (Skip) Myers

"[NECI] is the place I would like to spend the next 10 years," Myers said in a statement. "And when I become 70, I'd like to remain at NECI, but in a different capacity. I'd like to become a student here."

For more information about NECI, visit www.neci.edu.

HCCC to hold memorial celebration for chef James Crowley

Hudson County Community College (HCCC), Jersey City, N.J., will hold a memorial reception on Jan. 14 in honor of James Paul "Jimbo" Crowley, a former chef-instructor at HCCC who passed away on Dec. 12, 2009.

A Newark, N.J. native, Crowley earned his degree in culinary arts from HCCC's Culinary Arts Institute. He also was awarded the title of Certified Executive Chef and Certified Culinary Educator from the American Culinary Federation (ACF) Institute and received his New Jersey teaching certification from St. Peter's College in Jersey City.

During his career, he served as executive chef at Silver Creek Country Club in Hellertown, Pa.; Shackamaxon Country Club in Scotch Plains, N.J.; and Brooklake Country Club in Florham Park, N.J. He worked adjunct instructor at HCCC from 1995 through 2007 and most recently was a chef-instructor at West Side High School in Newark. Crowley was a board member and past president of the Northern New Jersey Chapter of the ACF, and collaborated with HCCC on several trainings and competitions through ACF.

The reception will take place from 6 to 8:30 p.m. in the school's Culinary Arts Institute/Conference Center. There is no charge for admission to the reception, though attendees are encouraged to make donations to fund a scholarship that has been established in Crowley's name.

Announcing an exciting new class for the FENI Summit

The 12th Annual FENI Educators Summit

February 12-15 in Chicago
www.fenisummit.com

The premier culinary education event for over 11 years

NEW: CMB-taught Master Class focusing on whole-grain baking

Boost the nutritional content in your baked goods without sacrificing texture or taste! Learn how to put your mainstream products on the whole-grain track, with instruction from Certified Master Baker (CMB) Chef Manfred Schmidtke. FENI attendees will explore how to bring whole-grain nutrition to pastries, cookies, pizza and laminate dough applications using Ultragrain®, the revolutionary, all-natural whole wheat flour with the look, taste and texture of refined white flour.

Sunday, Feb. 14, 1:45-4:45 p.m.
Explore Whole-Grain Baking with a Certified Master Baker
(lecture/demo/hands-on)
Chef Manfred Schmidtke, CMB, CEPC, Lincoln Culinary Institute
Sponsored by ConAgra Mills

For more information or to register for the FENI Summit, visit www.fenisummit.com TODAY!

About Chef Manfred Schmidtke
Manfred Schmidtke, CEPC, CMB, developed his passion for baking began at a young age in a small town in Northern Germany. He pursued an apprenticeship in baking and pastry in Germany from Master Pastry Chef Karl Menke. After successful completion of his apprenticeship, Schmidtke expanded his culinary horizons by traveling the globe to gain extensive baking and pastry experience in cities such as London, Jakarta, Rome, Sydney, New York and Philadelphia. In Philadelphia, he was executive pastry chef for the William Penn Inn Country Club and later opened his own European-style pâtisserie. Several years later, Schmidtke relocated to South Florida and became a pastry chef-instructor at Florida Culinary Institute (now the Lincoln Culinary Institute) in West Palm Beach. He has since been promoted to Department Chair of the International Baking and Pastry program. Schmidtke's accomplishments include achieving the title Certified Master Baker in 1997, receiving a leadership award in industry service in 1999 and attaining the title of Certified Executive Pastry Chef through the American Culinary Federation in 2003.

ICTI World Summit: Calling all academics

The International Culinary Tourism Institute (ICTI) is accepting submissions from academics who want to present their culinary tourism industry research at the 2010 Culinary Tourism Thought Leadership World Summit taking place Sept. 18 to 23 at the World Trade and Convention Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.

ICTI is seeking research relating to culinary tourism, wine tourism and industry trends. It can be completed research, current research or research that will be completed by September. The selected applicants will discuss their findings during 30-minute presentations on Sept. 20 and Sept. 21 during the summit.

The deadline is Jan. 30. Click here for more information.