Chef Taji Marie

Chef Taji Marie will showcase the regional diversity of Mexican cuisine on Feb. 23 and 24 at  the annual Culinary Enhancement Workshop on campus. The theme of the workshop is “Authentic Flavors from the Regions of Mexico.”

Marie is the owner and executive chef of Simple Gourmet in Los Angeles, Calif., and has worked as a resort chef throughout the Caribbean.

The Thursday, Feb. 23, workshop is open to professionals and K-State alumni. The registration fee is $100, and is a fundraiser to help students in the Department of Hospitality Management and Dietetics (HMD) take part in the Friday, Feb. 24, student workshop for only $10. A $5,000 grant from the McCune Foundation also helped make it possible for the workshop to be offered to students at such a low rate.

Both workshops start at 10 a.m. in the Gold Room at Derby Dining Center.

Melissa Schrader, a dietitian with housing and dining services and HMD instructor, said that the workshop will broaden students’ perspectives and prepare them for the diverse job market they will enter after graduation.

“I think people have a misconception about Mexican cuisine,” she said. “There’s so much more to it than tacos and burritos.”

The Culinary Enhancement Workshop is in its eighth year at the university, and has been especially popular in the last several years — even selling out last year. It is co-sponsored by HMD in the College of Human Ecology.

“It took a while for the word to really get out, but after about the fifth year it just really took off,” Schrader said. “Students who have taken part in past workshops have been great ambassadors for the program and really helped it grow.”

The two workshops will each feature demonstrations by Marie, followed by optional hands-on sessions. Samples of demonstrated recipes, lunch and beverages are included in the registration fee.

For more information on both workshops or to register, go to http://www.found.ksu.edu/culinary or contact Schrader at 785-532-6438.

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Gage Milota, Tyler Lough and Jessica Spencer made calls.

Students, faculty and staff pitched in to pull in $108,274 during this year’s Telefund. Students – at least 233 of them – called alumni and wrote cards to those they couldn’t reach by phone. Nearly 40 faculty and staff showed up to assist and support the students. Last year’s effort raised just over $100,000. The Telefund was staged in the K-State Foundation building Jan. 29 – Feb. 1.

That’s what Kelly Whitehair found while researching food disposed by students at Kansas State University’s Van Zile Dining Center. She is an assistant director at the dining center and a December 2011 doctoral graduate in hospitality management and dietetics.

After posters reminded students about food waste during meal services, students threw out 15 percent less food. Posters read: “Eat what you take. Don’t waste food.”

Kelly Whitehair

The finding reveals that simple print campaigns may be an affordable option for food service managers to reduce food waste, Whitehair said.

“All it took to change behavior was a trigger that made students think twice about the topic of food waste before they started eating,” she said. “These were just posters I made at home on a word processor. This was not a fancy marketing campaign.”

Americans throw away more than 34 million tons of food annually, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, making up nearly 14 percent of the municipal solid waste stream. Less than 3 percent of that is recovered and recycled.

Whitehair is doing her part with research that could help university dining centers waste less food and implement more sustainable practices.

During the study, Whitehair and students enrolled in an environmental issues in hospitality course scraped food waste — everything from ketchup and ranch dressing to buns and vegetables — off of more than 11,000 food trays at Van Zile. They scraped trays five days a week during lunch and dinner.

Whitehair analyzed trays individually. An average of 2 ounces of food was left on each tray, totaling nearly 2 tons of food thrown out during the six-week study. Some students threw out as much as 35 ounces of food scraps, while a third of students threw out nothing.

Whitehair also found that general demographics and beliefs toward sustainability had little impact on the student waste behaviors.

In another part of the study, Whitehair interviewed dining facility managers from universities that no longer use trays. She investigated best practices and student reaction at those dining centers, and she is writing guidelines for schools that are considering not using trays.

Food service managers reported benefits of not using trays, including decreased waste; reduced chemical, water, energy and food costs; and improved student satisfaction.

“They found in customer service satisfaction surveys that people would have much shorter wait times in line because people take less food and make conscious decisions about their food choices beforehand,” she said.

Whitehair worked with housing and dining services staff, some of whom teach courses in the department of hospitality management and dietetics.

“We’re extremely lucky that housing and dining services works so closely with the College of Human Ecology,” she said. “The partnership provides opportunities for students to conduct research at major facilities.”

Food waste from Kansas State University’s dining centers are composted with other organic waste such as leaves, tree limbs and grains at the university’s student farm. University researchers use some of the compost from the North Farm, managed by College of Agriculture students, for erosion, field and greenhouse experiments.

Carol Shanklin, dean of the Graduate School, served as Whitehair’s academic adviser. Whitehair earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees at K-State.

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The society recognizes graduate and undergraduate students for outstanding achievements in areas of research, leadership and scholarship. Members are selected based upon demonstrated integrity, high standards of scholarship and the promise of future achievement. Undergraduate students must have completed 45 semester hours and obtained a minimum 3.5 GPA. Graduate students must have completed 15 semester hours of graduate work and have a minimum 3.7 GPA.

