Pure New Zealand Cuisine

Producers of the finest New Zealand foods joined forces to inform the next generation of US culinary stars about the quality produce available from this South Pacific nation.  Producers of Cervena venison, lamb, greenshell mussels and Zespri organized for chefs to present their products at US schools over the past year.

The Pure New Zealand Cuisine educational events were held at 9 top US culinary schools during March, April and September 2009. A total of 12 demonstrations and workshops were held. Approximately 469 senior culinary students, and some 28 Chef Instructors and Executive Chefs from the schools attended the events.

A notable development for the 2009 series was the inclusion of 5 workshop style events in Chicago and San Diego. The workshops were between 4 and 5 hours long and involved Chef Graham Brown giving product presentations and demonstrating the preparation of dishes.  Students then broke into groups of 3 or 4 and replicated the dishes Chef Graham had demonstrated. The level of engagement from the students was fantastic and it gave them practical hands on experience working with each of the products.

The 2009 tour visited the following schools:

Demonstrations

Culinary Institute of America, Napa

Professional Culinary Institute, Campbell

Cypress College, Los Angeles

New England Culinary Institute

Johnson & Wales, Rhode Island

California Culinary Institute, San Francisco

California School of Culinary Arts, Pasadena

Workshops

San Diego Culinary Institute, San Diego

The International Culinary School, Chicago (4 workshops over 4 days)

All the presentations were well received and the schools were all very positive about the value of the program to the students. The workshop style events were particularly well received by students and faculty. This comment is representative of the feedback received:

 

“Kevin Duffy, the Dean of our college, was extremely impressed with Chef Graham in particular and his presentation. He told me he would love to maintain this relationship and is looking forward to hosting you every year”. Valeria M. Molinelli, Director of Culinary Events, Johnson & Wales University.