ALSO INSIDE ... FLAVORS OF MEXICO | GRANDE DAME NOMINEES | WENTE’S COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY

Culinary

SUMMER SCHOOL

S U M M E R 2 0 1 9

Embracing Food: Alphabet Soup and Grasshopper Pest-o The three Rs of education—reading, writing, and arithme-

tic—(e.g., fractions, percentages, and ratios) are core funda-mentals in culinary school. The Dame culinarians profiled in the feature, “Culinary Summer School” are also champions of four Cs —creativi-ty, communication, critical thinking, and confidence—traits that foster success. For good measure, shall we include C for chocolate? (Man can’t live on chocolate alone, but women certainly can!)Add A for art. A writer for The Boston

Cooking School Magazine (1897) opined that art is as educa-tional as the three Rs. Who would deny that a skilled pastry instructor can transform cake into ephemeral, edible art?S is for science. The teaching kitchen is an amazing science

lab that will ignite sparks of curiosity and innovation. By teaching the ABCs of fine cooking and hospitality, LDEI’s accomplished Dame instructors inspire students to develop a lifelong passion for the culinary arts.Six Grande Dame nominees are also profiled in the sum-

mer issue, and one will receive LDEI’s Grande Dame Award. Each woman has created an exemplary, trailblazing body of work and used her experience and skills to help other women advance and lead. The winner will be profiled in the fall Quarterly and honored at the Nashville Conference. Wente Vineyards, LDEI’s valued partner, received A+ on

a sustainability report card, and they achieved a “Certi-fied Sustainable” designation on their vineyard and win-ery. Wente’s high level of commitment to sustainability is detailed in this issue.A Global Culinary Initiative (GCI) postcard from South

Florida shares a fascinating account of a unique Asian din-ing experience. Check online at the LDEI website under Global Culinary Initiative for another postcard on Dames in Oaxaca learning The Art of Mole.An article on “Flavors of Mexico” reviews the vibrant, fasci-

nating culinary traditions of Oaxaca—a city of picture-post-card beauty. Oaxacans jest, “the best way to manage a plague of grasshoppers (chapulines) is to eat them.” In a culinary leap of faith, we ate field-to-table, toasted and seasoned chapulines as a snack and even more in salads, appetizers, and sauces. Sometimes, crunchy antennas and foldup legs presented (minor) textural challenges that most Dames met and conquered. The high-protein insects have functioned as an alternative, crisis food since pre-Columbian times.—Susan Fuller Slack (Charleston), Editor, Summer Quarterly

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FEATURES

4 Culinary Summer School

12 Wente Vineyards

14 2019 Grande Dame Nominees

16 Flavors of Mexico

23 Brock Circle Presents Carla Hall

DEPARTMENTS

18 Global Culinary Postcard

20 Trends

21 Fundraising

22 Leadership

24 Chapter Programs

28 Member Milestones

30 In Memoriam

31 Submission Guidelines

S U M M E R 2 O 1 9

IN THIS ISSUE

FROM THE EDITOR

On the cover: Clockwise: Keio Gayden, Shelley Young, Kari Underly, Rachel Davies, Susi Séguret, Jane Bertch, and Seattle Culinary Academy students. Photo: Katherine Kehrli.

This page: Kären Jurgensen’s herbs at Quillisascut Farm School. Photo: Audra Mulkern. Guelaguetza dancers. The woman’s traditional Tehuana dress is from the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, where fashions influenced the style of artist Frida Khalo. La Catrina Maria Laurens and El Catrín Dean Laurens. Photos: Oscar Valesquez.

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PresidentANN STRATTELobster and Lox LLC 100 Severn Avenue, #506Annapolis, MD 21403-2622(410) 903-2682 | annstratte@gmail.com

First Vice PresidentBEV SHAFFEROwner/COOK.WRITE.TRAVEL.REPEAT. Culinary Consultant | Recipe Development R&D | Food & Travel Writer3433 Blake RoadSeville, OH 44273(330) 441-2706 bev.foodwithattitude@gmail.com

Second Vice PresidentDANIELLE WECKSLERPlateful Solutions326 Bayview DriveMt. Pleasant, SC 29464(843) 647-9902 | danielle@platefulsolutions.com

Third Vice PresidentBETH VLASICH PAV Owner/Chef, Cooking by Design, LLC5606 Stage Stop CircleAustin, TX 78738(512) 431-8751 | beth@cookingbydesign.com

SecretaryJENNIFER GOLDMAN Bal-Core Business Advisors6732 Vanderbilt StHouston, TX 77005(843) 224-0198 | jgoldmansc@gmail.com

TreasurerSHARON OLSONCulinary Visions Panel445 W. Erie Street, Suite 107Chicago, IL 60654(312) 280-4573 | sharon@culinaryvisions.org

Chapter Board LiaisonsDREW FAULKNER Culinary Instructor 7407 Honeywell LaneBethesda, MD 20814-1019 Home/Office 301-986-8540 drewcooks@mac.com

STEPHANIE JAEGER Pear Tree Restaurant1504 Appin Road North Vancouver, BC V7J 2T5 (604) 299-2772 | ssjaeger@shaw.ca

GINA BURCHENALGina's Kitchen4036 Church Creek PointLargo, FL 33774(512) 658-0338 | kgburchenal@gmail.com

Immediate Past PresidentHAYLEY MATSON-MATHESOwner/Culinary Consultant2333 Kapiolani Boulevard #3516Honolulu, HI 96826(808) 941-9088 | hayleymm@hawaii.rr.com

Executive DirectorGREG JEWELLPresident, AEC Management ResourcesP.O. Box 4961Louisville, KY 40204(502) 456-1851 x1 | info@ldei.org

The mission of the LDEI Board is tofoster the growth and success ofthe organization by supporting the development of new and existing chapters and by implementing program initiatives. It provides leadership, guidance, education, connectivity, and effective communication among LDEI members.

Ann Stratte (Washington, D.C.)A recent trip to Nashville brought front and

center this city’s impact on women’s quest for equality. My room at the historic Hermitage Hotel happened to be the very one in which Women’s Suffrage leader Carrie Chapman Catt used as her headquarters. My view was of the state capital where, in 1920, Tennessee legisla-tors were called to a special session to determine the women’s right to vote, a legislative event now known as the “War of the Roses." And I’m not talking Michael Douglas versus Kathleen Turner! Supporters of the 19th Amendment were identified by wearing yellow roses, while those against the ratification wore a red rose. The state of Tennessee was the last and only chance for ratification of women’s suffrage. The Tennessee Senate approved the 19th Amend-ment, but the House was split. Harry Burn, the youngest Tennessee legislator, wore a red rose until he received a note from his mother urging him to vote in the affirmative. His “aye” for the amendment broke the tie, and on August 18, 1920, women were granted the right to vote.Yes, mother does know best.In just a few months, we will be celebrating to-

gether for the 2019 LDEI Annual Conference in this vibrant city full of history, music, and great food with a Nashville Chapter eager to share their beloved home town with us. I urge you to take advantage of all that this year’s “Nashville Rhythm & Roots” LDEI Conference has to offer. Arrive Wednesday for a special afternoon with Dame Carla Hall, sponsored by the Brock Circle and open to all of our members. Nash-ville Conference Co-Chairs Anne Byrn, Mindy Merrill, and their team have amazing tours, speakers, and sessions that will keep you en-gaged and inspired throughout your stay. The entire Conference agenda is planned with experiences uniquely designed with you in mind. And to top it off, our Nashville Chapter is offering an after-party on Saturday night at the infamous

Whitehorse Saloon, where we will dance the night away.Last but not least, our LDEI Kentucky Chap-

ter has put together an optional “Bourbon and Culinary Tour” promising an adventure you won’t want to miss. This will begin immediately after Conference and info will be included in your Conference package.I invite you to honor and celebrate the historic

city of Nashville with your sister Dames. Our right to vote was won nearly a hundred years ago, but we still have plenty of work to do. I hope to see you in October!

Thank you for the privilege of serving as your president.Ann Stratte

War of the Roses: Women Win the Vote!2019 LDEI BOARD OF DIRECTORS

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

This photo was taken on Nancy Vienneau’s scenic rooftop in April when the Nashville Board hosted me for a potluck dinner. L-R: Conference Co-Chair Anne Byrn, Marylou Tate, Emily Frith, Conference Co-Chair Mindy Merrell, Karen-Lee Ryan, President Ann Stratte, Dee Patel, Nancy Vienneau, Nashville President Erin Murray, Lisa White.