They are:

Abilene Katt, sophomore in communication sciences and disorders; Trenton Colburn, sophomore in nutrition and kinesiology; Melissa Taylor, master’s student in public health; Rachel Lundquist, junior in interior design; Elizabeth Johnson, junior in family studies and human services; Katlyn Jones, sophomore in dietetics; Melissa Rousseau, junior in nutritional science; Megan Bolmer, master’s student in food service hospitality management and dietetics; Taylor Oliver, senior in public health nutrition and dietetics; Ashley Leckliter, sophomore in family studies and human services; Kandice Bowie, junior in family studies and human services; Taylor Main, junior in apparel and textiles;

Joanna Howard, senior in apparel and textiles; Kayla Fearing, senior in communication sciences and disorders; Joe Hohendorf, senior in dietetics; Kristi Leonard, senior in dietetics; Morgan Combs, senior in communication sciences and disorders; Shana Leachner, senior in family studies and human services; Yolanda Mitchell, doctoral student in human ecology; Kimberly Evans, master’s student in gerontology; Lindsay Johnson, junior in human ecology; Megan Murray, sophomore in nutrition and kinesiology; Kali Orrick, junior in family studies and human services; Robert Jones, master’s student in family students and human services; Shanna Stewart, sophomore in dietetics and nutrition and kinesiology;

Rachel Ryan, senior in family studies and human services; Katie Kuhn, senior in communication sciences and disorders; Lauren Hower, sophomore in early childhood education; Maria Baker, junior in communication sciences and disorders; Jacob Wright, sophomore in athletic training; Mary Richmond, doctoral student in human ecology;

Hilary Burton, sophomore in early childhood education; Nikki Schmelzle, senior in family studies and human services; Melissa Schrader, doctoral student in human ecology; Chelsea Spencer, sophomore in family studies and human services; Kirstin Howell, junior in family studies and human services; Laci Cornelison, master’s student in gerontology; Timothy Winchester, master’s student in family studies and human services; Eric Bustillos, sophomore in athletic training; Kelly Leonard, senior in public health nutrition and dietetics; Lover Chancler, doctoral student in human ecology; Brandy Tholstrup, sophomore in athletic training;

Cheryl Red, senior in public health nutrition; Sabrina Rinaldi, senior in family studies and human services; Emily Cozzetto, junior in family studies and human services; Ronald Sages, doctoral student in human ecology; Fatemeh Ghayournejadian, master’s student in apparel and textiles; Ebony Benson, master’s student in apparel and textiles; Emily Kilies, junior in hotel and restaurant management; Kellie Dooley, master’s student in gerontology; Shelia West, master’s student in apparel and textiles; Rachel Breneman, senior in dietetics; Melissa Forney, junior in dietetics; NaRita Anderson, doctoral student in human ecology; Kurt Schindler, doctoral student in human ecology; Justin Henegar, doctoral student in human ecology; Lisa Blohm, master’s student in family studies and human services; and Susan Pergal, master’s student in gerontology.

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Two departments had 100 percent participation: Hospitality Management and Dietetics, and Apparel Textiles & Interior Design.

College co-chairs were Debby Hiett, dean’s office, and Migette Kaup, ATID.

The campaign raises money on campus for university and college programs.

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From classic film "Babette's Feast"

A wine tasting pairs with a showing of the acclaimed film “Babette’s Feast” in an event on Sunday, Nov. 13 sponsored by the K-State student chapter of Professional Convention Management Association and Friends of the Beach Museum of Art.

The film will be presented at 3:30 p.m. at the museum. The film is free, but reservations are recommended.

Following the film, the student organization’s annual tasting event will feature wine and nonalcoholic beverages with hors d’oeuvres inspired by French cuisine. Tickets are $10 per person. Space is limited and reservations are required by noon Friday.

“Babette’s Feast,” a Danish film, won the 1987 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film and is based on the story by Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen), who also wrote the story, which inspired the 1985 Academy Award winning film “Out of Africa.”

In the film, Philippa (Hanne Stensgaard) and Martina (Vibeke Hastrup) turn down the chance to leave their Danish town in the late 18th century, instead staying to care for their pastor father and his small church. Thirty-five years later, a French woman (Stéphane Audran) seeks refuge, and Philippa and Martina (now Bodil Kjer and Birgitte Federspie) take her in. The feast the woman prepares in gratitude is eclipsed only by her secret.

Rated G, the film has been called a food classic. It “shares many characteristics with other food films. First and foremost, it lovingly details the many pleasures of food . . . it celebrates the senses. It invests cuisine—very pointedly French cuisine—with incomparable transformative powers. The spectacular repast that crowns the film conjures up a vision of spiritual well-being created by the transcendent artistry of a chef who sacrifices all for her art and, through that art, recreates her country. This restitution of place and resurrection of time makes the most powerful case yet for the intimate drama of culinary metamorphosis,” wrote Priscilla Parkhurst Ferguson in her book “Accounting for Taste: The Triumph of French Cuisine.”

Call or email Ladonna Piper at 785-532-7718 or ladonnap@k-state.edu to make reservations for either or both events. Tasting tickets are also available from PCMA vice president Kolbie Johnson at johnsonk@ksu.edu. Betsy Barrett, associate professor in hospitality management and dietetics, is the PCMA sponsor.

