FENI Summit helps OCVTS students win first place with sugar showpiece

Students in the pastry arts program at Ocean County Vocational Technical School (OCVTS), Brick, N.J., took first place for Best Table Display at the 14th International Chefs' Night Out event on March 1. Their pastry-arts instructor and coach, Dennis Melia, attributed their win in large part to the sugar showpiece techniques he brought back after taking the "Sugar Pulling & Blowing" Master Class at the 12th annual Foodservice Educators Network International (FENI) Summit in Chicago last month.

The winning sugar showpiece from OCVTS students

"The Master Class in sugar pulling and blowing from [French Pastry School] Chef Sébastien Cannone allowed me to bring back to my students a higher level of skills ... and paid off in a big way," said Melia in an e-mail.

Chef-instructor Dennis Melia (far right) and the winning students at International Chefs' Night Out

For more information about FENI, visit www.fenisummit.com.

NRAEF selects Salute to Excellence honorees

Five restaurant and foodservice industry leaders will be honored at the 23rd Annual National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF) Salute to Excellence on May 22 to kick off the annual NRA Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show. The fundraising event pays tribute to the foodservice industry's extraordinary current and future leaders.

The 2010 NRAEF honorees are:
2010 Thad and Alice Eure Ambassador of Hospitality
S. Truett Cathy, founder, chairman and CEO of Chick-fil-A Inc., Atlanta, Ga.

2010 College of Diplomates inductees

• Jerald W. Chesser, Ed.D, CEC, FMP, CCE, AAC, professor of The Collins College of Hospitality Management at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, Calif.;
• Alice Elliot, CPC, founder and CEO of The Elliot Group LLC, New York, N.Y.; and
• Denise Marie Fugo, FMP, chairman and CEO of Sammy's, Cleveland2010 Michael E. Hurst
  

Lifetime of Achievement in Education Award honoree
Ferdinand E. Metz, CMC, president emeritus of The Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, N.Y., and managing partner of The Master Chefs Institute, Escondido, Calif.

Salute to Excellence offers an opportunity to network with restaurant and foodservice industry leaders. The event will also feature a fashion show with Food Network star Ted Allen as host that showcases the latest trends in restaurant apparel and more. The event supports the NRAEF Scholarship program and the NRAEF ProStart program.

Kendall's Artlip awarded honorary FCCLA membership

Mike Artlip, director of The School of Culinary Arts at Kendall College, Chicago, has been selected by the Illinois Association of Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) to receive an honorary membership, based on his contributions to high school culinary arts in Illinois. Artlip (pictured, below) will be honored April 10 during Illinois FCCLA's Awards Session at the Prairie Capital Convention Center in Springfield, Ill.


The award is given to individuals who assist Illinois FCCLA in being an outstanding youth organization. Artlip has been supervising regional and state Illinois FCCLA competitions for several years. A Kendall College graduate, Artlip held executive cooking positions in a number of Chicago-area establishments before joining Kendall's faculty in 1987. In 2007, Artlip received the Educator of the Year Award for the American Culinary Federation's (ACF) Central Region. In 2009, he received the Chef Professionalism Award from ACF Windy City Professional Culinarians in Chicago. Artlip actively maintains his credentials from ACF as both a CEC (certified executive chef) and CCE (certified culinary educator).

Sullivan instructor publishes bourbon cookbook

Sullivan University chef-instructor and beverage management program director Albert W.A. Schmid has written a new cookbook paying tribute to the native spirit of Kentucky: bourbon. The Kentucky Bourbon Cookbook (The University Press of Kentucky) features more than 50 recipes from notable chefs and cookbooks, accompanied by 16 color photographs.

Schmid was inspired to write the book after a bourbon dinner at Dickie Brennan's Bourbon House in New Orleans. The book is organized by season, with each chapter showcasing fresh ingredients and Kentucky events in addition to Schmid's research of the history of bourbon as an American tradition. For more information and to see a video about The Kentucky Bourbon Cookbook, visit www.kentuckybourboncookbook.com.

Profile of master cake artist Lodge on FPS Web site

The French Pastry School of Chicago has released an article profiling master cake artist Nicholas Lodge on its Web site. Over the past three decades, Lodge has written several books on sugar craft and sugar molding, created cakes for Royal Family in England and opened sugar craft schools in Atlanta and Tokyo, Japan. He joins a team of approximately 11 chef-instructors this summer teaching L'Art du Gâteau, the new professional cake baking and decorating program at FPS.

Lodge says,

"I think the only reason I'm able to do what I do is because of my true passion for my craft and my patience. I feel that if you generally are passionate about the area of pastry that you love, that really comes through when you teach it."

Read the complete article at www.frenchpastryschool.com/school_happenings/lodge030510.html

MSU hospitality students learn from industry experts at ALIS

Four Michigan State University (MSU) students in The School of Hospitality Business' Real Estate Investment Club (REIC), volunteered at the 9th annual Americas Lodging Investors Summit (ALIS) Jan. 25 to 27 in San Diego. The students--Emily Lustig, Patrick Beal, Neil Naran and Garrett Ross--are all enrolled in MSU's School of Hospitality Business Real Estate and Development Specialization.

Student volunteers from MSU's School of Hospitality Business pose with industry professionals and MSU alumni at the 9th annual ALIS.

All student volunteers at ALIS, including many from other hospitality programs around the country, were responsible for staffing registration and information booths. Some of the students also worked during the breakout and plenary sessions. The four MSU students also participated in the breakout sessions, attended the keynote speaker presentations and networking receptions and connected with former MSU students at an alumni/student event.

"We learned so much," said Lustig in a statement. "But we also expanded our alumni network, and represented [The School of Hospitality Business]. We will share this information with other students, especially those in the Real Estate Investment Club, including lecture presentations and guest speakers whom we met at ALIS."

Barry Callebaut: Calling all chocolate professionals

Cocoa and chocolate provider Barry Callebaut is calling all culinary educators, chocolatiers, pastry chefs and other chocolate professionals to apply to compete in the U.S. national selections for the 2011 World Chocolate Masters in Paris. The theme of the national competition is "Cocoa, Quetzalcoatl's Gift."

The winner of the national competition will be named U.S. National Chocolate Master and will represent the United States and compete against representatives from approximately 20 other countries at the 2011 World Chocolate Masters competition for the title of World Chocolate Master.

The deadline to submit an application for the U.S. nationals competition is March 31. For more information, visit www.barry-callebaut.com.