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The ten Dame educators introduced here are teaching culinary arts and hospitality management on the cusp of a high-tech world that promises robot chefs, intelligent ovens that read recipes, and haptic interfaces that al-low students to build on their sense of taste and texture in a virtual manner. If you forget to buy pasta—just print some with your 3D food printer!While there’s no doubt that technology is intertwined with these indus-

tries, the “low-tech,” hands-on, foundational cooking and management skills that these experienced professionals share will never disappear.Culinary and hospitality courses today are grounded in tradition with

greater emphasis on global cuisines, nutrition, sustainability, food chemis-try, and unfolding technologies for distance education and online classes.Our inspiring culinarians educate professionals, amateur enthusiasts,

students, and children. Some are butchers, bakers, chocolatiers, and cheese-makers, as well as gardeners, volunteers, organizers, mentors, and musi-cians. Passion is the driving force that inspires them all to lead in culinary and hospitality education.The authors regret they weren’t able to fill the summer Quarterly, from

cover-to-cover, with additional profiles of amazing Dame educators. Col-lectively, they are all culinary elites who stand on the shoulders of great culinary influencers such as August Escoffier—who cooked his way into history and the hearts of Dames; Julia Child; and London Dames Ann Willan, the founder of École de Cuisine La Varenne, Paris, and Alison Swan Parente, founder of the Welbeck School of Artisan Food in Notting-hamshire, UK. —Susan F. Slack (Charleston)

“Cookery means…the economy of your grandmothers

and the science of the modern chemist…”

John Ruskin, from The Boston School Cookbook

SUMMER SCHOOL

Kären Jurgensen’s pathway to deliciousness is deeply rooted in sustainability. As an instructor-chef at the Seattle Culinary Academy, she prepares students for the restaurant industry. She teaches fine dining theory and practice in One World Restaurant—one of two student-run restaurants with a global focus. She is also an instructor in sustainable food systems.In 2004, Kären implemented sustainability coursework

at the academy, making it the first culinary program in the nation to embrace this type of initiative. The program also implements sustainability practices in the kitchen. She says, “A summer program takes students to farms in the Skagit Valley nearby. The connection with local farmers helps them understand what it takes to get food to the kitchen door.”Kären’s summer breaks are spent in Rice, Washington,

teaching farm-to-table intensive courses at Quillisascut Farm School of the Domestic Arts. These culinary im-mersions feature cheese making, whole animal butchery, gardening, bee-keeping, preservation, and foraging. She explains, “Students discuss their hopes and ambitions for creating a food system that respects the earth and all its creatures. Students get to run their hands through heirloom beans, eviscerate chickens, milk goats, and create delicious meals that they eat together at a shared table three times a day.”

“Knowing takes knowledge”

Kären Jurgensen(Seattle)

Seattle Culinary Academy at Seattle Central College

Quillisascut Farm School

CULINARY

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Like other resourceful Dames who have cooked up a dazzling second career in the culinary arts, Jane Bertch took a leap-of-faith to go from banking to baguettes. Hav-ing spent 10+ years working for Citigroup in the U.S. and London, she decided it was time to experience her own endeavors.Jane explains, “Having the desire to create

a business that would bring people together, I realized the most compelling answer was to create something around a language we all speak—food!” She remembers the days spent in her grandmother’s kitchen. “Every-one came together around a common table despite their differences. Food is the essence of culture, particularly in France!”Jane opened La Cuisine Paris, which

provides classic French cuisine and pastry classes in English for cooks and bakers of all levels—those who wish to improve their cooking skills and others who are on the hunt for an out-of-the-ordinary Paris experi-ence. Bilingual chef instructors help clients find the confidence to be able to recreate recipes at home. “The experience isn’t over at the end of their class,” adds Jane. We en-courage them to email if they have questions about recreating recipes, and they often send pictures of their creations. They can also subscribe to our monthly newsletter.”The client base is mainly visitors looking to

immerse themselves in la vie Parisienne. The school’s philosophy is to create an environ-ment that is not only educational and enter-taining but culturally enriching. Jane hints, “I feel that there is a way to allow people to travel to Paris without having to leave their homes—so I am currently exploring just how to do that…stay tuned!”The French Market Tour and Cooking Class

is equally popular. Clients shop with their chef instructor at the market for a menu they choose, then they cook and eat together. The cooking school also offers exploratory food tours in different Paris neighborhoods: Les Halles, the Marais, and Saint Germain. Only eight participants attend a baking class; each one gets personal time with the chef instruc-tor and assistance every step of the way.Croissant and macaron classes are the

most popular; clients leave with their pastry

creations in hand! Jane confirms, “Of course, croissants remain on trend. Naturally, macar-ons continue to be the rage, and we under-stand why! They are the perfect example of a pastry that could seem daunting to make at home. They can be fickle little things, yet they are so beautiful and decorative—the epitome of eating with your eyes first! Our chef instructors provide all the tips and tricks for their success. The freedom to experiment with different colors and flavors when mak-ing the shells plays a part in the fun of the experience.”What else is trending? Jane reports, “Choux

pastry! There has been a revival of the éclair, and as people learn how versatile choux is as the base of some of their favorite products, e.g., gougeres, chouquettes, profiterols, they become increasing popular.”For Dames aspiring to a similar career

path, Janes councils, “Clients are no longer looking for products or classes—they are looking for experiences. In order to deliver, it takes hard work, cultural sensitivity, and listening, as well as resilience, night vision, flexibility, and humor. The only busi-ness that does not succeed is the one that doesn’t do what its clients ask!”One challenge, according to Jane, is that

they work with a very sensitive subject—memories. “Often the people that join us are on a special visit to Paris, and we are honored to be a part of their experience. Naturally, it must be perfect every time, which makes it rewarding but exhausting,” she admits.“Welcoming wonderful people from all

over the world—seeing them work together in the kitchen reminds us that despite where we are from and what we believe, we can find something in common. Julia Child said it best when she said, ‘people who like food are the best people.’” —Susan F. Slack (Charleston)Dames Exceptionnelles: Lucy Vanel, Rosa

Jackson, and Allison Zinder of the Paris Chapter teach culinary arts throughout France.www.lacuisineparis.com

Belle Cuisine Française

Jane Bertch(Paris)

La Cuisine Paris80 Quai de l’Hôtel de Ville,

75004, Paris, France

Kären collaborated with farm school co-owner, Lora Lea Misterly, to produce the cookbook Chefs on the Farm; her responsibility was to create the recipes. They also co-authored the guide, Rethinking the Kitchen Handbook.“I was inspired to cook by my grandmother

who made it an adventure,” she confides. “My mother (a terrible cook) made my presence in the kitchen a necessity, but she was a teacher and inspired me to learn and to share knowl-edge with others.” Kären spent 30 years in the industry before teaching; her favorite cuisines are Spanish, Nordic, and Middle Eastern.Continually seeking out professional

development opportunities, Kären notes, “Last fall, I went to the MAD symposium in Copenhagen and was a delegate for Slow Food at Terra Madre. I involve myself in in-dustry and community organizations to keep connections open to provide opportunities for my students. Travel…eyes wide open! Whenever possible, find opportunities for your students to travel.”In addition to being a Dame, Kären sits

on the Chefs’ Alliance board for Slow Food USA, the board of The Good Meat Project, and she is involved with Chefs Collaborative and the Southern Foodways Alliance.She says cutting edge technology platforms

are used in the classroom but points out, “We cooks are hands-on learners at our core…to reinforce the theory behind the lessons…and increase proficiency at a given skill. A visual helps, but “doing” solidifies the learning experience.”Kären’s teaching philosophy includes equity

and fairness for students; student respect for leadership and colleagues, honestly; steward-ship; and student responsibility to their half of the learning process through listening, active engagement, and participation.“Students learn to be thinking cooks

through opportunities to create or perceive solutions to questions and challenges they encounter, and they become knowing cooks with practice and exposure,” she councils.Kären admits to challenges. “You need to bal-

ance how much of yourself you can give. Make time to replenish personal energy. I am truly terrible at this.” Google is another challenge; delivering a lecture while students are googling the details for argument in real time.”Summing up the benefits, she affirms, “The

best reward is watching a student come into their own with confidence in their creativity, or their ability to manage others. When you teach you are signing up to be an ambassa-dor for the program, as well as a fundraiser, a career counselor, a job placement direc-tor, sometimes a health advisor, and always a cheerleader… all of which have their rewards.” —Susan F. Slack (Charleston)Seattle Dame Katherine Kehrli is Associate

Dean of Seattle Culinary Academy.https://culinary.seattlecentral.edu/http://quillisascut.com/

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In the Canadian paradise that is Vancou-ver, Ecole Chocolat Professional School of Chocolate Arts teaches everything about ‘the food of the gods.’ Pam Williams is the founder and lead instructor. Her school focuses exclusively on a complete under-standing of the chocolate industry—unlike many schools where chocolate studies are part of a larger pastry curriculum. Enthusiastic students, who come from

around the globe, are taught how to make chocolate their career by focusing on using chocolate of the highest quality. First-class instructors and on-line tu-tors contribute up-to-date knowledge of modern chocolate skills and the choco-late business. Pam prides herself on her constant research in order to add weekly innovation to each program. And she is quick to point out that the curricu-lum also includes such topics as commer-cial sourcing and purchasing, shelf life, and recipe development.The school was founded in 2003. Its core

programs are online and offer hands-on programs. The fall session of the three-month online Professional Chocolatier program begins in August, recognizing that students wish to be finished be-fore Thanksgiving and use their newly-minted skills over the holiday season.There is so much to learn. At Ecole

Chocolat, the latest trend in the use of colored cocoa butter is in part of the

Exclusively Chocolate

Pam Williams (British Columbia)

Ecole Chocolat

“Nothing makes people happier than making them dessert,” says Marie Stecher. This is one of the reasons that Marie became a pastry chef. It took her a while to figure out what she wanted to be when she “grew up,” so she quit her job in the corporate world and decided to attend culinary school at the age of 32.As the Pastry Chef Instructor at Philadel-

phia’s Walnut Hill College, formally called, The Restaurant School, Marie teaches classes in the Associate and Bachelor Degree Programs such as: pastry techniques, baking science, breads, cakes, sugar showpieces, wedding cake decorating, and chocolate work.Her ten years as a professional chef includes five

years at The Ritz Carlton Hotel in Philadelphia. Her last position, before teaching, was pastry chef for Susanna Foo at her flagship restaurant on Walnut Street in Center City, Philadelphia.Since her college days at Rowen University and

then at the Restaurant School, Marie has taken continuing education classes in sugar, chocolate, and cake decorating from the French Pastry School of Chicago, French Culinary School in New York City, Notter School of Sugar, and Val-rhona Chocolate Academy.One challenge she encounters as an educator

is to get students to focus and do the work. She tries to instill discipline and quality by conveying that success requires working hard and getting

Baking— Edible Art

Marie A. Stecher(Philadelphia)

