Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Posts Tagged ‘culinary’

Genesis Center Is Cooking

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on August 26, 2021| 10 Comments »

Photo: Genesis Center.
Culinary skills training session in Providence. The amazing Josh Riazi built the program into what it is today.

One of the two Providence agencies where I’ve been volunteering to help English teachers is the Genesis Center. In addition to providing English classes to immigrants, Genesis offers child care, many social services, and career programs. Perhaps the most renowned of its trainings is under the aegis of a gifted and highly motivated chef called Josh Riazi. I have tasted the food. It’s top of the line.

Alexa Gagosz wrote at the Boston Globe about plans for expanding the program.

“In the next few weeks, construction will be underway at the Providence Public Library. … Come 2022, a new restaurant run by the Genesis Center, known as CHOP (the Culinary Hub of Providence) will open as a hybrid retail store and workforce and economic development hub. The initiative, according to the Center’s chief executive Shannon Carroll, is a natural expansion of the Center’s longstanding culinary arts program that has been a pipeline to local restaurants for decades.

“But the key difference with this program, said Carroll, is that participants will get paid to learn and will experience a ‘real world’ environment as they develop their culinary skills. Students will have knife skills training, classes in safety and sanitation, proper use of equipment, culinary math, soft skills, and participating in food production for the CHOP commissary. Carroll said they will be able to complete their Servsafe certification and work on individualized goals related to their career and financial empowerment. …

“Q: Who can become a student and how much does it cost?

“Carroll: Genesis Center (located in Providence’s West End neighborhood) serves families throughout the greater Providence area. … The training program would be no cost to the students and participants would receive an hourly wage as apprentices. This paid, on-the-job training allows us to reach students who cannot afford to spend several months on training with no income.

“Q: How is the program funded?

“Carroll: Our programs are funded through grants both for the buildout of the space and the training program. [Funders include Anonymous, Carter Family Foundation, Champlin Foundation, City of Providence, Egavian Foundation, Governor’s Workforce Board, Jacques Pepin Foundation, Ocean State Charities Trust, and Social Enterprise Greenhouse.]

“Q: When and why did the Center decide to expand its culinary program?

“Carroll: We have had many conversations over the years about expanding our culinary offerings to reflect the changes in the industry and the needs and wants of our students.

“When we toured the PPL renovations last year, before COVID, they mentioned wanting to open a cafe in the space. The location, timing, and synergy of missions between the PPL and Genesis Center just made sense to us. It was the perfect opportunity to explore taking our program to the next level.

“Q: How does CHOP fit into the mission at the Genesis Center?

“Carroll: Our mission is to provide the highest quality education, job training, and support services to people of diverse cultures so that they may achieve economic independence and participate fully in society.

“Many [of Genesis Center’s adult learners] hold full-time employment or multiple part-time jobs, but they struggle to support their families with very low-income levels. Most of them have children. They struggle with the same challenges faced by most low-income individuals — unstable housing, inconsistent resources for transportation, limited resources for child care and health care, and difficulty overcoming unexpected problems or emergencies. As members of racial, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic minority groups, they face additional barriers to education and employment. …

“Q: How will the menu work at CHOP?

“Carroll: It will reflect the diverse community we serve. We plan to incorporate feedback and recipes from our staff and students to provide lunch and to-go items to the downtown business community. … We hope it will serve as a community space to bring people together.”

More at the Globe, here, and at ConvergenceRI, here.

Read Full Post »

Free Culinary Training

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , on January 13, 2017| 6 Comments »

Restaurants are having trouble finding trained workers, and many low-income people have trouble getting themselves qualified for a job.

Enter the Culinary Arts Training Program at the Salvation Army’s Kroc Center in Dorchester, Mass.

Sacha Pfeiffer writes at the Boston Globe, “A recent business survey found that the state’s dining sector is facing its worst labor shortage in more than three decades. That survey, by the Federal Reserve, called the staffing situation a ‘crisis,’ and Boston-area restaurants of all types report that hiring at every level, from dishwashers to chefs, is a major challenge.