The Beach Museum of Art is on the southeast corner of the K-State campus at 14th Street and Anderson Avenue. Free visitor parking is available next to the building.

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Amanda Hogue

She will graduate with a Bachelor of Science degree in hotel and restaurant management and minors in business administration and leadership studies.

She is a teacher assistant in Principles of Convention, Meeting and Event Management, was music co-chair on the Student Union Program Council and was a School of Leadership Studies student ambassador. This summer she was event planning intern for the Country Stampede in Manhattan.

The senior is a member of the Professional Convention Management Association and Eta Sigma Delta honorary.

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Junehee Kwon, associate professor of hospitality management and dietetics, and Kevin Sauer, assistant professor of hospitality management and dietetics, are co-principal investigators on a project recently funded by a United States Department of Agriculture Higher Education Challenge Grant for more than $140,000.

Junehee Kwon

“We are developing food allergy education materials that educators in hospitality management and dietetics can use to supplement the education of future food service managers,” Kwon said.

A recent national study showed that more than 40 percent of people who have a seafood allergy — one of the most common allergies in the United States — have experienced an allergic reaction from eating in a restaurant.

This high percentage of allergic reactions may be from hidden allergens in sauces or from mixed dishes coming in contact with a safe food item, Kwon said. Knowing that such cross-contact has occurred may be difficult to determine and declare to the customer. Additionally, restaurant employees may not often understand the true risks of food allergies for their customers.

Kevin Sauer

“Consumers with allergies are frustrated,” Kwon said. “They are actually putting their lives in danger by buying and consuming food prepared by someone else. There is a need for consumer education to make sure the customer clearly communicates what his or her specific needs are to the restaurant staff. But even with that communication, people are still frustrated by the apparent inability of food service operations to assure allergen-free food.”

The researchers will use the grant to improve food allergy training for future restaurant and food service managers. They will develop educational materials to assist students in hospitality management and dietetics to be more proactive in working with customers who have food allergies.

“However, we realize that just having knowledge about food allergies is not enough,” Kwon said. “Learning more about how food allergies can really impact someone’s life can motivate these future managers to take food allergy precautions more seriously.”

To motivate students, the researchers plan to use storytelling methods that feature video testimonials from individuals who have food allergies. These videos are meant to appeal to the students’ emotions and show how food allergies have affected someone’s life.

“For preliminary data collection, we created a short storytelling video and measured students’ attitudes toward food allergies before and after watching it,” Kwon said. “We saw an increase in how the students perceived the severity of the risks associated with food allergies and their motivation to learn more increased.”

With the newly funded grant, the researchers will collect more testimonials, record them and incorporate them into new food allergy education curricula. In the future, they hope to expand their scope to work directly with employees and managers currently working in the food service industry.

Kwon and Sauer will also recruit undergraduate researchers for the project, particularly undergraduates involved in the Kansas Bridges to the Future program, the Developing Scholars Program and the Summer Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program.

USDA Higher Education Challenge Grants support projects that address an educational need through a creative or nontraditional approach. Projects have the potential for regional or national influence and can serve as a model for other institutions.

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The university also has recorded its best enrollment, according to 20th-day figures announced by the Kansas Board of Regents. A record-breaking 23,863 students are attending K-State both on and off campus, up from 23,588 last year.

Human ecology has 417 graduate students, including 105 Ph.D. students. Within the college, FSHS has the most students seeking masters’ degrees – 182.

Majors with the most undergraduate students are family studies and human services 463, hotel and restaurant management 261, dietetics 235 and apparel and textiles 217. Majors seeing a growth of about 10 percent or more are communication sciences and disorders, dietetics, general human ecology, nutrition/kinesiology and public health nutrition.

“The addition to Justin Hall could not be better timed,” said Virginia Moxley, dean. The addition, which includes two 100-seat state-of-the-art classrooms, will be completed in fall 2012.

The diversity of K-State students also increased this year, with 3,218 students describing themselves as Black, Hispanic, Asian, American Indian, Hawaiian/Pacific Islander or multiracial, a number that has nearly doubled from a little more than 10 years ago. In the college, that number is 286.

The number of students coming to K-State from outside the United States also climbed to more than 1,850 this fall, up from little more than 1,800 a year ago.

The university also saw an increase in the number of distance education students — more than 2,400. That number doesn’t include on-campus students in Manhattan and Salina who take advantage of K-State’s online courses.

The college has 289 distance-only undergraduate students and 235 distance-only graduate students.

In the college, 401 (up from 365 in 2010) students are from other states and 54 (up from 42 last year) are from other nations. The largest number of out-of-state students comes from Missouri with 65. The most international students come from China with 35.

Andrea and Evan Grier

Students filled in JU 109 Thursday to hear Andrea and Evan Grier, owners of Harry’s Uptown Restaurant in Manhattan, talk about the business they have been operating since they were 27 years old. The presentation was part of a 5-part series sponsored by hotel and restaurant management and the Center for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship in the College of Business.