Walnut Hill College

course work, including the technique of applying it by air brushing and compressed air. Molded chocolate has an update in skill sets, while the ever-popular salted caramels and chocolate-nut bars con-tinue to be the most popular in chocolate shops. Pam is presently leading a graduate chocolatier program to France. Her first stop is to visit Patrick Roger, the famed Parisian “maitre chocolatier” to taste his inspirational pralines and dark chocolate-nut mounds called “rochers.” Another program will visit an estate chocolate farm in Maui.Ever mindful of the impor-

tance of electronic media, Pam places great importance on su-perbly designed web pages and major social media platforms, which emphasize the curricu-lum content. Being on top of new technology is impera-tive. “In the last three years,” says Pam, “mobile delivery by responsive and interactive web design for small devices and screens has become key. Less is more, and color and visuals are paramount.” The third edition of Pam’s book Raising the Bar: The Future of Fine Chocolate will be in available in 2019.What advice does Pam

have for people embarking on similar careers? Culinary education is always stimulating and demanding. It is vital to have commitment, determina-tion, and perseverance. Success doesn’t happen overnight. En-joy working with people and accept their foibles. Keep your passion for people alive with optimism and laughter. And, like the students you teach, take your time to develop skills and build up knowledge, resources, and money.Chocolate is an affordable

luxury in good times and bad. Pam’s teaching mission is to be a champion for finely-crafted, fine-flavored chocolate. She urges us to open our wallets to support the farmers, who are growing superbly flavored beans from which we make this most seductive of foods. —Margaret Happel Perry

(New York)

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High school students are cooking their way to a bright future thanks to fast-growing culinary arts programs across the U.S. In a recent study of 11 and 12th grade culinary students, it was revealed that their chances for success were far more likely if an effective adult role model was in the classroom alongside the curriculum. Someone exactly like Chef Keio C. Gayden, a forward-thinking culinary arts instructor in the Atlanta Metropolitan area who trains 16- to 18-year-olds to become chefs and food service professionals. Her reputation precedes her—she is both firm disciplinarian and vocal cheerleader working to equip students with skills they can succeed with in the future. Keio says, “Students may not have the desire to attend a four-year college or university , so a high school culinary arts program gives them alternatives.”Keio says her role, “is to maintain a safe and

conducive learning environment where students are encouraged to ask questions, show respect for the teacher and classmates, and learn about the culinary arts in great detail. Instruction involves hands-on participation from the students so they develop a firmer understanding of the practice. A culinary arts teacher develops, creates, and modi-fies instruction, as needed, to meet the needs of all students.”Keio graduated from Culinard at Virginia Col-

lege with an Associates in Culinary Arts, and from Johnson & Wales University with a Bach-

Cooking up an Education

Keio C. Gayden(Atlanta)

Miller Grove High SchoolDekalb County School District

the work done right. Her motto is “you have to earn the decorating.” She enjoys seeing how students blossom in their chosen fields and is proud of the school’s graduates who are doing amazing things in the Philadelphia area and beyond.Her teaching philosophy is to

encourage students to learn the classics and develop a solid foun-dation which they can build on. She emphasizes that “everything in pastry is about practicing.” Marie tries to be patient and kind since some people take longer to find their kitchen feet. This is something she knows firsthand as a pastry art student.Her advice to students in the

pastry industry is to be a sponge. Read everything about pastry, the food industry, learn who is doing what, take additional classes, and volunteer for special chef events, which is a great way to network. Work under talented people, and don’t shy from doing extra work. All of these can pay off in the end, and you never know who you will meet.In the future, Marie plans to

take more classes in chocolate and sugar work, baking science, and vegan and gluten free baking. Long term goals are to write a cookbook and travel widely to teach classes in cool cities and countries like the individuals she follows on Instagram.Chef Stecher has consistently

been a valued and contribut-ing member of the Philadelphia Chapter in addition to her term on a previous Board. Walnut Street College, often with Marie’s initiative, has hosted and/or co-sponsored many events on and off site with LDE Philadelphia. The most recent partnership was a unique Les Dames Pure Vegetable Dinner: A Spring Vegan Soiree.—Dottie Koteski (Philadelphia)

Marie Stecher organized a “Celebra-tory Big Cake” competition for the 2009 Philadelphia Conference. The winning three-tiered cake, created by Marie’s students Hannah Lane and Kelli Payne, honored seven chapters celebrating anniversary milestones: Cleveland, Houston, Seattle, San Francisco, Dallas, Philadelphia, and Boston. Dame Alice Gautsch-Foreman (standing next to Marie) gener-ously commissioned the cake. Photo: Donna Connor.

elors in Culinary Arts and Foodservice Management. She has taken summer educator courses at the Charlotte and Denver campuses of Johnson & Wales University; currently, she is earning a masters degree in Teaching and Learn-ing Leadership from Liberty University.The culinary arts curriculum at Miller

Grove is based on American Culinary Federation standards and has articula-tions with Technical College Systems of Georgia and many fine culinary schools in the nation. It is Industry Certified through the American Culinary Federa-tion Education Foundation. The pro-gram is part of a comprehensive high school experience that includes Math, Science, Social Studies, and English.Her work passion is exemplified in

her actions and through the work she does. She requires students to complete community service to develop a sense of responsibility and to aid in their development and growth as young adults. Through the 1:1 Portable De-vice Program, each student is assigned a Chromebook of their own for course-work, and they also have access to iPads in the classroom for instructional purposes.Keio’s philosophy on teaching high

school students is, “PATIENCE, LOVE, DEDICATION, and DETER-MINATION. Each student that walks through my door is given a fair chance in developing a Taste for Success.”Keio shares, “The greatest reward of

teaching is seeing them succeed in life. As a parent and teacher, I only want the best for each and every student that comes through my program. I also enjoy serving and educating teachers and, in the future, I hope to lead other culinary educators in their quest to develop, motivate, and create the future chefs of America.”She admits, “I put forth many hours

to ensure that my students are gaining the most knowledge in and outside of our culinary classroom. Through a partnership with Springer Mountain Farm, they have traveled to restaurants around the city, worked large city events, and gained employment with top city restaurants.”“This requires me to be persistent,

determined, and flexible in my instruc-tion and guidance. My students come from all walks of life, but in the end, they each see and understand how we all play an important role in this world. Having this mindset has put me in places I’ve never imagine being in my career as a culinary educator.” —Susan F. Slack (Charleston)

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“Volunteer for any-and-all events, festivals, church suppers, school fundraisers when and where you can, and learn from each ex-perience. And while the industry may seem glamorous, it is much more than planning a party” is the advice Lisa Buzzelli tells every student that says they want to be an event planner. A lifelong learner herself, Lisa says that

volunteering is what put her on the path to becoming a Certified Hospitality Educa-tor at the Culinary Institute of Charleston in Charleston, SC. “Throughout my K-12 school days (as far back as elementary school) I volunteered for EVERYTHING including collecting the milk money every day. I wanted to be involved, wanted to participate, wanted to organize. It was no different at my traditional 4-year college where I volunteered and organized any-thing I could. That led me to organizing and planning the largest intern program on Capitol Hill for a U.S. Senator. After which I coordinated a year-round culinary Elderhostel program (50 participants a week, 50 weeks a year) and a weekly chef demo on a local TV news segment for Johnson & Wales. When I wasn’t working, I was volunteering for numerous organiza-tions helping with their event planning— Lowcountry Foodbank, Charleston Wine + Food Festival, Dining with Friends, Taste of Charleston. A pattern formed without me really realizing it.”

The Currency of Volunteerism

Lisa Buzzelli(Charleston)

Culinary Institute of Charleston

A year of humanitarian work was the spark that ignited Rachel Davies culinary career. Graduating from Cambridge University with a degree in Theology, she decided to spent a year in Zambia with Voluntary Service Overseas—the equivalent of the Peace Corps. Rachel had no idea how to cook yet!She says, “I was living in a village on the Zimbabwe

border with no supermarket, no access to familiar foods, and no smart phones—I was forced to cook out of absolute necessity!” A cookbook for volunteers provided interesting recipes for catching and cooking flying ants (“inswa”) and 101 uses for peanut flour. She cooked with whatever ingredients she could get her hands on and started baking bread. “I knew very soon that I had found a true passion. This experience was the best thing I had ever done,” she adds.The up-and-coming chef ’s cooking skills may have been

slightly ahead of the culinary curve—culinarians now em-brace edible insects as the future of eco-friendly protein.Rachel’s formal training was in cuisine and patis-

serie at Le Cordon Bleu in London. She worked alongside the Michelin-starred Galvin brothers; at the Japanese-influenced French patisserie Lanka; and for Divertimenti cookery school with London's best chefs, cooks, and food writers. She notes, “I am always learn-ing—spending the summer at a restaurant in Italy or apprenticing myself to a butcher.Rachel’s Kitchen is a cookery school in North Lon-

don. “It is based in my home kitchen, which makes the experiences very personal,” she explains. Classes usually last half a day and cover a wide range of subjects includ-ing knife skills, world cuisines, and patisserie. They are

A Sugar-Coated Life

Rachel Davies(London)