“But those industry woes pose an opportunity for graduates of free culinary training programs offered by the Salvation Army, Pine Street Inn, Lazarus House Ministries, Community Servings, UTEC, Roca, and other local nonprofits, which have become a small but valuable source of employees for the region’s food service industry. …

“At [November’s] culinary graduation at the Salvation Army’s Kroc Corps Community Center in Dorchester, for example, several prospective employers attended the event to canvass for possible hires. …

“Aimed at low-income students, the programs generally offer basic training in cooking techniques, knife skills, food terminology, menu planning, nutrition, and kitchen safety standards. Many also teach ‘soft skills,’ such as resume writing and effective interviewing, and job-readiness, like the importance of punctuality. …

“Most also provide job placement assistance at not only restaurants, but school cafeterias, hospital kitchens, nursing homes, sporting venues, corporate cafes, and large food supply companies such as Aramark and Sodexo.

“ ‘There are more jobs than we have students for,’ said Paul O’Connell, the former chef/co-owner of Chez Henri in Cambridge who is now culinary director at the New England Center for Arts & Technology, which offers a 16-week culinary training course. … And even low-level jobs in the food sector can lead to lasting careers.

“ ‘The beauty of our industry is if people have a really good attitude and want to learn, they can go from the dish room to the boardroom and everywhere in between,’ said Robert Luz, chief executive of the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, which collaborates with many nonprofit programs.

“ ‘I’ve seen an incredible number of people grow their career from line cook to assistant kitchen manager to kitchen manager to chef and beyond,’ Luz added, ‘so it’s the road to middle income for a lot of people.” More here.

Photo: Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff
A graduate of the Culinary Arts Training Program at the Salvation Army’s Kroc Center shows off his certificate.

Read Full Post »

Native American Food

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 7, 2016| 4 Comments »

A Native American chef trained in French cuisine has a mission to teach the world about an older, unrecognized culinary tradition that has influenced most of us. Hanna Choi reported the story for National Public Radio.

“When Nephi Craig enrolled in the culinary program at Arizona’s Scottsdale Community College, there was nothing like ‘Native American Cuisine 101’ in the curriculum. Craig identifies as White Mountain Apache and Navajo, and the first mention he can recall of anything remotely related to his background was a class discussion on fry bread, a crispy fried concoction that ‘is really a taste of American colonialism,’ he says …

“Since then, he increasingly came to sense a sort of dismissiveness and sloppiness towards Native Americans and indigenous food ways in the mainstream culinary world.

“Craig grew up immersed in his culture through art, music and ceremony, and food always played a large role. He wanted to find a way to bridge the gap. …

“Upon graduating from culinary school in 2000, Craig launched the Native American Culinary Association. Based in Arizona, NACA is a network of Native chefs — professionals and those just starting out — dedicated to the research, refinement, and development of Native American cuisine. Since 2011, the association has organized a yearly Indigenous Food Symposium, bringing people from different fields together to share and learn about Native foods, agriculture and landscapes.

‘Craig is also the executive chef of The Summit Restaurant at Sunrise Park Resort in Whiteriver, Arizona. … Craig’s culinary team there is staffed entirely by cooks and other food workers who identify either with the White Mountain Apache tribe or as Navajo/Dineh.”

In the NPR interview, Craig tells Choi, “I had always been cooking since I was a kid, growing up here on the rez with my mom and my family. We didn’t have a lot of money and so we would bake and sell our goods and I would bag up stuff in sandwich bags and sell them as a little guy.

“I’ve been cooking my entire life, all through my adolescence and I had ultimately wanted to do something creative. …

“I had no idea the world that I would be entering in the long classical legacy that is French cuisine. But that’s kind of where I started out, just in childhood, and then realizing just by pure observation that we were left out of this picture of world cuisine even when about 70 percent of foods consumed around the world today were developed and domesticated by Indigenous peoples of the Americas.”

Craig explains more here. Check it out.

Photo: Evan Sung/Nephi Craig
Nephi Craig, executive chef of The Summit Restaurant at Sunrise Park Resort in Whiteriver, Arizona.

Read Full Post »

Spaces for Cooking

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 17, 2016| 2 Comments »

Photo: Mary MacDonald/Providence Business News
A rehabilitation project recently turned the old Mechanical Fabric Company mill in Providence’s West End into a live-work space for culinary entrepreneurs.
Providence can be a good place for starting a food business, partly because Johnson & Wales turns out so many good cooks, partly because the cost of a restaurant liquor license is much less than in many other cities.

And in recent years, the arrival of food incubators like Hope & Main in nearby Warren have provided a way for food entrepreneurs to get up and running without going deep into debt.

Recently, Providence Journal reporter John Hill wrote about a new food incubator, combined with living space, going into the old Mechanical Fabric Co. mill in Providence’s West End.

