Service-Learning Project for Culinary Arts

I just wrote an article for the Journal of Culinary Science and Technology entitled, "Service-Learning: Connecting the Classroom to the Community to Generate a Robust and Meaningful Learning Experience for Students, Faculty, and Community Partners."  It will be published in the next issue and encourage culinary educators to read it and learn what truly constitutes Service-Learning because it is not what many believe it to be -- it is much more than "community service."

To that end, there is a new Healthy Food in Health Care Pledge being signed by hospitals all across the United States, sponsored by the Health Care Without Harm coalition.  The essence of the program, according to the website is:

Healthy Food in Health Care (HFHC) is a national initiative of Health Care Without Harm (HCWH), developed in conjunction with its member organizations. We work with hospitals across the country to help improve the sustainability of their food services. Founded in 2005, the program provides education, tools, resources, and support to health care facilities, making the connection between the health of patients, staff and community and the food they serve...The program aims to leverage the significant purchasing power and health expert status of hospitals to promote a healthier food system. By purchasing foods that are produced, processed and transported in ways that are protective of public and environmental health, hospitals can make a profound difference in the food system and in their own food environments.

To learn more about this program visit: http://www.healthyfoodinhealthcare.org/index.php

So when looking to do a true Service-Learning project and connect your classroom to the community to provide meaningful service that enhances student learning see if any of your local hospitals have signed the pledge and get in touch.  The patients, hospital administrators, students, and you will find this project very rewarding and educational indeed.

TeamLEAD at Duke Medical School

It is interesting to me that culinary program after culinary program has the same cookie cutter approach to preparing students (with slight variations) to be chefs and all claim to be the best -- whatever that means -- because there are no measurements other than accreditation to determine what consitutes "the best culinary program" at the end of the day.  When will someone take a bold new approach to educating chefs regardless of accreditation rules and regulations and make a change for the better?

For goodness sake, we are teaching kids to cook food so why can't we find new ways to teach culinary arts and hospitality management so that the way we teach is more interesting, engaging and effective for the students?  I can speak for myself on this, we are constantly reinventing our approach to teaching students in our foodservice lab and each new change brings about a better educated, invigorated and engaged student.  Excitement, energy and education abound in the lab because we ask ourselves every day how we can make the experience better and invite students in on the conversation because they have to spend their day learning in the environment we have created so why not let them have their say!

Compare what many are doing in culinary arts with TeamLEAD at Duke University which is teaching students to be doctor's!  Here is a blurb about what it is they say they are doing:
This is a video showcasing the TeamLEAD curriculum at Duke-NUS. We believe medical education is more than just memorizing facts; more importantly, it should critically examine facts and build creative thinking skills. To this end, we use an innovative yet rigorous team-based learning platform called TeamLEAD. TeamLEAD -- which stands for Learn, Engage and Develop -- describes how our students and faculty work and exemplifies the innovative spirit of our school.


Watch the video if you have 9 minutes and feel good about yourself if doing anything in your class or lab remotely close to what Duke is doing to produce doctors.  If not, perhaps it is time to reenginer the approach being taken to prepare the next generation of chefs who will need to log 10,000 hours to be truly great chefs (read Outliers) or have we forgotten to tell them that as we accept their tuition.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlVPLYGdBLg&feature=youtu.be
When all is said and done, our limits are self imposed, so when is the time to make changes that will better prepare the next generation of chefs-in-wating.