Rachel’s Kitchen East Finchley

Now Lisa teaches all that she has learned to her students in a variety of hospitality industry classes such as Event Planning, Wedding Planning, Travel & Tourism, Introduc-tion to Hospitality, Restaurant Operations. She says, “I try to be as honest and real-world as possible with them. A text book is a nice resource to have, but students often want to know the unpolished truth.”Despite being a full-time

faculty member, Lisa still con-tinues her own education as an event planner. “People often ask me why I continue to volunteer and work contract work. It allows me to continue to learn and network, and in some cases, the extra money is nice,” she explains.It also allows Lisa to stay

current on the rapidly chang-ing technology in the restau-rant and hospitality world. She adds, “Also, by getting outside of the classroom with part-time work for local event planners, I am introduced to all sorts of new technol-ogy. For example, volunteer coordination software for a Festival that has over 300 volunteers.” Lisa looks to her students to

teach her about the latest tech-nology as well. “Sometimes it is a “student teaches the teacher” scenario when they reference technology from their work places or even from their smart phones (who knew there was a cheese app?).”When asked about the chal-

lenges and rewards of teach-ing a new generation of event planners, Lisa points to her own upbringing. “Strong work ethic was instilled in me from an early age, and I find myself with little patience for tardiness, unpreparedness, disrespect, or general apathy. I must say, some of the excuses I’ve heard have been quite humorous. On the flip side, the greatest reward is to watch the “light bulb” of awareness come on when they see stellar work ethic in a fellow classmate or they finally believe that I might not be as dumb as they think I am.” —Danielle Wecksler (Charleston)

S U M M E R Q U A R T E R L Y 2 0 1 9 9

Master butcher Kari Underly is the founder of the Range® Meat Academy (RMA). She says, “It is an accumulation of my life’s work after more than 20 years in the meat industry as an entrepreneur, busi-ness owner, educator, and marketer.” In 2017, Kari was honored by Provisioner Magazine as one of 25 Future Icons of the Meat and Poultry Industry. She is a third-generation butcher and journey (wo)man meat cutter with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Indiana Wesleyan University. She also has mad skills in software design and devel-opment tools. She’s the author of the James Beard nominated book, The Art of Beef Cutting: A Meat Professional’s Guide to Butchering and Merchandising.Growing up in the ‘70s, Kari’s role models were

Wonder Woman and Charlie’s Angels. “I’m also an official card-carrying member of the Lindsay Wag-ner Bionic Woman Action Club!” she proudly notes. It isn’t difficult to understand why Kari identifies with these super heroines—like them, she is strong, empowered, and packs some serious weaponry!“My mom was an artist—a sculptor, a painter,

and a dreamer,” Kari reminisces. “I watched my dad struggle with his career choice as a butcher and butcher shop owner. We lost the shop when I was a kid...With the goal of putting myself through college, I worked nights cleaning the supermarket meat department. I took classes at the junior col-lege, but with my paycheck, it would take forever to get through school. The solution was a three-year apprenticeship program.”She was encouraged to accept more traditional

“female” jobs in the deli or as a cashier. Luckily,

Be curious… keep moving and

don’t stop!

Kari Underly(New England)

Range® Meat AcademyChicago, Illinois

offered to groups, couples, individuals, friends, families, and also corporate groups and hen parties.There are classes on specific interests

like healthy eating, vegan, and plant-based foods, which Rachel reports are trending in the UK. She says there is a real awareness about sustainability, reducing plastic, reducing waste, and eating higher-quality food.Rachel is also passionate about using the

finest ingredients—organic meats and dairy, free-range eggs, and wild fish where possible. She shops locally and always make produce the star of the show.” Rachel’s stunning, contemporary

kitchen has been featured in one of the UKs top kitchen magazines. It was designed to accommodate classes as well as a growing family. Students admire the beautiful pottery bowls, platters and mugs displayed throughout the kitchen. They are surprised when they learn that Rachel made most of them—a hobby that compliments both décor and cuisine.Running a home school can be chal-

lenging since most of Rachel’s students want classes on weekends or evenings. “Juggling work with two children (2- and 4-years-old) is always interest-ing,” she admits. But it gives her the freedom to dream up classes, organize, and partner with other chefs in any way she is inspired.Rachel is the recipient of several hon-

ors including British Cookery School Awards Finalist: “Best Young Rising Star” and UK Cookery School of the Year Award finalist: “Best Cookery School Tutor.”She advises Dames starting on a

similar career path, “Find what you're good at doing and persevere. It can take time to establish yourself, but if the feedback is positive and it's work-ing, then believe in yourself and keep on going. Flexibility, team work, and building good relationships—we don't do any of this alone!”Rachel hosted a recent Dames’ din-

ner in her home and Grande Dame Anne Willan was the guest of honor. Rachel recalls, “Anne spoke briefly about her life, her remarkable career, and her friendship with Julia Child. When she talked about discovering her passion for cooking, she asked who had also found a way of combin-ing their passion and their work in food? Then slowly, with a smile, Anne acknowledged, ‘Aren't we lucky?' I felt such resonance—finding a passion and working in it is SO lucky. —Susan F. Slack (Charleston)Follow Rachel's Kitchen on Facebookwww.rachels-kitchen.com

there was an opportunity to became the first female butcher’s apprentice! Kari laughs,“ You can imagine the typical, sophomoric humor of a meat room. Sure, I was harassed, even threatened, but most of all, I was encouraged. There were some good men and good butchers. When all was said and done, I was well-trained and respected.” She thoughtfully adds, “These experiences are the heart of my passion for helping to promote the need for higher paying, mid-skills jobs through increased training and education.”The Range® Meat Academy online con-

sists of Range® Meat Clerk, Range® Meat Cutter Poultry, and Range® Meat Cutter Beef. Lamb and Pork sections are being added this summer, and Kari promises to keep going.The school’s mission is to create and

promote high standards for excellence and integrity within the butchery trade by providing the most comprehensive and respected certificate program and meat school in the culinary arts industry. It is also designed to help elevate the trade and develop a skilled work force. It is compre-hensive, self-paced, consistent, meat-pro-fessional certificate training at a fair price.Kari’s favorite (butcher’s secret) cuts

include:• Pork Bavette (flap steak)• Pork Tomahawk Chop (long bone)• Beef Ribeye Cap (Spinalis doors)• Top Sirloin Cap sold as Picanha

(rump cap in the UK)• Beef and Pork Bone BrothA little over 10 years ago, Kari was

diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). “Learning this news changed my ap-proach to teaching,” she confesses. “I feel good that I can still command a class-room and plow through an 800-pound side of beef with balance, power, and I hope, grace! But my philosophy has changed. I want to continue sharing my knowledge, but it is an extremely physi-cal job, and the demand is high.” Kari continues, “For the past two years,

I took myself out of circulation to create, develop, and finance Range® Meat Acad-emy online. I am surprised by the amount of satisfaction I’m getting from developing the online content.” Maybe one day I can make money while sleeping! Some people call that dreaming. I’ve always lived by the creed…a goal is nothing but a dream with a deadline. MS hasn’t gotten the best of me, and I feel good about my long-term prognosis. We are online and ready to go!” Like her superhero Wonder Woman,

Kari has moved to the edge of what is possible, and she is taking a balanced, defensive stance. She is firmly in con-trol!” —Susan F. Slack (Charleston)www.rangemeatacademy.comwww.rangepartners.com

10 L e s D a m e s d ’ E s c o f f i e r I n t e r n a t i o n a l

Twenty-two years ago Shelley Young created The Chopping Block in a two-story, 1000-square-foot antique home on a residential street in the Lincoln Park area of Chicago. The Chopping Block (TCB) is Chicago’s busiest recreational cooking school. As CEO/Founder of TCB, Shel-ley spends most of her time focusing on media, public appearances, and strategic planning. Shelley’s mission is “to get the country cooking.”Shelley grew up in Iowa and spent her

youth in what is now called “homestead-ing.” Between her family and grandpar-ents, they grew or raised all the food they needed to sustain the family. Shelley graduated from Iowa Culinary Institute in 1986. To hone her business and commu-nication skills, she participated in Vistage International and Landmark education. She was a professional chef for 17 years and while she was a personal chef opened TCB which rapidly became an award-winning cooking school in Chicago and nationwide. Her accolades include Women Chefs and Restaurateurs Educa-tor of the Year and the Chicago Tribune

“…Be Fearless and Above All—

Have Fun!” (Julia Child)

Shelley Young(Chicago)

The Chopping Block

The backdrop for Susi Gott Séguret’s al fresco tablescape is a panoramic view of the majestic Blue Ridge Mountain peaks shrouded in a bluish-grey mist; sunshine bathes the landscape with a golden glow. This could be the setting for any one of Susi’s themed culinary programs: Turning a Basket into a Banquet; Appalachian Inno-vation; Cooking the Elements; or Gather-ing and Garnishing, to mention a few.If music is included, so much the better!

The accomplished culinarian is also an award-winning fiddle player and songwrit-er. She succinctly sums up the enduring connection between Appalachian music and food,—“Food feeds our body, while music feeds our soul.”Susi is the founder/director of The Seasonal

School of Culinary Arts (est. 2005). Based in Asheville, she chooses a different theme each year. Week-long, hands-on immersion sessions are held quarterly (one each season) with a variety of culinary experiences. Cook-ing the Seasons is the theme for 2019, and the summer session highlights Asheville’s wealth of chefs and beverage experts.In the Ithaca, Sonoma, and Paris loca-

tions, Susi partners with existing offerings, including tours of wineries, creameries, distilleries, oyster farms, culinary classes, and top restaurant experiences.Susi’s classes are designed to broaden the

student’s palate, lead them closer to the food source, and develop their skills. She

Bluegrass Kitchen

Susi Gott Séguret (North Carolina)

Seasonal School of Culinary ArtsAsheville, Ithaca, Sonoma & Paris

says, “I adapt as much as possible to the person in front of me, as a musician adapts to the other members of an ensemble.”Activities such as organizing the annual

Asheville Truffle Experience, a monthly Appalachian Culinary Experience (foraging-cooking-dining), or an occasional wine dinner are also on Susi’s busy agenda. She wrote the cookbook Appalachian Appetite: Recipes from the Heart of America, and she is completing a chef ’s guide to truffles.Susi grew up in Madison Country, North