“In its 125 years,” writes Hill, “the old brick factory at 55 Cromwell St. has made bicycle tires, electronic components and jewelry. Now it’s getting ready to make dinner.

“The interior of the 1891 building, once filled by the clatter and thrum of steam-powered, belt-driven machines, is being gutted and rebuilt as the new home of two commercial kitchens, restaurant space and 40 efficiency apartments for young food-industry entrepreneurs.

“Federico Manaigo, whose Cromwell Ventures LLC owns the building, said the conversion is aimed at capitalizing on Providence’s reputation as a restaurant mecca. When finished, he said, the factory will be home to recent college graduates considering the restaurant business, either as chefs or owners. …

“Manaigo wants to see if he can duplicate the success of Hot Bread Kitchen, an incubator program in East Harlem in New York City. That program, without apartments, rents space to people with small ethnic food businesses who want to grow into full-fledged commercial operations. It also provides training programs and rents space to start-ups that grow from those efforts.

“The idea is to give promising food-business grads a way to stay in Providence, he said, where they can hone their skills and, when they’re ready to open a restaurant, bakery or catering company, do it in Rhode Island and hire Rhode Islanders. …

“Manaigo said he wants to see if the project can tap into sources of culinary inspiration beyond the colleges. The East Harlem incubator found success by recruiting immigrants, especially women, from the neighborhood, persuading them to share their recipes from home and start small bakeries selling their food. The West End has Middle Eastern, Asian and Central and South American restaurants in its storefronts, a sign of a diverse ethnic population Manaigo said he hopes the kitchen can work with.”

Mayor Jorge Elorza has said he likes that the project offers “a way for the city to use the colleges in the area as sources of potential new business owners and play off the restaurant business in a way that could make it even bigger in the future.

” ‘The whole food scene is a strategic strength for the city,’ he said. ‘This fits squarely within that.’ ” More here.

Read Full Post »

An RI Incubator for Food Businesses

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 24, 2014| Leave a Comment »

What a good idea for economic development in Rhode Island! Rhode Island is where Johnson & Wales has been building a strong gastronomic culture for decades. And the school is not alone. You have your oysters and your Point Judith fishing industry, of course — and I’m leaving out nearly everyone.

Yesterday, my husband and I checked out the state’s first food-business incubator, Hope & Main, at a festive event in the nonprofit’s new, permanent location. The story was posted in October on their website.

“Hope & Main today celebrated the opening of its 17,500-square-foot culinary business incubator facility in Warren, Rhode Island. U.S. Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse spoke at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, as well as other honored guests including USDA Director of Community Programs Daniel R. Beaudette, Warren Town Council President Christopher W. Stanley, and Founder and President of Hope & Main, Lisa J. Raiola, MPH.

“ ‘Hope & Main is about helping food entrepreneurs get started in a licensed kitchen. …  It’s also a place where people can congregate and collaborate, take a class or develop and test new recipes. I am proud to be part of this effort to support start-up food entrepreneurs and help them launch their own food businesses,’ said Senator Reed. ‘This is a great example of what’s possible when federal, state, and local officials collaborate with the private sector to support innovation. …’

“Housed in the historic Main Street School building, located at 691 Main Street in Warren, the renovation project transformed the 100-year-old structure into a state-of-the-art workspace for the region’s food entrepreneurs. [The] building’s highlights include three code-compliant, shared-use commercial kitchens, including a gluten-free kitchen and artisanal bakery, over 6,000-square-feet of production space, cold and dry storage, and a range of commercial equipment to support small-scale operations for baking, food processing and catering. Designed to facilitate collaboration and community involvement in the local food economy, the rehab also features a demonstration kitchen, co-working and meeting spaces, and a 2,000-square-foot community event space. A weekly market will be located on the grounds to give Hope & Main member companies and other local producers direct access to local consumers. …

“The Hope & Main project is funded in large part by a $2.9 million U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Community Facilities Loan.” More at MakeFoodYourBusiness.org, here.

My husband and I left with several business cards and goodies, including a a tomato jam with a great slogan: “To boldly go where no tomato has gone before.” I had a big smile on my face.

hope-and-main-RI-food-biz-incubator

hope-and-main-food-incubator

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

salmon-at-RI-food-incubator

112314-Hope-and-Main-entertainment

Read Full Post »

%d bloggers like this: