By Lynn Schwartz

Part of Berkeley’s now-famous “gourmet ghetto,” TV cooking personality, author, restaurateur and chef John Fields says he’s done with pretentious food.

Like many chefs, John Shields first learned a love and respect for food from a family member. In Shield’s case, it was his grandmother, Gertie Cleary. Shields has had an accomplished career, which includes two acclaimed restaurants, four cookbooks and two television series: “Chesapeake Bay Cooking” and PBS’ “Coastal Cooking with John Shields.” What now captures his interest is the kind of cooking that his grandmother originally taught him—simple, healthy and local food.

By Dr. Fred Mayo, CHE, CHT

Students give high marks to reporting on current events—even though it requires more work from them—and indicate they learn more as a result.

Making your subject relevant and helping students see what is happening in our industry are only two of the many reasons to use current events in your teaching. Making it a regular part of your classroom activities also keeps students reading newspapers, Web sites and industry publications and encourages them to use search engines on a regular basis.

Since I have been using current events in several of my classes, I have found that students eagerly bring current events to classes and even send me current events by e-mail if they must miss class. It has really expanded the range of activities I use in class, and I encourage you to try it if you are not already.

By Adam Weiner

Part 1 of a two-part series from Chef Weiner on advising your students on selecting and maintaining knives.

All culinary students will ask you, at one time or another, about buying knives. Since we are all busy, I thought I would make your life a bit simpler. Just print out the below and give it to your students.

By Christopher Koetke, CEC, CCE

Interactive activities for communicating foodservice principles of “green.”

Sustainability education is rapidly becoming a part of culinary and hospitality curricula cross the country, and there are few teaching tools that front-line educators can easily access and use in their classrooms. Attendees at the last CAFÉ Leadership Conference were given one such tool that we created at Kendall. For those who couldn’t attend, we’re sharing it today, along with another one, which will be posted permanently on the CAFÉ Web site in the Resource Center under Lesson Plans.

By Mark Molinaro, CEC

When it comes to quality of guest service, the smallest example can make the biggest impression.

Reflecting on the guidance I received from the ladies and gentlemen of The Ritz-Carlton has served me well in my 15 years as a cook, chef, teacher and now director. It was a pleasure and a privilege to have been able to work with such passionate and dedicated people whose shared goal was to surprise and delight every guest who walked through our doors.

The Ritz-Carlton culture is a model for excellence in organizational behavior. From the daily line-ups to departmental meetings to hotel-wide seminars, I always felt connected and an important part of the organization. Examples of model leadership, behavior and expectation are expressed throughout the company, from the interactions between individual line employees to the daily briefs that were sent from corporate office.