Carolina, where she learned to play the fiddle and old-time folk music from her father. The first English, Irish, and Scottish settlers intro-duced the ballad to Madison County, which has the longest unbroken tradition of ballad singing in the United States. While touring the world as a bluegrass and country fiddler/singer/dancer, she planted roots in France, where she stayed busy with her career and raising children.During a three-year hiatus from 20 years

in France, Susi helped direct the Bluegrass and Country Music Program at East Ten-nessee State University. She returned to Paris to earn diplomas in Gastronomy from Le Cordon Bleu and Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne.“This was not my particular background,”

admits Susi, “although I had grown up on a self-sufficient farm and knew how to raise vegetables and livestock. I also learned from 20+ years of eating my way around France, and trying to recreate the flavors I had experi-enced when I returned to my own kitchen.”Susi earned a Certified Culinary Profession-

al (CCP) designation through the Interna-tional Association of Culinary Professionals, and she is a Certified Specialist of Wine (CSW) through the Society of Wine Educa-tors. She is currently president of LDEI’s North Carolina Chapter.Her passions include a farm and garden to

keep free of weeds, aging parents, and three children in college. Lack of time is her biggest challenge, but the many rewards include the friendships she has forged and, “seeing the joy and solidarity of faces around the table …with ingredients sourced mostly out the back door.”“Find a niche—something that drives you,

then share it with abandon!” she counsels. “Adaptability is key to any successful endeav-or…being able to improvise and enjoy the bumps in the road gives way to a happy life!”Susi concludes, “Twenty-one years of living

on another continent has definitely influ-enced my angles of approach to food and everything else. I like to call what I do now “Frappalachian” (Appalachian with a French twist), for most things pass through those two strong cultural filters. Each person who crosses our paths is influenced by a differ-ent set of variables—this is the beauty of our multi-colored world!” —Susan F. Slack (Charleston)www.schoolofculinaryarts.org

S U M M E R Q U A R T E R L Y 2 0 1 9 11

Good Eating Award. In 2015, Chicago Magazine recognized TCB Boot Camp as the Best Cooking Class.In 2003, TCB added a second

location in the family-oriented Lincoln Square community. This location is known for its grilling classes and intimate environ-ment. In 2005, Shelley closed the Lincoln Park location and moved the school downtown to the world-famous Merchandise Mart on the Chicago River, which quadrupled the space. The Loop location has multiple restaurant-sized classrooms that can accommodate corporate events, as well as a variety of classes from Basic Knife Skills, French and Italian cooking, Ra-men Nights, and Date Nights as well as the 5-Day Boot Camp. Kids classes are popular in the summer and teens enjoy baking. TCB holds 300+ classes and special events monthly. Shelley wants “any culinary items you

purchase from us to be a real tool and asset.”TCB uses mobile technology to

make it easier for students to see the school calendar and recipes ahead of time on their own devices. The Mobile Club allows students to receive rewards for sharing their experiences live through the mobile app. The next school upgrade will be a wireless POS system for shop-ping.Shelley’s philosophy is to teach

what the students want to learn, not what you think they need; classes need to be relevant. She advises those who want to start a cooking school to remember that the hours are long. “You need to have self-confidence, be flexible, and tenacious especially when applying for permits and dealing with building and health inspec-tors. You can’t always afford to hire instructors to teach every class. To keep costs down, you have to be able to step in and

teach a class even when atten-dance is low. Cancelling classes gives the school a bad reputation and will deter students from enrolling in the future.”Wine is often served at many of

the classes and can either make a festive atmosphere or create an amusing interruption. During one class at the Lincoln Park lo-cation, a student who drank too much went upstairs to use the restroom. The students on the first floor kept hearing footsteps above them going back and forth and after several minutes, Shel-ley had to retrieve the woman who couldn’t find her way back downstairs.Shelley chooses instructors

who are passionate and want to tell a story. She reveals, “The blessing and challenge of this business is the people. Trying to do right by people, treat them right, motivate them, train them, inspire them, keep them, and provide an environ-

ment where they can thrive and produce is a day in, day out challenge.” Many of her chef-instructors have gone on to establish their own restaurants.Shelley has an Innovation

Center in Michigan where she spends half of her time. In ad-dition to working on her first book, she wants to create a video educational platform and con-duct research and development for a proprietary line of prod-ucts. If Shelley isn’t in Michigan or at one of her cooking schools, you might find her hiking the Appalachians, demonstrating recipes at Chicago’s Green City Market, participating on the Lincoln Square Chamber of Commerce, supporting Com-mon Threads or her Neighbor-hood Improvement Association, and assisting with Les Dames Chapter fund-raisers. —Toria Emas (Chicago)

www.thechoppingblock.com

12 L e s D a m e s d ’ E s c o f f i e r I n t e r n a t i o n a l

As of 2019, Wente Vineyards, America’s oldest, continuously operated family winery, is among only 2 percent of California wineries to have achieved the Certified California Sustainable Winegrowing (CCSW or “CERTIFIED SUSTAINABLE”) designation for both its vineyard and winery.But in a world filled with thousands of wine options and

a slew of product features and benefits unique to each, why does this matter? Based on The Conference Board® Global Consumer Confidence Survey, over 80 percent of respondents feel strongly that companies should help improve the environ-ment, and the majority of respondents also feel it is “extreme-ly” or “very” important that companies implement programs to improve the environment.

Wente Vineyards Announces 2019 Sustainability Report CardFifth generation family winegrowers lead the way in innovative ethical practices and sustainability programming

Wente Vineyards was one of 18 pilot wineries to achieve CCSW status in 2010, and beginning with the 2017 vintage, the winery will include the official CCSW CERTIFIED SUS-TAINABLE logo on all packaging, in order to better commu-nicate its practices to consumers and help create more demand for true sustainable wines.Any winegrowing operation hoping to attain the CCSW

designation must meet a stringent set of criteria in order to preserve and protect their land, water, and air, but also demon-strate ethical leadership with how they treat their employees and local communities. The Wente family’s philosophy on sustain-able practices dates back to 1883, when Carl H. Wente arrived in Livermore Valley and realized the only way to guarantee the next harvest (and the next ten after that) was to treat the land and the people who tend to it as responsibly as possible. Today, fifth generation winegrowers Karl & Niki Wente have whole-

heartedly taken the baton, and recently upgraded the winery, vineyard, and tasting rooms to meet (and exceed) their fam-ily’s CCSW-inspired goals. Today, with the help of the

forward-looking fifth genera-tion and the foundations of the generations before them, the Wente family remains a leader in ethical practices, producing high quality grapes and wine. They are protect-ing the environment and enhancing the communities in which they live and work by implementing sustainable winegrowing practices that are environmentally sound, so-cially equitable, and economi-cally viable. In short, Wente Vineyards continues to push the envelope in redefining how sustainability is measured.

S U M M E R Q U A R T E R L Y 2 0 1 9 13

ERIC’SCHARDONNAY

2016

© 2

018

WEN

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INEY

ARDS

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6 CHARLES WETMORECABERNET SAUVIGNON

2014

LEARN MORE AT WENTEVINEYARDS.COMFAMILY OWNED. ESTATE GROWN. CERTIFIED SUSTAINABLE.

Recent additions to the sustainability “menu” at Wente Vineyards include:

WATER USE EFFICIENCY

SOIL & NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

SOLID WASTE MANAGEMENT

BENEFICIAL PESTS & BIODIVERSITY

COMMUNITY

2019 GRANDE DAME NOMINEES

14 L e s D a m e s d ’ E s c o f f i e r I n t e r n a t i o n a l

ne of the sensa-tional women who is profiled on these two pages will become Les Dames

d’Escoffier Inter-national’s 15th Grande Dame. The honorary title

is bestowed each year by LDEI in recognition of

a woman’s extraordinary and unusual contributions in the fields

of food, fine wine and other beverages, nutrition, the arts of the table, and other fields that relate to these disciplines.The nominees

are selected by a chapter—sometimes by more than one, and they do not have to be a member of LDEI. Only one woman will receive the LDEI Grande Dame title, yet each nominee is an exceptional leader who has achieved numerous successes that carry the hallmark of a winner.The nominees and their nominating

chapters are: Alice Gautsch-Foreman (Seattle); Betty Fussell (New York); Jean Mackenzie (Cleveland); Nora Pouillon (Washington, D.C.); Sue Huffman Robison (San Francisco and Sacramento Chapters); and Gloria Smiley (Atlanta).The new Grande Dame will join the

company of 14 other Grande Dames who have received the title since 1993. Prior to that year, before Interna-tional was formed, 11 worthy Dames of distinction were bestowed by their chapters with the designation “Grande Dame.” Now, let’s celebrate and honor the amazing women chosen as the 2019 Sensational Six! Editor —Susan F. Slack.

SENSATIONAL SIXALICE GAUTSCH- FOREMAN SEATTLE A founding

member of the Seattle Chapter, Alice Gautsch-Foreman’s long career has taken her from coast to coast. After graduating from Purdue and the Wharton Graduate Management Program at the University of Pennsylvania, Alice became an assistant food editor at McCall’s magazine. There, she learned recipe development and food photography. She then moved on to posi-tions at General Foods and Campbell’s Soup Company, where she added marketing and publicity skills to her arsenal.In 1978, she joined Evans Pacific in Seattle

and directed food-related public relations programs involving Alaska Seafood, Wash-ington Potatoes, Northwest Cherries, and California Table Grapes. After 10 years, she founded her own company, Gautsch & Associates, Inc., with clients including Westin Hotels, Best Foods, Sunset magazine, and Redbook magazine. Along the way, she worked with Dianne Hogerty of Family Features, who designed and directed edito-rial content for the brands Alice represented.Alice has been a longtime patron of LDEI

Conferences, contributing to the Brock Circle and many other LDEI programs and projects. She also founded the Alice Gautsch-Foreman Endowed Scholarship at the Seattle Culinary Academy.Nominated by the Seattle and Philadelphia Chapters

LDEI AND THE

BETTY FUSSELL NEW YORK New York

Dame Emerita Betty Fussell was born in California and has returned there after an illustri-ous career in New York. Betty is a pioneer in cu-linary journalism and memoir writing. One of her first works, I Hear America Cooking, celebrated regional cooking. In Food in Good Season, she talked about the importance of eating seasonal foods that are locally grown decades before the concepts were embraced by the food community.The Story of Corn traces the history of

corn from Mayan agricultural rituals to the dominance of high-fructose corn syrup and its impact on the American food industry and diet. Betty then wrote Raising Steaks: The Life and Times of American Beef, an exploration of the ethical and environmental implications of modern meat. Her 2016 collection of essays, Eat, Live, Love, Die, was praised by NPR, The New York Times, and countless reviewers.Betty has garnered IACP’s Jane Grig-

son Award, the Food Arts Silver Spoon Award, and the James Beard Award for Culinary Journalism, as well as being inducted in the Cookbook Hall of Fame. Through her work, Betty has helped the world recognize that food writing should be taken as seriously as writing on any academic subject.Nominated by the New York ChapterPhoto: Amy Dickerson

S U M M E R Q U A R T E R L Y 2 0 1 9 15

JEAN MACKENZIE

At age 61, when many would be consider-ing retirement, Jean Mackenzie started Macken-zie Creamery in Hiram, Ohio. This was in 2007, just five years after taking chee-semaking classes. Only the second goat cheese creamery licensed in the state, it fired up the entire industry. In 2008, there were only six artisan cheesemakers in Ohio; by 2013, there were 18.Jean designed the creamery to be eco-

friendly. Out of the gate, Mackenzie Creamery captured awards, winning over chefs and consumers alike. She also founded the Ohio Cheese Guild to sup-port and encourage the state’s burgeoning cheesemaking community.Says Beth Davis-Noragon, chapter

president, “Jean is an inspiration to women everywhere. She re-invented herself with stellar results and her positive attitude infuses everything she does.”Besides a slew of awards, good employ-

ment opportunities for her rural neighbors, and business relationships with nearby farmers, regional chefs, and local manufac-turers, Jean has enthusiastically enriched her community. She firmly believes she “was put on this world to make cheese.”Nominated by the Cleveland Chapter

NORA POUILLON WASHINGTON, D.C .

Nora Pouillon, the first Ameri-can chef to open a certified organ-ic restaurant, has been recognized for a lifetime of professional achievement by governments, top culinary organizations, environmental organizations, and the

media. In 2017, the James Beard Founda-tion presented her its Lifetime Achieve-ment Award, celebrating her outstanding career as a restaurateur, environmental and organic advocate, and author. In 2018, Nora’s native country of Austria presented her with its highest honor, the Decoration of Merit in Gold.A loyal member and generous supporter

of the Washington, D.C., Chapter for 28 years, she has hosted numerous events and fundraisers at Restaurant Nora for LDEI and other charitable organizations. In collaboration with LDEI Past Presi-

dent Ann Yonkers, Nora inspired and helped create FRESHFARM Markets, D.C.’s leading farmers market network, and jumpstarted the regional farm-to-table movement. Nora’s second book, memoir My Organic Life: How a Pioneering Chef Changed the Way We Eat Today (2015), recounts her remarkable journey from Austria to becoming one of America’s most influential chefs.Her core message is that “health is

wealth,” and organic and local food are the key ingredients in building a healthy life. In addition to her work supporting the or-ganic food movement, Nora is a champion for a cleaner environment.Nominated by the Washington, D.C., Chapter

SUE HUFFMAN ROBISON SAN FRANCISCO SACRAMENTO

Sue Huffman Robison has an impressive record of diverse experi-ences which have given her broad perspectives that are the hallmark of an LDEI Grande Dame: from being a founder of The Television Food Network to serving as President of IACP, from working 10 years as food editor of Ladies’ Home Journal to co-chairing one of LDEI’S signature programs, The Legacy Awards.On a one-to-one level, Sue has been an

outstanding mentor for many others who then went on to notable successes,” says Jerry DiVecchio, LDEI’s 2001 Grande Dame. “She is a master at connecting. In television, her choices made stars of culi-

nary personalities.” Sue was an award-winning food editor

at The St. Louis Globe-Democrat; a highly regarded corporate executive for Con-sumer Affairs at Best Foods for eight years, then she was a marketing director for the esteemed French Culinary Institute.Amina Harris, president of LDEI Sac-

ramento says, “Sue believes in the power of Les Dames in a way that is infectious.” Amina points out that Sue has spearhead-ed a strong, viable scholarship committee for Sacramento’s fledgling chapter. Under Sue’s direction, the scholarship commit-tee will award over $20,000 this year. Sue is member of the San Francisco Chapter and the Sacramento Chapter—which she helped found in 2015—and prior to that a member of LDEI’s New York Chapter for more than two decades.Nominated by both the San Francisco and Sacramento Chapters

GLORIA SMILEY ATLANTA

Gloria Smiley has shone bril-liantly—be-hind the scenes. Her food styling for cookbooks and chefs on media tours reads like a Who’s Who in the culinary world: Julia Child, Lydie Marshall, Jacques Pepin, Nicole Routhier, Anthony Bourdain, Giada De Laurentiis, Ted Allen, Aliza Green, Amy Sedaris, Anne Willan, Patricia Wells, and Nigella Lawson—not to mention Suzanne Som-mers, Richard Simmons, and Naomi Judd!She was a founding member of the Atlanta

Chapter and has continued to be an integral force volunteering and advising at the local and international levels when most others would be resting on their laurels.Says Stacy Zeigler, LDEI past president

and member of the Atlanta Chapter, “Gloria has a commitment to learning, education, and inspiration that is unwavering. She is an amazing friend, mentor, and member of the culinary community. She has taught and inspired thousands over the years. As she turns 80, Gloria’s commitment, if anything, has increased. She is a force and completely dedicated to her craft.”Nominated by the Atlanta Chapter

16 L e s D a m e s d ’ E s c o f f i e r I n t e r n a t i o n a l

By Susan Fuller Slack (Charleston)People don’t take trips….trips take people. John Steinbeck Ciudad Oaxaca de Juárez (or Oaxaca City)

is the capital of Oaxaca—Mexico’s most diverse state with 16 recognized ethno-linguistic groups. It is a place of mystery, myth, and charm, which 53 lucky Dames and guests who attended the Mexico Chapter’s third annual culinary adventure soon discovered. The spectacular event was organized by Dames Araceli Ramos and Maria Gomez-Laurens, with Rocio Meija and other Mexico Dames.

DAY ONE—WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6The beautiful Quinta Real Oaxaca hotel

was built in 1576 as the Convent of Santa Catalina de Siena. Checking in, we received refreshing, damp, amenity towels and passionfruit cocktails. The hotel’s Spanish colonial grace was evident in historic frescoes, arches, tiled fountains, and courtyards ablaze with flowering vines. The welcoming Mexico Dames greeted us with hugs and handwoven, blue tote bags filled with gifts.We gathered in La Capilla, the former con-

vent’s chapel, for a cocktail reception and din-ner. Traditional cocktails and mescal—Oax-aca’s signature spirit—were provided by Casa Cuervo during the evening and throughout the week. Glassware was rimmed with sal de gusano (maguey worm salt)—mescal’s insepa-rable companion. We viewed an exhibit by local artist Alejandra Villeas in the choir area; at the opposite end of the cavernous nave, artisans displayed fine Oaxacan handcrafts. Colorful alebrijes—hand-carved, mythical, wooden animals represented Oaxacan spirits of the otherworldly kind!

Festive dinner tables and dazzling banners of tissue paper cuttings heralded the magnifi-cent, traditional cuisine of Quinta’s Execu-tive Chef Daniel Francisco Torres Magro in special collaboration with Luis Gonzales, ex-ecutive chef of Puesto Restaurant Group, San Diego. We ate beef salpicón with chapulines (grasshoppers)—a high-protein food Oax-aqueños are addicted to! Chilled avocado soup preceded two types of mole (MO-lay) over chicken. One was rich, sweetly smoky, and black; the other creamy white with ground nuts. Mole is Oaxaca’s quintessential dish.Araceli Ramos introduced Oaxaca Mayor

Alejandro Murat Hinojosa, and state Tourist Division Secretary Juan Carlos Rivera Castel-lanos. A special dance performance featured the costumed folk dancers of La Guelaguetza, Oaxaca’s largest festival that originated as a pre-Hispanic celebration honoring Centéotl, the Zapotec goddess of maize. Accompanied by a traditional brass band, groups from different regions of Oaxaca performed lively dances.DAY 2—THURSDAY, MARCH 7We entered the hotel’s Cocina Antigua

(Old Kitchen) to find cazuelas (clay pots) of traditional breakfast dishes: tamales in banana leaves, mole, chilaquiles verde, frijoles, huevos rancheros, pan dulce, and cactus breakfast soup, to mention a few.After breakfast, we traveled to picturesque

Santa María del Tule to briefly visit El Árbol del Tule, a Montezuma Bald Cypress that is the world’s widest and oldest tree—nearly 2,000 years old. We continued east to Teo-titlán del Valle, an ancient weaving village founded by the Zapotecs in 1465. We spent the day at Tierra Antigua making

mole and squash blossom soup with Cocinera (chef) Carina Santiago Bautista. We worked in an outdoor Zapotec kitchen stocked with

culinary tools like those Carina’s ancestors used. Oaxaca’s moles include: Amarillo, Verde, Negro, Colorado, Coloradito, Chichilo, and Mancha Manteles (tablecloth stainer). Read The Art of Mole at www.ldei.org under Global Culinary Initiative. The home of Carina and her husband, master weaver Pedro Montaña, includes a weaving studio and galleria where we shopped for textiles.We also visited a textile cooperative where

