February comes from the Latin word februa, which means "to cleanse." The month was named after the Roman Februalia, which was a monthlong festival of purification and atonement .
Our Chef of the Month
Chef Kwame Onwuachi
Growing up in the Bronx, selling candy bars on the subway to raise cash to start his first food business. Culinary school, which took him to Mumbai, Hong Kong. “I grew up poor, but I never knew it because I was loved. I grew up cooking right next to my mom in her catering business. The kitchen, however, is where Onwuachi’s professional career began: The 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30 Food & Drink honoree worked his way through fine dining restaurants, including Per Se and Eleven Madison Park, before opening up his own restaurant, The Shaw Bijou, and later helming the kitchen at Kith and Kin, the restaurant for which he earned his James Beard Award. He has also been a contestant, and later a judge, on Top Chef. His first book, Notes from a Young Black Chef: A Memoir, is being turned into a movie starring actor Lakeith Stanfield; his second, a cookbook, is currently in the works. Onwuachi has made it a point in his career to keep an open mind, exploring any and all opportunities that come his way, so long as they align with his greater mission: advocating for the celebration and ubiquity of Black culture. “We shouldn’t just be happy to be here, it has to stick as well,” says Onwuachi. “Representation matters in terms of visibility. We need to be looked at [as being on] the upper echelon of arts.”
. <Chef Kwame in Action
Chef Kwame signature dishes.
Ways to Get Vitamin "D"
7 ways to reduce stress and keep blood pressure down
Food link to better brain power
Just as there is no magic pill to prevent cognitive decline, no single almighty brain food can ensure a sharp brain as you age. Nutritionists emphasize that the most important strategy is to follow a healthy dietary pattern that includes a lot of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains. Try to get protein from plant sources and fish and choose healthy fats, such as olive oil or canola, rather than saturated fats.
Italy's Best Wine Tours
Carmelo Messina is a bi-lingual (Italian and English) Gold Pin sommelier of the Italian Sommelier Association with an additional master certification in professional wine tasting in the United States. He understands how the English, Italian and French systems are used to analyze and describe wines so well that he has led numerous accreditation classes for others seeking their sommelier licenses.
While living in Las Vegas, Carmelo used his extensive knowledge of the mouth-watering best of his home country and represented over 300 different Italian wine producers from all over Italy to others in the Las Vegas wine business. With over 20 years’ experience working in the hospitality, restaurant and wine distribution business in the U.S., England and Italy, Carmelo Messina knows how to present the very best in epicurean delights. In addition to working for Princess Cruise Lines in both the Caribbean and in the Mediterranean, he has opened and worked inside many of the top restaurants in Las Vegas, including as Head Sommelier at Valentino’s inside the Venetian. (Valentino was a Wine Spectator Grand Award restaurant with over 2,000 labels on their wine list — that’s a lot of wine to keep track of and Carmelo knew every bottle!)
Notes from a Purchasing Pro by Robert Dennerlein.
I am excited to post my first tip, on Purchasing for Profit. It is my desire that this information will assist the industry with practical wisdom and best practices.
Quality/Cost Control/Yields: For any operation to succeed it is important to provide customers with a consistent quality at a cost that allows profitability. Your distributor can assist with both quality and cost control. Request your distributor to do food cuttings and provide yield analysis, so you can determine the actual cost of product (EP vs AP). What matters is your EP, which can be 15% higher from one label to another. For example, a #10 can of diced tomatoes may contain 15% more tomatoes than a lesser AP/quality label. If the tomatoes of the higher label were 10% more expensive you have a 5% savings by utilizing the higher-grade product due to the yield or edible tomatoes.
Robert Dennerlein, Robert is a Past President of the Las Vegas Branch many years ago, and has recently rejoined IFSEA. Welcome back Robert and thank you for allowing us to publish this edited article.
“The Beginning of Cooking as We Know It”
Leading Changes and the Sense of Urgency to Adapt to Challenges
Happy New Year!!!!
Restaurants 21/22: The Year In Review + The Year To Come (by Zagat)
The movers, shakers, thinkers, makers, and innovators in this year’s stories are engaging with a restaurant industry radically changed by the pandemic. Last year’s pivots to delivery and outdoor dining have given way to major shifts in how the restaurant business talks about itself—from labor and compensation to kitchen culture, supply chains, pricing, and customer relations. Long-held assumptions are being re-examined and sometimes discarded in favor of ideas that would have been unthinkable just two years ago. And many people who work in hospitality are finding new strength and inspiration in reconnecting with community, service, passion, and purpose at the most personal level. As different as 2021 was from 2020 in the world of restaurants, 2022 promises no letup in the dizzying pace of change. Explore the Restaurants 21/22 storytellers below
Click here for more information
IFSEA
IFSEA news
I recommend to you a wonderful time saving tool created by- IFSEA Member, Executive Chef, F&B Director Lucio Arancibia – lnfoodsys is focused on inspiring and empowering Culinarians everywhere to exceed all challenges. They have tremendous resources at their disposal, but they face an acute scarcity in one critical area: TIME. The Recipe App will produce instant results, instead of riffling through complicated steps. One framework, one process. Full Story:
A Kitchen Manifesto #1
Hot off the Press
Mediterranean- Healthy Diet !!
Food for Thought
The Impressive Health Benefits of Acai massive powerful superfood.
The Culinary Institute of America expresses its deep appreciation for the Legacy Supporters of our 75th Anniversary.
We highly recommend this CIA site, please click on the image below.
