Seattle Culinary Academy wins top Green Award for culinary training
The Seattle Culinary Academy, a division of Seattle Central Community College, has been awarded the nation’s top award for innovations in teaching environmental sustainability.
The 2012 CAFÉ/Kendall College Green Award was presented during the CAFÉ Leadership Conference on June 23, in San Antonio by Kendall College and the Center for the Advancement of Foodservice Education (CAFÉ).
Seattle Culinary Academy was one of the first culinary schools in the nation to develop coursework in sustainable food-system practices. ”The program is exceptional because it integrates health and environmental sustainability throughout the educational experience,” Christopher Koetke, vice president of the Kendall College School of Culinary Arts said in his remarks during the presentation.
The program teaches that chefs are the gatekeepers of the food system and embed sustainable principles throughout its curriculum. The students also learn how to tend and harvest food on two acres, maintain a plant-science lab/green house, develop butchery and food-preservation skills and operate a college restaurant where the harvested products are incorporated into menus.
“We embrace and integrate sustainable practices into our curriculum to positively impact our students and the environment,” explained Linda Pal Chauncey, Seattle Culinary Academy associate dean. “It is my hope that our success will inspire others, especially those at public institutions who have felt constrained by budgetary cuts similar to ours, to move forward on sustainability initiatives so crucial to the development of culinary students and the health of our food system.”
Chef-instructor Keijiro Miyata, CEC, CCE, AAC, accepted the award on behalf of the college during the eighth annual CAFÉ Leadership Conference in San Antonio, Texas.
The CAFÉ/Kendall College Green Award is the first national award to recognize secondary and postsecondary culinary-arts and baking/pastry programs for their commitment to sustainability.
Selection criteria are based on the integration of sustainability into educational programs and/or operations, and the objective of the award is to build the body of sustainability resources in foodservice education. The winning program also receives a $1,000 cash prize.
Seattle Culinary Academy joins past CAFÉ/Kendall College Green Award recipients Johnson & Wales University’s Charlotte, N.C., campus (2009); Technology Center of DuPage (2010), Addison, Ill.; and Colorado State University’s hospitality-management program (2011).