Zapotec dying, spinning, and weaving traditions remain intact. Each family uses individual patterns and dye methods. We learned about natural dyes from indigenous plants and insects: e.g., indigo (blue); Mexi-can tarragon (bright yellow); indigo-tarragon (green); marigolds (orange/yellow); and walnut husks (brown).The most important organic, red dyestuff

is cochineal—tiny, beetle parasites on nopal cactus pads. The beetles produce red carminic acid as protection from predators. They are hand-picked, dried, ground, and mixed with water to obtain dye. Cochineal, second only to silver as Spain's most valuable New World commodity, was used for dying the uniforms of the British Army Red Coats and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The colorant (carmine) is used in your favorite red lipsticks and many foods.We strolled along Oaxaca’s cobblestone streets

to Casa Oaxaca where we dined on a roman-tic rooftop terrace with panoramic views of the historic city. Executive Chef Alejandro Ruíz Olmedo, an international ambassador of Mexican cuisine, was named one of 50 people transforming Mexico. Our multi-course dinner included stuffed chile de agua with ceviche and sweet-sour passion fruit sauce; coloradito mole with suckling pig, and ike jime catch with green mole and squash blossoms. The art of ike jime

16 L e s D a m e s d ’ E s c o f f i e r I n t e r n a t i o n a l

THE FLAVORS OF MEXICO—Savoring Oaxaca

S U M M E R Q U A R T E R L Y 2 0 1 9 17

is a Japanese method for harvesting fish. Dessert was guava tart with rose petal ice cream.DAY 3—FRIDAY, MARCH 8During breakfast at La Capilla, Zapotec

curanderas (natural healers) arrived from the Center of Traditional Indigenous Medicine in Capulálpam. Maria and Dean Laurens led the Dames into a sacred circle of herbs and flickering candles to experience la limpia de huevo, a spiritual cleansing with eggs, me-dicinal herbs, and mescal. The ancient ritual eliminates negative energies, bad vibrations, and stress. The women healers demonstrated the preparation of ointments and creams with natural ingredients such as aloe, rose pet-als, rosemary, and rue. We purchased many fragrant products to carry home.Feeling totally relaxed, we floated off to tour

Mercado de la Merced with Chef Olga Cabrera Oropeza of Tierra del Sol—Casa Restaurant and Chef Luis Gonzalez. Later at Tierra del Sol, we sipped tejate (tay-HA-tay) made from pulverized cacao beans, nixtamal corn, mamey seeds, and rosita de cacao, a floral-tasting white flower that forms the drink’s frothy, textured surface. The labor-intensive drink was once reserved for pre-Columbian royalty.Chef Olga is from Oaxaca’s Mixteca region;

Mixteca cuisine is the specialty of her restau-rant—former home of Mexico’s Grammy-win-ning singer Lila Downs. Our family-style, patio lunch included Oaxacan grilled meats, chilies, and vegetables with chapulines, quesillo (string cheese), and chicharrón (crisp pork skins). Afternoon educational sessions included

Olga’s class on preparing cacao beans for chocolate; Master Potter Angelica Vasquez’s presentation on her red clay art figures; and a demonstration on making red clay pottery by the "Women of the Red Clay” from San Mar-cos Tlapazola. Looking festive in embroidered

aprons with colorful ribbons braided in their hair, the women shaped clay by hand without using a potter’s wheel.Dinner, with traditional Oaxacan music, was

served on red clay dinnerware purchased by LDEI Mexico to support the red clay artisans. The menu featured two soups and four moles: huachimole, chileajo amarillo, mole de laurel and Mixteca—prepared by a recipe from Chef Olga’s 93-year-old-grandmother. Dessert was burnt milk ice cream topped with prickly pear cactus sorbet.The meal ended with chocolate de agua, a

beverage prepared from cacao beans that the Dames toasted, peeled, and helped grind into paste with almonds and cinnamon. The use of water allowed the incredible richness and flavor of the chocolate to shine. DAY 4—SATURDAY, MARCH 9At 9 a.m., our coaches departed for Monte

Albán, the ruins of a ceremonial city that the Zapotec (Cloud People) began constructing on a mountaintop 500 years B.C. It overlooks the Valley of Oaxaca, where in 1529, Spanish Conquistador Hernán Cortés founded pres-ent day Oaxaca City. The two cities are now UNESCO World Heritage Sites—a conflu-ence of two millennia of culture and history.Lunch at the beautiful La Catedral Restaurant

featured salad of baby lettuce, corn flowers, and bean flowers with maguey syrup vinaigrette and a flakey cheese pastry; vibrant green mole with succulent pork ribs confit; and prickly pear sorbet with an airy, tejate foam topping. DAMES ON PARADEAround 4 p.m., makeup artists arrived at the

hotel to transform each Dame into La Ca-trina—an elegant, often flirtatious, skeleton lady who is a popular symbol of the Day of the Dead religious holiday. La Catrina reflects the comfort with which Mexicans accept death and pay

homage through respect and humor. Applica-tions of colorful makeup, “jewels”, and floral headpieces completed the transformations.The painted ladies and gentlemen joined a

Calenda parade prearranged by the Mexico Dames. The celebration included musicians; larger-than-life dancing puppets; huge, round spinning globes; and twirling girls with flower baskets perched on their heads. Many towns-people joined the parade of dancing Dames. A grand finale of whirling, fizzing pyrotechnics ended the festivities with a bang!The revelry set the mood for a farewell dinner

at Casa Rocha, a beautiful private garden in Tlalixtac de Cabrera. Music was provided by youth artists and dinner was orchestrated by Señora Deyanira Aquino, a renowned Chef called “La Teca,” short for Juchitecas—the strong, entrepreneurial women of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. She collaborated with Puesto Chefs Luis Gonzalez, Katy Smith, and Erik Aronow to present 11 magnificent dishes.The distinctive cuisine of the Isthmus is

corn-based. We ate tamales with yellow mole, tacos stuffed with Oaxacan chile rellenos, and a wedding stew of beef, chilies, and fruit. Every bite was exquisite, but the delicate, fresh corn tamales with crema were a standout. A lovely dessert was prepared by Pastry Chef Aronow and Mexico Chapter’s Veronica Castro pro-vided outstanding Diamansol Coffee. www.cafediamansol.com/en/nuestro-cafe/After an evening of dining, dancing, toasts,

and fireworks, our Oaxacan adventure came to an end. We spent every moment exploring the rich cultural life and “infinite gastronomy” of Oaxaca—Mexico’s hottest, new food destina-tion—and we all wanted to learn more. An old saying throughout the region holds great promise…“if you eat a single chauplin (grass-hopper), you are destined to return!”

THE FLAVORS OF MEXICO—Savoring Oaxaca

18 L e s D a m e s d ’ E s c o f f i e r I n t e r n a t i o n a l

Hearth baked breads, rich coffeecakes, holiday baskets, luscious buttercream cakes,

handmade cheeses and gelati, estate bottled olive oils and customized business gifts

ZINGERMANS.COM

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it ’s a taste that says a thousand words.

S U M M E R Q U A R T E R L Y 2 0 1 9 19

GLOBAL CULINARY

postcard

By Irene Moore (South Florida)

The South Florida Dames held a

five-course dinner at Soul Tavern

in November, 2018, based on the

Five Elements: earth, metal, water,

wood, and fire. The Five Elements is

a 5,000 year-old system

for balancing the body,

mind, and spirit, and it

is based on the concept

that we are made of the

same organic material

as nature; therefore,

our body, mind, and

spirit are expressed

just as nature is. Dinner began with a

Tibetan Prayer Ceremony at the Tibetan Prayer Wheels

in front of the restaurant. The prayer of gratitude

celebrated Thanksgiving—as we spun the prayer wheels,

prayers of good wishes went out to the universe.

The Soul Tavern founder, Dr. Jason Gordon, explained

each course and how it balanced all Five Elements. As a

Doctor of Chinese Medical Qigong and an acupuncture

physician, his clinical practice integrates Chinese medi-

cine, energy medicine, herbal medicine, sup-

plementation, bodywork,

yoga and meditation. Dr.

Gordon believes in age-old

practices that new science

doesn’t disprove; the funda-

mentals of healthy eating;

and a healthy lifestyle that

will stand the test of time.

An Ancient Chinese

Perspective on Dinner

A Journey Through the Five Elements

EARTH Mushroom Ceviche was paired with “Nourish Earth Herbal Elixir” to prepare the digestive system.

METALHemp, Nut-Crusted, Edamame Cakes were served with shaved fennel, Granny Smith apples, celery root, and black tahini.

WATERBeet Gazpacho and Smoked Celery "Cheese” paired with “Cultivate the Middle Elixir” to promote gratitude and love.

WOODBlack Risotto included chanterelle mushrooms, sautéed kale, lemongrass, and lemon.

FIREDessert was Guava Cheesecake with Coconut Rum Curd.

Global CulinaryInitiative

Tibetan Prayer Wheels.

