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Dean Koetke Vies for Inaugural Pathfinder Award from Chefs Collaborative

Amber, Monday, August 30th, 2010 | Category: Around Town, Green | Permalink | Email this
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Congratulations to Chef Christopher Koetke, C.E.C., C.C.E., dean of the School of Culinary Arts! He’s a candidate for the first-ever Sustainability Awards presented by Chefs Collaborative based in Cambridge, Mass. Chefs Collaborative is the leading nonprofit network of chefs that fosters a sustainable food system through advocacy, education and collaboration with the broader food community.

Chefs Collaborative will honor a single individual in each of three categories during the organization’s awards dinner at Allandale Farm in Boston on Oct. 4. Koetke is a candidate for the Pathfinder award, which recognizes a visionary working in the greater food community who has been a catalyst for positive change within the food system through efforts that go beyond the kitchen.

Sustainability is woven throughout Kendall College’s curricula and the school’s operational practices. In 2007, Kendall was the recipient of the Green Award presented by Foodservice Consultants Society International (FCSI), the first ever presented to a culinary-training program. In 2008, thanks to Koetke’s leadership, Kendall expanded its sustainability commitment to provide education on this critical issue to the broader foodservice industry. Today, Koetke is a well-known expert on the subject and speaks frequently at regional and national industry conferences.

Here’s wishing Dean Koetke the best of luck! Click here for more information on Chefs Collaborative’s National Summit, Oct. 3-5 at Bunker Hill College in Boston.

Koetke Leads NRA Panel on Food Sustainability

Amber, Sunday, July 11th, 2010 | Category: Around Town, Green | Permalink | Email this
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Kendall College’s School of Culinary Arts was in the spotlight this year at the National Restaurant Association’s NRA Show 2010, May 22 – 25. Dean Christopher Koetke, who has become a nationally recognized authority on sustainability in the foodservice industry, led an educational session entitled, “Are Sourcing Local AND Sustainable Food Mutually Exclusive?”  Joining him were Rick Bayless, chef-restaurateur, author and television personality; Steve Schimoler, chef-restaurateur, innovator and well-known locavore; and Dan Rosenthal, founder of the Green Chicago Restaurant Co-op.

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Kendall Chefs Join Launch of First Lady’s Child-Obesity Initiative at White House

Amber, Sunday, July 11th, 2010 | Category: Around Town, Featured | Permalink | Email this
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As communities and organizations get behind First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign to solve the childhood-obesity epidemic within a generation, one group that could have a tremendous impact on the health and well-being of children is the nation’s chefs.

That’s why Christopher Koetke, dean of Kendall’s School of Culinary Arts and vice president, culinary arts, of Laureate International Universities network, along with Renee Zonka, managing director and associate dean of the school, and baking-and-pastry instructor Heidi Hedeker joined more than 500 chefs from across the country on Friday, June 4, to attend Mrs. Obama’s “Chefs Move to Schools” kickoff on the South Lawn of the White House.

The Chefs Move to Schools program, which will be run through the U.S. Department of Agriculture and led by Sam Kass, White House assistant chef, is the latest in Mrs. Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign. At the June 4 gathering, Obama addressed the chefs who will participate in the pilot launch of the program and encouraged them to help kids build healthy habits to last a lifetime. She asked chefs to find other volunteers, put on cooking demonstrations, work with elementary-school teachers and help students plant a garden.

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Kendall College Students Sweep Regional Culinary Knowledge Bowl

Amber, Wednesday, April 21st, 2010 | Category: Around Town | Permalink | Email this
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Question: What hardy and vigorous herb is native to Siberia and thrives in adverse conditions? Answer: tarragon.

Not only did a team of five students enrolled in the School of Culinary Arts at Kendall College know the answer to this question, but also to the number of egg whites (four) needed to clear a gallon of cloudy stock. In fact, the Kendall College team beat 11 other teams to win the Baron H. Galand Culinary Knowledge Bowl and earn a gold medal for each Kendall student at the American Culinary Federation’s (ACF) 2010 Central Regional Conference in Indianapolis, March 26.

Now, the pressure’s on for the national title against three other winning regional teams at the ACF’s convention in Anaheim, Calif., Aug. 2-5. The team achieving victory in that round-robin challenge will be named the national ACF Baron H. Galand Culinary Knowledge Bowl winner for 2010.

The Central Regional Champion team from Kendall College consisted of Allison Chikos, Erika Giffin, Sarah Roberts, Jacquie Wallner and Edward Whitney, and competed against teams from schools throughout the nation’s midsection stretching from Minnesota and Michigan to Texas and Louisiana.

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Koetke Honored for Excellence in Teaching

Amber, Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 | Category: Around Town, Featured | Permalink | Email this
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A chocolate wall on which guests painted their names elicited oohs and ahs, as did lavish cheese, charcuterie and confection displays, a Thai station manned by culinary-arts students, and an ice “screen” on which images were projected. Steamed dumplings, sushi rolled on the spot and freshly made mojitos wowed guests, too. But, generating the most excitement the evening of February 14 in The Dining Room at Kendall College was the announcement that Chef Christopher Koetke, dean of The School of Culinary Arts, had received the inaugural Award for Excellence in Culinary Education from the Foodservice Educators Network International (FENI).

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