First of all, we the chefs/culinarians are mostly misinformed or not properly informed about the ever controversial orchestrated genetically altered food war. The United States Food and Drug Administration in 1992 finally took the risky decision to approve officially the first genetically altered food product, a tomato called the Flavr Savr by Calgene, the Davis, California-based company that has produced these tomatoes for many years.

The government and the biotechnology industry have hopes of keeping a low profile until more research is done. Jeremy Rifkin, president of the group Organic Consumers Organization, has not given up to preserve a clean and pure food environment. Middle class America is definitely slowly but surely moving as I can see in the direction of organic, healthy, sustainable foods.

In case of the Flavr Savr, scientists zeroed in on a gene associated with an enzyme that makes the tomato red. Then they reversed the effects ensuring that the tomato stays fresher much longer, but for the average consumer it sounds like foreign language. Read more of this >>

The words “leader” and “leadership” used to be widely accepted definitions of person(s) at the very top. Now, they have been widely broadened to reflectively include those who contribute to the process of moving things forward at any level, in any business setting.

I like to think of it this way: leadership is like ice cream, and the specific business, industry, or circumstances are the flavors. It is impossible to use chocolate chip and make it work when pistachio swirl is required, unless you only care about the fact that you used “leadership ice cream” and not about the outcome or how it tastes. Now you know why poor leadership leaves such a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. Read more of this >>

For those of you who read Part 1, the questions remains, “Who was asking for it?” I would say we did pretty well in the past and present by maintaining a consistent flow of food supply. Yes, it might not be fairly divided and distributed between rich industrial and poor countries; this would be a subject for another article.

I recall, in Europe during the 1970s, the so-called butter and egg mountains that were created due to overproduction and were destroyed because nobody wanted it and perhaps nobody cared. At the same time, there were parts in the world where I had traveled to and lived such as Asia, Latin America, Africa, etc., where people ate out of desperation from garbage cans and dumpsters to stay alive. There is no hygiene, no self esteem and no pride because being hungry and homeless turned into hopelessness.

It’s definitely the genetically altered foods that will bring back life to this hopeless people. I call this poor planning by all highly industrialized countries to ignore world hunger. We need a sort of Greenpeace of world hunger relief. There are some very effective and successful organizations; one of them we call SOS (Share Our Strength). This organization, since 1988 in more than 100 cities throughout the U.S. and Canada, has become a driving force as one of America’s prime fundraisers for the hungry and homeless people of this great country (which are five million strong). Read more of this >>

The moment the word “gene” is used, scary accounts might come to your mind.
The intent of the experiments and alteration with human genes has been often compared with the great hazards of manipulating nations against nations, eventually ending in slavery.

The controversial issue has forced me into extensive research over quite some time. Not only was I researching for my second book, but also I was also intrigued with this risky and fascinating subject matter. It is fair to say it all starting during the 1930s when Nazi Germany experimented with the blending and alternating of human genes in an attempt to create the perfect Aryan human race.

Millions of innocent human beings against their own will became the testing ground (Guinea pigs) until it finally broke the camel’s back, and we all know what the outcome of the cruel, destructive and anti-human experiment was: genocide. Some of you rightfully might say tomatoes, onions, zucchinis, broccoli, etc., are a far cry from deadly human experiments. You are totally correct. Read more of this >>

I ask myself why I became such a pastry buff and for so many years. I always was daydreaming.

I wanted to be a pastry chef one day. My, personal love affair with desserts and the whole aspect of the pastry field was igniting by a personal earth-shaking experience. I had started my third year of my three-year mandatory apprenticeship program in Germany. It was the verbal abuse, mental anguish, constantly being called names and harassed by the chef that caught up with me. It became too much for me as a 17-year-old youngster to handle; most of us apprentices had become scared to death coming in to work every day.

The situation became so desperate, it looked like no one cared. One night I came home teary and shaking like a leaf standing in front of my parents and letting them know in a desperate voice, “Mom and Dad, no more cooking. It’s over for me. My parents looked at each other in disbelief, listening to me defying all what they believed—that you had to finish what you started. This was not the norm in those days, throwing the towel in and giving up, but I was determined to endure no more verbal and mental abuse. Enough with hostility and totalitarians—this was not what I needed as an apprentice. Read more of this >>

Now that the holidays are over, many of us face the price of indulging just too much this time of the year.
The average person consumes approximately 100 to 150 pounds of sugar per year, with 80 percent coming from processed foods such as soft drinks, candy, cereals, and baked goods. But what if we could have our sweets without the high caloric count? Would you use a sugar substitute if your cookie would taste the same and you could still lose weight?
As we notice the uptick on the scale, we have or are in the process of firming up our New Year’s resolutions.

Alternative sweeteners to corn syrup, HFC, and sugar may include:

Honey

Honey is nature’s perfect food; it is the only food that humans eat that harms neither plant nor animal in its production and consumption. The original all-natural sweetener, honey has been prized for its supposed health perks for centuries. And while it has more antioxidant power than, say, refined sugar, it’s hardly going to stomp out all those free radicals that age you. Read more of this >>

Have you ever stepped back from the chaos that is your day and looked around to see a bunch of zombies? Your direct reports going through the routine of their day, glassy eyed and half lucid, barely keeping themselves from tripping over their own two dragging feet? It can be a scary reality, especially this time of year when the holidays remind us all of how being on salary isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. All of those long hours can turn even the liveliest of us into a turnip.

So, what do we do as leaders when our associates seem to go into a motivational coma? Is there anything besides pumping an IV of energy drinks and caffeine that can stir us into who we once were? Regardless of the season, many of us are capable and even prone to fall into this deadly quicksand at any point in our career. All it takes is the right mix of circumstances and the lack of certain other variables and you or your associates are right there.

As leaders I feel that there are some habits that we can lean towards to help steer us away from encountering the morale-eating monster of complacency. From the first interview to the final day on the job we are responsible for driving the success of those to whom we are accountable for. Though it’s a constant battle, it’s vital to start with the right stock. Read more of this >>

The USDA Economic Research Center came out with the following:
For 2012, food price inflation is expected to abate from 2011 levels but is projected to be slightly above the historical average for the past two decades. The all-food CPI (Consumer Price Index) is projected to increase 2.5 to 3.5 percent over 2011 levels, with food-at-home prices increasing 3 to 4 percent and food-away-from-home (hotels, restaurants, etc.) prices increasing 2 to 3 percent.

The good news is that these projections are slightly less than the 2011 projected estimates. The bad news is that pricing is still going up.

The US economy will also be affected in the new year by:
** The weather (i.e. the Texas drought affecting cattle weights or the recent freezes in Arizona affecting crops).
** The US Dollar
** China’s increase in discretionary income.
** The volatile European Union (i.e. countries like Greece and Italy experiencing continued recessionary conditions).
** The major financial institutions forecasting roughly a 2-2.5% economic growth number.
** The potential of Congress to not increase unemployment benefits for another year.
** Companies continuing to do more with less.

You are probably looking at this and saying, “how does this translate into our industry?” As a hospitality buyer I do tend to look at many things. While these items above are important, and will impact what we do, the indicators I tend to focus on are recent trends, commodity markets and micro economic inputs such as the new efficiency of our company, revamped menus, local weather, other local business activity to name a few. Read more of this >>