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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Kendall Spreads the Word on Sustainability

Admin, Wednesday, May 6th, 2009 | Category: Around Town, Green | Permalink | Email this
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Kendall College’s School of Culinary Arts leads all culinary training programs nationwide in educating the food service industry of the importance of ecological sustainability. To promote the message that even small steps can create a cleaner and greener planet, Dean Christopher Koetke represented Kendall as part of the Chefs Collaborative-Blue Ocean panel during the Seafood Summit in San Diego on Feb. 1, and delivered a three-and-a-half-hour master class to culinary educators at the Foodservice Educators Network International (FENI) Summit in Las Vegas on Feb. 17. He also led panel discussions at the American Culinary Federation’s Northeastern, Central, Western and Southeast Regional Conferences in Boston,  Schaumburg (IL), Seattle and Charlotte (NC), respectively.

Kendall College Wins Poster Session for TAAT®

Admin, Wednesday, May 6th, 2009 | Category: Around Town | Permalink | Email this
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The School of Culinary Arts won “Best Poster” in the second-annual Poster Session of the Foodservice Educators Network International (FENI) Summit for TAAT®—“Taste, Analyze, Adjust, Taste,” an ongoing program that teaches students to taste and, if necessary, adjust their dishes before presenting to instructors.

TAAT is a major initiative conceived by Dean Christopher Koetke, CEC, CCE, that launched in 2007. “On the surface, it seems like a pretty obvious and maybe unnecessary teaching tool,” Koetke says. “Certainly, one would assume that those studying the culinary arts would taste their food. Based upon my experience in culinary education over the last decade, I am convinced that this assumption is false. That is where TAAT is proving powerful.”

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