8/13/2019 "De-skilling? No, it’s re-skilling!” - Professor David Russell - April 2009

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NEWS

DAVID

RUSSELL ON…

“De-skilling?No, it’s re-skilling!”

It is hard work maintaining and improving professional skills,

but ensuring that your staff are up to date is an essential part of

any catering operation. Nutrition is no exception. Many chefs

spend little time on the subject during their training but life

moves at a pace and now this is an area of increasing concern for

customers – and one which caterers ignore at their peril.

 The ability to create nutritionally balanced dishes and menus

and cater for special diets will give chefs the edge in today’s

increasingly health conscious society. It is a sound investment

in staff training to equip them to meet the needs of today’s and

tomorrow’s customers. And let’s not stop at kitchen staff; front

of house teams also need to be knowledgeable about production

methods and the nutritional benefits of particular dishes, in

order to be able to accurately respond to customer queries andsell on the benefits of any healthy eating food policy.

 To help you ascertain whether your team have the necessary

nutrition know-how, here are five simple questions:

Name four balanced vegetarian protein sources aside from

cheese and processed meat substitutes like soya burgers.

Can you name four grains which contain gluten and which

therefore should not be served to celiac customers?

 Which of the following fish contain beneficial omega 3

essential fats: salmon/haddock/canned tuna?

 Which of the following is/are a source of whole grains:

bulghar wheat/brown rice/cous cous?

 You are choosing a new yoghurt range and have to decidebetween one described as ‘strawberry flavoured’ and one

 which is ‘strawberry flavour’. Which contains real fruit and

 which uses artificial flavourings?

 The answers are listed below. How did you and your team score?

Is there room for improvement? If so, consider putting nutrition

on your training schedule for this year. I’d like to see nutrition

as a basic requirement for any catering qualification, just as food

hygiene is. So let’s help put health back on the menu.

(Answers: 1: Nuts, seeds, eggs, grains served with beans or

pulses. 2: Wheat, oats, rye, barley. 3: Salmon. 4: Brown rice.

5: Strawberry flavoured yoghurt contains real fruit.)

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

PEROS CELEBRATES

FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT

Peros, the UK’s leading distributor of Fairtrade beverages

and snacks to the university catering sector, recently

brought together an eclectic mix of presenters for their

inaugural TasteFair event. Organised in conjunction with

Cafédirect and held at Whole Foods Market, Kensington,

 the gathering was organised as part of Fairtrade Fortnight.

The first presenter was Michael Caines MBE, acclaimed

chef and driving force behind the ABode Hotels group who

in 2007 committed to using Cafédirect Fairtrade coffee

across all his hotels and cafés. Talking of a recent trip to

Peru he said: “It is great to think that every cup we sell has a

direct and positive impact on the lives of these people, who

live such simple lives. I feel we’re giving something back and

 that really touches my heart and satisfies my conscience.”

Also on the bill was celebrity wine boffin Olly Smith,

who led a sampling session with the audience. He then

introduced Amen Mtui, oneof Cafédirect’s expert coffee

cuppers from Kilimanjaro,

Tanzania, and together they

explained coffee ‘cupping’

processes and techniques

using freshly-roasted,

single-origin beans.

For more information on

 the Fairtrade movement, go

 to www.fairtrade.org.uk

Michael Caines MBE discusses his recent visit to Peru.

Olly Smith and Amen Mtui.

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