Helping Hand
Your Business and your community can benefit from volunteers…taking your team out of the office to volunteer in the community.
Ten Things New Manager Needs to Know
A helpful sheet for accuracy in recipe costing/ click below
Hospitality doesn’t start at the restaurant, hotel or airline. It start at home. In everyday life. Because is all about being hospitable.
Cumulative 15 minute COVID-19 Exposure: What does it mean?
The CDC now defines close contact as somebody who has been within 6 feet of an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24 hour period. If a person is a close contact, he or she must self-quarantine for 14 days from their last exposure to the positive person. All contacts should be tested for COVID-19, and a negative test results does not eliminate the 14 day quarantine period.
provided by Aminta MArtinez – Food Safety and Nutrition Consultant
Your Next Superpower
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
Not all those who wander are lost
– J. R. R. Tolkien
. .
WHAT’S COOKING TODAY?
Recipe provided by Chef Raymond Bar CEC-CCE-ACE
Prawns in Coconut Milk
Method
Think Positively (Leadership)
Leaders can build accountability by spelling out what’s expected from employees in terms of results and behaviors, monitoring progress daily and applying positive and negative consequences based on outcomes, says S. Chris Edmonds. “Without consequences, clear agreements and monitoring do not ensure either results or respect,” he says.
LEADERSHIP IS NOT A POSITION OR A TITLE, IT IS ACTION AND EXAMPLE
Profiles in Leadership: J.W Marriott / Executive & Chairman of the Board of Marriott International . Below is Bill's "guideposts"
Click the image below to watch Leadership Guru, Chris Edmonds
ACF Culinary Corner
Form the American Culinary Federation, your chance to create spectacular dishes and contribute with inspirational new ideas.
Click below for more information:
The 2016 Menus of Change Annual Report was released at the fourth annual Menus of Change leadership summit on June 14. It includes an analysis of issues at the convergence of public health, the environment, and the business of food, plus and updated Dashboard of how the food and foodservice industries have progressed—or not—since last year’s report was issued.
The World Culinary Arts Video Series
Read more and enjoy the videos at: Amazing video library from The Culinary Institute of America
Click on the image below to enlarge
La Finestra: Trends Spotting
Just like fashion, food trends come and go in the blink of an eye. Every year, we see a rise in these fads that inevitably affect the way we eat and plan our meals. From superfoods to juice cleanses, the modern dining pattern has undeniably been influenced by the presence of a health-conscious effort, which we see continuing into 2020.
Learn more 2020 Food trends according Chefs
Perspective Theories of Leadership
If you’re feeling forgetful, it could be due to a lack of sleep or a number of other reasons, including genetics, level of physical activity and lifestyle and environmental factors. However, there’s no doubt that diet plays a major role in brain health.
The best menu for boosting memory and brain function encourages good blood flow to the brain — much like what you’d eat to nourish and protect your heart. Research found the Mediterranean Diet helps keep aging brains sharp, and a growing body of evidence links foods such as those in the Mediterranean diet with better cognitive function, memory and alertness
Learn more by visiting: Types of Foods to Help Boost Your Memory
Meeting the Demand for Safe, Natural Products
Lately, while shopping at my local grocery store, I have noticed the increasing number of food products marketed as organic or preservative-free. More and more, consumers are demanding green labels and ingredient lists they can understand. Yet food safety — preventing food spoilage and contamination from microbial pathogens — must remain a top priority for food producers. The food safety industry faces many challenges if it is to transition away from the use of refined chemicals toward more label-friendly preservatives.
By Suzanne Osborne, PhD
Wednesday, 30 April 2014
Kale is one of the cruciferous vegetables, cancer fighters full of fiber and antioxidants. great addition to salads or you can bake it with a spritz of extra virgin-olive oil and sea salt for a crispy potato chip alternative.
Hail to the Kale!!
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Late last year, we talked to dozens of chefs who predicted trends that ranged from family-style dining to tasting menus with non-alcoholic juice pairings. Of course, no one could have predicted the way 2022 played out.
Hungry for more, click below:
Nutrition, Eat Better
Salt, Consuming the right amount, Most Americans consume more sodium than is good for their health, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Learn more!
8 Tips For Avoiding Gluten Cross Contamination – PrimoHealthCoach
▪ Oils that have been used to deep fry battered foods will contaminate foods like French fries. Use separate oils, and ask the chef when dining out if the same oil is used for battered foods.
▪ Cutlery, utensils and potsand pans must be thoroughly cleaned before cooking gluten-free to avoid cross-contamination.
▪ Toasters and ovens that have been used for glutenous breads can contaminate gluten-free breads. At home try to keep two separate toasters.
▪ Grills and barbecues can easily cross-contaminate foods if not properly cleaned. Many sauces used to barbecue have gluten.
▪ Sifters used for both glutenous and gluten-free flours will cross-contaminate. At home if you use both types of flour, keep separate properly labeled sifters.
▪ Your mayonnaise, peanut butter jar, jams and jellies are easily contaminated when making sandwiches.
▪ Glutenous flours have a tendency to stay airborne for some time after use. Cooking in a kitchen shortly after preparing foods with glutenous flours is risky for the sensitive person. Because of this I find it very hard to believe that you can get a truly gluten-free pizza from a pizza restaurant that makes regular pizza as well.
▪ Any foods not prepared in a gluten-free facility, including your own home, runs the risk of getting cross-contaminated.
Goodness!!
Avocado oil; this silky fruit oil helps fight joint condition and promoted soft skin.
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