Kendall College Expands Partnership with Shedd Aquarium to Find the Right Bite
Chicago, IL (PRWEB) September 02, 2014 -- Kendall College and Shedd Aquarium have partnered together to teach Kendall College’s School of Culinary Arts students the importance of sustainable seafood, with Shedd's Right Bite program sharing valuable instruction on how chefs and restaurants can contribute to the sustainable seafood movement through what they include on their menus.
Shedd Aquarium’s award-winning Right Bite program exists to help people make easy, enjoyable seafood choices that benefit the health of our waters worldwide. Right Bite is the leading sustainable seafood initiative in the Midwest and has built a community of more than 25 local partners, including culinary schools, restaurants, retailers, seafood distributers, to increase the availability of sustainable seafood in Chicago’s vibrant marketplace. The aquarium’s staff experts build trusted partnerships to support the sourcing of sustainable seafood and deliver tailored educational programs that share critical seafood issues with current and future chefs and food-service professionals.
Kendall College has long been a leader in culinary sustainability, creating a dedicated program in 2005 to enhance both the curriculum and guiding principles of the educational and operational practices. Kendall addresses everything from composting and recycling to sourcing locally grown, organic ingredients and more. The college partners with Shedd Aquarium’s Right Bite program to further elevate their sustainable offerings and to tap experts within the field to help shape their culinary program. This program works to educate Shedd visitors and partner to spread awareness about sustainable seafood, meaning fish that are abundant, well managed, and caught or farmed in environmentally friendly ways.
“As the No. 1 Culinary School in Chicago in preparing students for culinary careers, it’s always been our mission to make sure our students develop the skills and knowledge to help them succeed,” said Emily Williams Knight, president of Kendall College. “In addition to ensuring our students know the latest culinary trends, preparation styles and cooking methods, it’s important that they know of the issues impacting consumer food choices. We’re so pleased to partner with Shedd Aquarium and their Right Bite program.”
Overfishing and fishing methods that damage ecosystem and fish population health are becoming an increasingly larger problem, with 85 percent of the world’s fisheries being pushed to or beyond their biological limits. Oceans produce 70 percent of the world’s oxygen, influence weather systems and support economics. In addition, fish currently act as a primary protein source for about three billion people, making it critical for chefs, restaurants and consumers to be educated about this issue.1 To date, 90 percent of all large predatory fish, including tuna, sharks, swordfish, cod and halibut, are gone, and scientists predict that with the current trends, world food fisheries could completely deplete by 2050.2
“Eating sustainable seafood is one of the most delicious actions you can take to protect the health of our waters worldwide,” said Aislinn Gauchay, manager of Great Lakes and sustainability at Shedd Aquarium. “Our partnership with Kendall College allows us to teach the next generation of culinary professionals the importance of sustainable seafood and ask them to think beyond taste to how their food choices affect the natural world. Featuring Kendall student-created recipes at live cooking demos will be a treat for our guests and an exciting educational initiative that will encourage each of us to be culinary conservationists in our everyday lives.”
Throughout 2014, Kendall College and Shedd will host cooking demonstrations at the aquarium featuring sustainable seafood recipes created by students in Kendall College’s catering class. Students will compete for the chance to lead the cooking demonstrations by creating a dish using a Right Bite-approved seafood item. The winners will lead the demonstration and tasting in front of hundreds of aquarium visitors. These cooking demonstrations will highlight the importance of sustainable seafood to the health of our oceans and provide guests with helpful cooking tips and recipe ideas.
More information and future dates for the cooking demonstrations will be available at http://www.sheddaquarium.org/plan-a-visit/Explore/Calendar. For additional information on the academic programs at Kendall, visit http://www.kendall.edu. For more information about the Right Bite program, visit http://www.sheddaquarium.org/Conservation--Research/Right-Bite.
Sources:
1. World Wildlife Foundation’s “Wild Caught Seafood” http://worldwildlife.org/industries/wild-caught-seafood
2. Worm, et al. (2006) “Impacts of biodiversity loss on ocean ecosystem services”. Science, 314 (5800), p787. Via Save Our Seas at http://saveourseas.com/threats/overfishing#1
About the Kendall College School of Culinary Arts:
Kendall College, founded in 1934, is located in Chicago, Illinois and is a member of the Laureate International Universities network. Kendall offers undergraduate degrees in business, culinary arts, early childhood education and hospitality management to a diverse and passionate community of more than 1,650 students. The curriculum combines strong academics with practical experience and international educational opportunities that help give students in business, hospitality and culinary arts programs the skills and expertise to be leaders in their professions. Kendall College was ranked the number one program in Chicago for preparing students for careers in hospitality management and culinary arts in a survey of management at Chicago's leading hotels and Michelin Guide restaurants (TNS Global – 2013 Survey). The American Culinary Federation Education Foundation Accrediting Commission has accredited the Culinary Arts associate program since 1988 and the Baking and Pastry associate program since 2008. Kendall College is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA), http://www.ncahlc.org; 1-312-263-0456. For more information, visit http://www.Kendall.edu.
About John. G Shedd Aquarium:
The John G. Shedd Aquarium, a nonprofit organization dedicated to public education and conservation, is among one of the world’s largest indoor aquariums. The facility houses over 32,000 aquatic animals representing some 1,500 species of fishes, reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, birds and mammals from waters around the world. Beautifully situated on the shores of Lake Michigan, Shedd Aquarium is known as “The World’s Aquarium.” Since its opening in 1930, the aquarium’s mission has been to enhance public understanding and appreciation of the aquatic world. Shedd Aquarium is committed to a number of projects designed to preserve threatened or endangered aquatic species. Visit http://www.sheddaquarium.org to learn more.
Kyle Trompeter, Kendall College, +1 312-752-2190, [email protected]
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