Chef Charlie Ayers and other celebrity chefs support Earth Day San Francisco in honor of Earth Month.

Rock the Earth of Denver and Calafia Café of Palo Alto, Calif., held a joint fundraiser in honor of Earth Month on April 17. The popular café, owned by celebrity chef Charlie Ayers (pictured), hosted Dine Out for Earth California to celebrate the local food movement.

Several renowned Bay Area chefs joined Ayers in preparing a prix-fixe six-course meal starring locally sourced ingredients. Brews were provided by Palo Alto Brewing Company and wines were donated by Whitcraft Winery, Seamus Winery and Domenico Winery. The event also celebrated music provided by the Bay Area’s Dan Lebowitz (ALO), and Bo Carper and Rajiv Parikh (New Monsoon).

Proceeds from the evening benefited Rock the Earth and Earth Day San Francisco. Rock the Earth is a national not-for-profit environmental organization that works to protect and maintain America’s natural resources to ensure a healthy and sustainable environment through partnerships with the music industry and the worldwide environmental community. Earth Day San Francisco commemorated the 45th anniversary of Earth Day.

NAMI’s Ultimate Guide to Bacon video provides an inside look at how bacon is made; a companion brochure features bacon facts and history.

It is the meat that has become an American obsession, once eaten solely for breakfast, but now found wrapped around other foods, infused into cocktails and even made into personal-care products. To honor bacon’s role as a cultural icon, the North American Meat Institute (NAMI) has developed a new Ultimate Guide to Bacon, featuring a video tour of a bacon processing plant and downloadable companion brochure with bacon facts, history and more.

The video is the newest installment in NAMI’s Glass Walls series, taking viewers inside a typical bacon processing plant. It shows how bacon is made from harvesting the animal to separating the belly to curing and smoking the meat to cutting and packaging the finished product.

Naturally, educators must stress to their students the critical importance of proper knife skills. But, says this chef-consultant, the reality in the workplace doesn’t always match what we teach. (Don’t miss the YouTube video link.)

By John Reed, CEC, CCA

After addressing a group of culinary students at an ACF state competition, I sat back and thought about my words and the content.

In the skills portion of the competition, one of the four disciplines is “Knife Skills.” It requires a competitor chosen randomly from each team to perform this culinary skill. The competitors must dice an onion, cut julienne and chop some tomatoes, among other things. As judges, we critique the competitors on the accuracy of the cuts and compare them to a known standard.

One of the standards is a molded plastic form with the exact dimensions of the named cuts that are mounted to a board. I describe it as the original “3D APP.” You can look something up and then stick it back in your pocket. If you have ever been to culinary school or attended these competitions, you may have seen this guide or are at least familiar with the names of knife cuts that are common in a professional kitchen. In some cases, students spend hours fine-tuning their skills, such as lining up their little sticks of carrots in a row like little Napoleonic soldiers. A sight to see!

Emily Williams Knight—the newest of three educators on the NRAEF’s board—is committed to helping more Americans achieve meaningful, fulfilling careers in the restaurant industry via a respected national industry platform.

Emily Williams Knight, president of Kendall College, Chicago, is among the newest members elected to the Board of Trustees of the National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation (NRAEF), the philanthropic foundation of the National Restaurant Association (NRA).  Knight was welcomed to the board at the NRAEF’s annual meeting on Jan. 30 in Orlando, Fla. She will serve a two-year term with the possibility of serving two additional two-year terms. Knight is the first representative of Kendall College to serve the NRAEF in this capacity in the foundation’s 28 years.

As a new trustee of the 35-member board, Knight represents not only Kendall College’s Schools of Culinary Arts, Hospitality Management and Business to the NRAEF, but also the farther-reaching role of higher education in supporting the NRAEF’s strategic initiatives. These include creating educational programs that provide pathways to employment in the restaurant and foodservice industry and supporting an effective communications program that conveys opportunities for advancement in the industry, as well as the impact of community engagement.

Familiarity with cooking and incorporating lentils into various menu applications can help your students meet nutrition regulations, budgets and consumer demands when they become foodservice professionals.

Foodservice educators not only need to prepare their students to meet expanding nutrition regulations in schools and healthcare settings, but to simultaneously cater to increasing consumer preferences for healthy, affordable and sustainable ingredients that—above all—still taste good. Allow us to introduce a dark horse in helping foodservice educators rise to meet this challenge: lentils.

Top 10 Facts Your Students Need to Know About Lentils

1. Lentils are nutritional powerhouses. They are cholesterol-free and sodium-free, and loaded with potassium, folate, iron and fiber. One serving of lentils boasts nearly half as much protein as a serving of pork, and two times as much proteinas a serving of quinoa.
2. Lentils naturally cater to a variety of specialty diets, including gluten-free, vegetarian and allergen-friendly. Lentil flour can even be used as a wheat-flour alternative to make gluten-free baked goods (like the cookies pictured).