Culinary Education Loses Chef Antun

John Antun, associate professor in the Department of Retail, Hospitality, and Tourism Management in the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences and director of UT’s Culinary Institute, died last Monday after a six-month battle with pancreatic cancer.  I am sorry for not posting this sooner to the blog.  Chef Antun was a GREAT teacher and human being.  He was there from the start to help launch FELC and was present at the last Summit although he was suffering greatly from his cancer.  He hung in there up to the end doing what he loved best -- teaching. 

Chef Antun was also responsible for starting the Journal of Culinary Science and Technology which is widely read by teachers and researchers in academia and industry alike.  The ecclectic journal always has something of interest for everyone to read and the brainchild of Chef Antun.  We will great miss him in the future but his spirit will live on in the years ahead as we keep his memory alive by being the best teachers and researchers we can be in culinary arts and science education.

To read more about Chef Antun visit:
http://www.utk.edu/tntoday/2011/07/14/memoriam-john-antun/
http://hosting-24617.tributes.com/show/John-Antun-91905077

For those who may have known Chef Antun, part of his obituary states:
“The family is requesting donations be made to the John Antun Scholarship Fund, c/o RHT Dept., 110 Jessie Harris Bld., University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996-1911”



Rest easy, big John.  We will truly miss you as you have been an inspiration to so many.  We just hope will be able to return the favor.

Well Bust My Buttons

I awoke today to some great news making me even more impressed lately with the National Restaurant Association.  Today they launched a new initiative called Kids LiveWell.  The lead paragraph on the website say's it all: When parents dine out, they are looking for healthier options for their kids. Many restaurants already have them. The National Restaurant Association has teamed up with Healthy Dining on Kids LiveWell. The new initiative showcases the restaurant industry’s commitment to offer healthful options for children.  To that end the NRA has launched this new program with the industry.

If you go to the website http://www.restaurant.org/foodhealthyliving/kidslivewell/index.cfm you will find detailed information about the program, participating restaurants and companies, and media resources.  This program is destined for success since more than 15,000 restaurant locations became part of the launch of the program that belong to the following 19 brands: Au Bon Pain, Bonefish Grill, Burger King, Burgerville, Carrabba’s Italian Grill, Chevys Fresh Mex, Chili’s Grill & Bar, Corner Bakery Cafe, Cracker Barrel, Denny’s, El Pollo Loco, Friendly’s, IHOP, Joe’s Crab Shack, Outback Steakhouse, Silver Diner, Sizzler, T-Bones Great American Eatery and zpizza.

This is great news indeed as long as the brands start to promote the healthy eating options over those laden with fat, sugar, salt, and artificial colors & flavors.  Indeed this has to be done if we are going to reverse the obesity epidemic in this country which is costing the economy billions of dollars each year due to fast and junk food addictions.  And if you do not think fast food can be addicting, yes just like heroine and nicotine, then you should have watched this past week's episode of the Extreme Makeover weightloss tv show which showcased the power that food had over this gentleman who had to be checked into a rehab clinic to stop his addiction and lose weight for the sake of his health.  He actually lost 110 pounds in three months under the watchful eye of the trainer then gained 70 of it back when on his own to lose more weight due to sneaking fast food meals everyday.

I do hope that culinary arts and education can join with the NRA to reformulate menu offerings that are tasty and healthy.  It is very possible to provide food that is good for customers without sacrificing the profits of a foodservice operation.  My hat is off to the 19 brands that signed on to the program.  Now what about us?  You can bet your bottom dollar that I will be pushing harder than ever to offer healthier options on the menus we offer the public through our foodservice operations because we are in the EDUCATION BUSINESS and have to do all we can to educate the next generation of students and consumers to make better food choices.  I hope more of you will join me.

Fixed versus Growth Mindset?

This week’s read is another book that I highly recommend reading if you are attempting to effectuate change upon yourself or others, such as faculty or students. The book is entitled “Switch” and written by Heath and Heath and published in 2010 by Broadway Books. In the author’s words, This book is to help you change things. We consider change at every level – individual, organizational, and societal. Maybe you want to help your brother beat his gambling addiction. Maybe you need your team at work to act more frugally because of marketing conditions…For individuals’ behavior to change; you’ve got to influence their hearts and minds. The problem is this: Often the heart and mind disagree. Fervently.


The authors then boil change down to a matter of directing the rider, motivating the elephant, and shaping the path and provide plenty of examples of how this formula has effectuated both small and large scale change.

One particular section of the book caught my attention as it relates to teaching with people having either a “fixed mindset” or a “growth” mindset. People who have a fixed mindset believe that their abilities are basically static. People with a growth mindset believe that abilities are like muscles – they can be built up with practice. Guess which of the two is harder to teach?! The answer of course is the fixed mindset and you will have to teach them differently than the growth mindset to get them on track to do well in your classes -- because they do not think they can "do it" or "get it."  These students may very well be in need of “brain is like muscle” training before they can get down to the business of tackling the coursework. For a great explanation of this very important concept be sure to read pages 161-168 when reading the book.

By the way, are you reading a great book you would like to recommend to FELC members and others? Just write a short synopsis as I have done in this blog post and send it to mlalopa@fooded.org with your name, title, and school and I will be happy to post it for all to see.

High on the Hog

I have just finished yet another interesting book as part of the usual happily self-imposed summer reading program while on break from Purdue.  The book is entitled, "High on the Hog, A Culinary Journey from America to America" by Jessica Harris.  The book is a fascinating account of the slavery period in the United States intertwined with the culinary heritage of slaves that influenced the American diet.  I learned a great deal about the slave trade that I either did not remember from K-12 or was never taught in class.  One of the most interesting facts was that only a small percentage of slaves garnered from Africa came to America, the vast majority went to Central and South America.  I thought all slaves traded from Africa by traders were brought to America.  I also learned that it was possible for slaves to become free and live a somewhat normal life -- mostly in the northern states -- and become quite successful business people in the hospitality and services business during and after slavery was abolished.  One example is the Harlem street vendors who sold pigs' feet, fried chicken, hot corn and other vegetables out of horse drawn carts using syncopated rythms and humorous rhymes (eary form of rap?).  In many ways, these entrepreneurs were direct descendents of the vegetable hawkers of Charleston and New Orleans and even the black street-food sellers who had dotted the downtown New York streets in the colonial period and early years of the nineteenth century.

I also learned that ochra, watermelon and black-eyed peas are  native to Africa and brought here on slave ships and the reason that those plants figure into the culinary heritage and diet of Black Americans.  There is also a nice selection of recipes in the back including those to prepare pigs feet, watermelon-rind pickles, possum with sweet potatoes, and bean pie.  There are also many references to those who became successful restaurateurs over the  years and cookbooks that would be a nice addition to one's culinary school library.

All in all it was a very good book and I learned alot and confident you will enjoy it, too.  The author did extensive research to put this book together to tell an accurate and interesting story of the role that Black Americans played to integrate their cultural traditions into the one we take for granted today.