World Chefs Waste | Recycling Course Curriculum

The World Association of Chefs Societies (WACS), the umbrella organization of world-chef societies, developed a Sustainability for the Foodservice Industry Course; beta testing is slated for early 2016. When finalized the course will be available to global culinary schools and potentially chef societies, such as the American Culinary Federation.

The WACS sustainability course is designed to embed the importance of sustainability within daily practices, whether in a kitchen, home, business environment or public area, along with establishing the ability to critically think and solve problems. There is no one answer to most sustainability challenges and solutions are driven by local infrastructure available.

Within the course, sustainability is broken down into four categories – food, water, energy, and water – in seven two-hour classes. The following is the class outline:

1. Looking at the big picture: Why sustainability matters to the world and to foodservice.
2. Food Part I: Agriculture – growing in dirt
3. Food Part II: Animal husbandry
4. Food Part III: Seafood
5. Energy
6. Water
7. Waste

Kendall College Vice-President, School of Culinary Arts Chef Chris Koetke, orchestrated the sustainability course curriculum on behalf of WACS. Ei was invited to provide the Waste course material. … and the answer was a big YES!

The Ei SMAT – Sustainable Materials ACTION Team – went to work on crafting a 50+ page PPT presentation complete with photos | visuals, instructor notes, and a glossary of industry terms. With impeccable timing, Ei Intern Jarrett Cohen came on-board for the administrative aspects of the curriculum development.

Following Chris’ guidance, the Waste | Recycling (Ei added recycling to the title) flowed from the broad, big picture viewpoint to the foodservice industry’s tremendous waste generation to the environmental impact and ended with the chef’s leadership role | responsibilities.

For the “In Summary” slide the following three points were made:

• Materials have value; Trash has cost.
• Zero-waste practices make good business sense.
• Sustainability provides a competitive edge on many levels.

Each slide includes detailed instructor notes along with links to supporting documentation for the information presented.

The ZWA Blog article,Sustainability: a matter of thinking critically & solving problems in an adaptive manner, introduces the Sustainability for the Foodservice Industry Course with a focus on the Waste | Recycling Curriculum. Here is an abbreviated Waste | Recycling Course: World Chefs Waste Session Overview (3568 KB)

Kudos to the World Association of Chefs Societies for stepping to the plate and providing a comprehensive introduction to sustainability within the foodservice industry. It is important our future leaders develop the skills of critical thinking and problem solving, especially in the sustainability realm.