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  The Eat Well Guided Tour of America  

   



Introduction
Recipes
Cookbook Reviews
Culinary Schools
Sustainable Kitchen Culinary Schools

As sustainable food becomes more and more popular, cooking schools are beginning to offer classes, or even courses, that focus on sustainable food. Below you will find a few:

REGIONAL

Arizona Culinary Institute (Scottsdale, AZ)
The Institute offers classes that tackle issues of sustainability and sustainable agriculture.

California Culinary Academy (San Francisco, CA)
CCA doesn't offer specific classes on sustainable food and agriculture. However, many of the chef instructors choose to use sustainable foods and talk about sustainability in their classes.

Culinary Institute of America (Hyde Park, NY)
The CIA's culinary arts career program is committed to using as much local produce as possible, including a full herb garden grown right on premises. They also offer occasional recreational classes on sustainable food issues.

Culinary SchoolInstitute of Culinary Education (New York, NY)
The Institute doesn't offer regular programs on sustainability, but offers occasional sustainable cuisine classes in partnership with New York-based Earthpledge and their Farm to Table program.

The Natural Gourmet Cookery School (New York, NY)
The Natural Gourmet Cookery School in New York City prepares its students for careers in the natural foods industry.

New England Culinary Institute (Montpelier, VT)
Sustainability is embedded in their programs, including a food history and development course taught by a local organic farmer. The Institute's fine dining restaurant is a member of CSA (community supported agriculture), where students go to pick the produce they use in class. The Institute has developed this program expressly to get more restaurants to serve local products. Students also go to the farmers market every Saturday to purchase food, and visit local cheese makers and meat producers.

Quillisascut Farm (Colville, WA)
During weeklong retreats for culinary students and professionals, participants milk goats, make cheese, help care for farm animals, transplant vegetables, and harvest produce from the gardens. Visits to neighboring organic farms and presentations about honeybees, grass-finished meats, composting, organic labeling standards, genetically modified foods and globalization round out the experience as students gain an understanding of the implications of buying local and with the seasons. Each day, students will work with a chef to prepare lunch and dinner using only ingredients from the garden and products from local farms.

Seattle Culinary Academy (Seattle, WA)
Seattle Culinary Academy, the oldest culinary school on the west coast, boasts a strong commitment to environmental stewardship and ecological awareness.  The school offers a program called Sustainable Food Systems Practices in which students learn about food politics and issues, food production methods, and social justice. SCA also plans to build a greenhouse in 2007.  Students have the opportunity to build relationships with local farmers, and are strongly encouraged to consider such factors as locale and seasonality when planning menus.  

Western Culinary Institute (Portland, OR)
The Institute offers a few courses focusing on sustainability.

INTERNATIONAL

Organic Tuscany (La Selva, Italy)
Organic Tuscany offers week-long "farm to table" organic cooking holidays in the Tuscan hills. The program visits local organic farms where you will meet their owners, eat in their farm restaurants and taste their wines. The course teaches you how to use fresh, seasonal produce in traditional Tuscan dishes, both “cucina povera” (inventive peasant food) and richer fare, including delicate desserts.

 
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