When did food become so complicated?
It seems like it should be just the opposite. We eat three times a day. The taking of nourishment is one of the basic needs. No formal training is required for us to learn how.
And yet, it has become complicated.
It certainly has become something we now have to think about. What kind of food are we eating? What kind of food should we be eating? Where does it come from? Is its origin suitable? Should its origin be from somewhere else? Do we eat too much? Why do we eat so much? Food that is being served at a restaurant in Providence is affected by and also affects what happens on a farm thousands of miles away. That restaurant does not have latitude to serve or even prepare food that has not been certified by specific approved methods from licensed purveyors and handled by personnel approved in food safety procedures. It is prescribed that we eat only certain foods – and not just from ethnic or even religious customs but by scientists and even government officials, starting with school programs. It has gotten to the point that a college education may be the only way to fully understand today’s and tomorrow’s complicated and interdependent food systems. The time is right for teaching in the specific discipline of where food comes from and how it got there.
Johnson & Wales University, a long-established leader in food education, will introduce a new bachelor’s degree in sustainable food systems in the fall of 2020. The four-year program is an addition to JWU’s undergraduate and graduate programs that have evolved since the university launched its culinary arts education in the 1970s.
A signature of the university’s academic programs has been its strong affiliation with industry that allows students the opportunity to work with professionals to solve authentic business challenges. The sustainable food systems degree will serve as a platform for future practitioners and policymakers to develop sustainable solutions. Course titles include: “Cultivating Local Food Systems,” “Growing for the Menu,” “Politics of Food, Human Security & Social Justice,” “Sustainability in the Culinary Kitchen” and “Health & the Harvest.” The program will be available at JWU campuses in Providence, Denver and North Miami, Fla.
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LEADS BY EXAMPLE: Johnson & Wales University associate professor Branden Lewis, leaning over at left, prepares a dish during a classroom culinary lab. / COURTESY JOHNSON & WALES UNIVERSITY[/caption]
The academic lead for the new program is associate professor and chef Branden Lewis, who is committed to the sustainable food movement. In 2008, he was named one of Edible Rhody Magazine’s Food Heroes. He was featured in the Rhode Island episode of the Travel Channel TV show “Bizarre Foods: America, with Andrew Zimmern,” in which Lewis demonstrated modernist cuisine techniques for an aerated monkfish liver mousse and a mushroom essence and compound lobster butter sauce.
In describing JWU’s new program, Lewis said, “We have designed a hands-on, experiential curriculum that maintains the fundamental techniques and skills essential to working with and understanding food with the addition of relevant knowledge about food systems, food security, public health and policy. This degree will forge new pathways to healthier eating, healthier societies and more-sustainable food systems.”
While it’s not the first food systems or sustainability program in the U.S., Lewis said, there is something unique about what’s happening at JWU. Lewis believes this is the first full degree program that simultaneously emphasizes the culinarian’s role in a sustainable food system – as opposed to programs that emphasize agriculture or conservancy – and has extensive actual hands-on kitchen experience.
As he put it, “Those programs tend to have one kitchen production class while we have dozens.”
JOHNSON & WALES UNIVERSITY
New degree being offered: Bachelor of Science in sustainable food systems
Prerequisites to enroll: High school education
Enrollment dates: Program launches fall 2020
JWU campuses offering the program: Providence, Denver, and North Miami, Fla.
Year JWU was founded: 1914
Year university launched its culinary program: 1973
Year JWU became the first to offer a Bachelor of Science degree in culinary arts: 1993
Year JWU became the first to offer a Bachelor of Science in baking and pastry arts: 1997
Year JWU offered a Bachelor of Science degree in culinary nutrition: 1999
Bruce Newbury’s “Dining Out” radio talk show is heard Saturdays at 11 a.m. on 1540 AM WADK, on radio throughout New England, through various mobile applications and his podcast. Email Bruce at Bruce@brucenewbury.com.