20 L e s D a m e s d ’ E s c o f f i e r I n t e r n a t i o n a l

By Danielle Wecksler (Charleston Chapter,) LDEI Second Vice President, and Gina Burchenal (Austin Chapter), LDEI Chapter Board Liaison It was the year 2000, and a

diverse panel of Dames from various chapters and profes-sions assembled to provide insight into millennium trends in global gastronomy. Futuris-tic ideas (at the time) such as “food as medicine,” “vegetables as the star of the plate,” “reus-able materials,” “online grocery shopping,” and “an increase in wine bottles with screw tops and synthetic corks” were discussed.Fast forward and the year is

now 2019, and those ideas that seemed so far off in the future are now a reality and really quite common place. Did those Dames back then have a magic crystal ball foretelling the future? Of course not! Our members have always been at the fore-front, not just observing, but setting the trends in the food, fine beverage, and hospitality industry.Which is why Chapter Board

Liaison Gina Burchenal and I are once again conducting the LDEI 2020 Trends Survey this summer. We want to gather YOUR insights and knowledge into what is trending now and into the future, and compile it into our annual Trends Report. This comprehensive report will be sent to multiple media outlets and social channels, and be a resource for our member-ship. The goal is to showcase the expertise and leadership of our Dames and continue to elevate

LDEI 2020 Trends Survey Coming Soon!

TRENDS

the LDEI brand. We want the media and influencers to think of Dames when they are looking for “expert” opinions!So be on the lookout in

the coming weeks for an email from LDEI about the 2020 Trends Report. The

email will contain a link to the online trends survey, and we would appreciate if you could take the time to complete it. We would like to hear from as many Dames as possible, and tell us what trends we will be talking about in another 20 years!

Photo: Unsplash, Edgar Castrejon. L-R: Dames Carolyn O'Neil, Sue Huffman, Dianne Ho-gerty, Jan Hazard, and Carol Haddix.

S U M M E R Q U A R T E R L Y 2 0 1 9 21

By Angie Mosier (Atlanta) In the spring of 2000, five or six members

of the LDEI Atlanta Chapter gathered over wine in the kitchen of Vicky Murphy to scheme a more robust way to raise money to fuel their philanthropic efforts. The chapter had, for the first couple of years of the group’s existence hosted lovely dinner parties, thrown in homes and gardens throughout the city to raise funds. The parties were very nice and well attended but the amount of money raised was not really enough for the amount of work and time that the dinners cost. The goal was to come up with something that would make an impact with a “wow factor” but also raise as much money as possible. The idea of the new event was a Sunday

afternoon in a bucolic setting with hay bales arranged for sitting, live bluegrass music, and Atlanta chefs providing small bites for the gathering. Our setting was a farm just outside of the city and chefs

Afternoon In The Country

FUNDRAISING Atlanta

and beverage professionals were invited to bring their families to enjoy the event while they served our guests. That first year about 150 people purchased tickets. Chap-ter members and their friends and families not only attended but many also helped do the literal heavy lifting of putting on the event. We operated the same way for eight years. The funds raised were good but still seemed small for the amount of work that our members were putting into the effort. It was also evident that finding members willing to commit to the same work year after year was getting difficult. We had to find another way.The solution for our chapter was to hire

an event manager. At first the amount of money spent on the front side seemed like almost as much as we were making but shifting to that model allowed members to concentrate on finding sponsors rather than just relying on ticket sales. Under the expertise of the event management team, it didn’t take long to feel the impact of our dollars spent. Timelines were set, media packets pulled together, chapter

members were inspired to participate again, and sponsors saw the results of their investments. Our event had grown up and “Afternoon in the Country” be-came one of Atlanta’s most beloved food and beverage events. We are in our 19th year now and have

gone from hosting about 300 people to nearly 1,000 guests. More chefs and restaurateurs are able to participate and sponsors touch a larger audience. Our chapter’s Green Tables Committee has made the event their pet project and has helped us to reduce waste and through a partnership with Atlanta-based Rubi-con—a global waste management and recycling platform—we were able to di-vert 56 percent of our event’s waste from going into a landfill in 2018. Our fund-raising efforts are bolstered by our famous cake raffle and a robust silent auction. We have raised a net average of approximately $100,000 dollars for the past three years that goes toward our scholarship fund’s individual and institutional grants.

22 L e s D a m e s d ’ E s c o f f i e r I n t e r n a t i o n a l

It happens to the best of chapters: the ebb and flow of enthusiasm about what we do. Whether yours is a freshly minted chapter filled with big plans, or a well-established chapter with a National Conference under your belt, one day, some members may look around and think, “What happened to us?” Suddenly it feels impossible to get even the smallest task accomplished, and your LDEI chapter meetings seem to need fewer and fewer seats. This time a year ago, things were bleak for

the Cleveland Chapter. We hadn’t held our annual fundraiser the previous fall. Mem-bers were asking to be placed on hiatus or flat-out dropping out. I agreed to be part of the turn-around team.

Parts of the ToolkitTECHNOLOGY 1.0In our (approximate) 15 years as a chapter,

we have had many board members, each with her own computer, filing systems, document repository, and memories about how things are done. One of the first items on the agenda was to create online storage for all the Cleveland Chapter documents—from membership lists to minutes. These are shared with all chapter members to review as desired, increasing transparency, and

safeguarding our chapter’s history.STOP RE-INVENTING THE WHEELI’m a big fan of calendars. It makes a

potentially overwhelming task seem more manageable if there are deadlines spread out throughout the calendar year for each com-mittee member to rely on. Memorialize how and when to do the tasks, so it’s a matter of picking up a guidebook every year instead of constantly starting over.TECHNOLOGY 2.0Get the calendars online, then share them

and keep them updated. There’s no such thing as “TMI” (Too Much Information) when it comes to running a chapter. Ours is an evolving process: We started out ambi-tiously, with one calendar for each commit-tee in Google. But now we are reevaluating that approach, because it seems overwhelm-ing to have eight separate calendars. We are looking for simple, yet detail-rich, methods to convey the information necessary to the members.THE RIGHT PEOPLEOnce you have committed to transparency

and technology to make the jobs easier and repeatable, make committee assignments based on your members’ skills. Think twice, for instance, before inviting a member who

doesn’t use email to serve as a committee chair! When you set up your roadmaps/schedules/etc. in a way that makes the tasks look achievable, your prospective chair can easily review the requirements of the posi-tion. She can immediately see if the bulk of the tasks falls right in her busy season—or not. Perhaps in reviewing the Fundraiser Chair schedule, for example, she will find that the job is doable since the Board has already divided this mammoth task into manageable chunks. Our Board sat down and brainstormed about every Cleveland Dame and where we felt her strengths lie. There was some shuffling and possibly some toes were stepped on. But we needed bold moves to save the Chapter.EVALUATE AND REPEATThe teaser at the top was “Five Easy Steps.”

Turning a chapter around is never easy. But it is doable. These steps we have undertaken in the past nine months were a lot of work at the outset. Nine months ago, I prom-ised that when I hand off the baton in 15 months, I would be passing on a well-tuned machine. Using technology as our new plat-form has been a great start to re-invigorate our members, but it is a work in process. If something isn’t working, evaluate and tweak where necessary.

Leadership in Action is a Quarterly column focused on good business practices for chapters and leadership development for Dames. Experienced Dame leaders and other experts will provide how-to content, practical advice, fresh ideas, tools, and resources. Consider this forum your own personal leadership coach!

LEADERSHIP IN ACTION By Beth Davis-Noragon Cleveland Chapter President

PUSHING THE RESET BUTTON: Reinvigorating Your Chapter in Five Easy Steps

22 L e s D a m e s d ’ E s c o f f i e r I n t e r n a t i o n a l

S U M M E R Q U A R T E R L Y 2 0 1 9 23

Plan to attend the Brock Circle program featuring Dame Carla Hall, “Being Authentic When Facing Adversity,” on Wednesday, October 23, 2:30 to 6 p.m. at the Loews Hotel, Nashville, TN. The pre-confer-ence program is open to all LDEI members.Carla, best known as the former co-host of

ABC’s Emmy award-winning lifestyle series The Chew, currently appears on ABC’s popular GMA DAY. She wowed audiences when she competed on Bravo’s Top Chef and Top Chef: All Stars, where she shared her philosophy to always cook with love. Carla be-lieves food connects us all, and she strives to communicate this through her work and interaction with people.Born in Nashville, TN, Carla Hall grew up sur-

rounded by Soul Food. When the time came for her to select a career, she opted for business, graduating from Howard University with a business degree. She worked for two years as an accountant, before switch-ing gears to work as a runway model. While modeling, she traveled and ate her way through Europe, eventu-ally realizing she wanted to turn her deep-rooted pas-sion for food into a career. Carla is a trained chef who has worked in several professional restaurant kitchens in and around Washington, D.C. In addition, she is a nationally recognized television personality and author of three cookbooks—the most recent, Carla Hall’s Soul Food: Everyday and Celebration.LDEI’s Brock Circle members are proud to provide

this opportunity for all Dames, and to continue its mission to ensure the fiscal health of LDEI by provid-ing support for strategic needs and special conference enhancements.Questions? Contact LDEI Immediate Past President,

Hayley Matson-Mathes, hayleymm@hawaii.rr.com. Members of the Brock Circle Committee: LDEI Presi-dent Ann Stratte, Sharon Olson, Margaret Happel Perry, and Patricia Erd with special support provided by Alice G. Foreman. By Hayley Matson-Mathes (Hawaii).

The Brock Circle Presents an Exciting Program with Carla Hall

Brock

Circle

LDEI

S U M M E R Q U A R T E R L Y 2 0 1 9 23

24 L e s D a m e s d ’ E s c o f f i e r I n t e r n a t i o n a l

goal of introducing our chapter Dames to prospective members, mentees, and scholarship recipients, and also to elevate the LDEI brand in the community. The lively event spurred plenty of conversation about how the Dames can support the journey of other women in our industry, no matter where it leads.

CLEVELAND Jackie BebenrothIn March, the Cleveland Dames gathered at the Flying Fig for a multi-course dinner prepared Chef/Owner Karen Small. Chef Small is a 2018 James Beard semi-finalist and a pillar in the region’s local foods community. After dinner, she joined the table to share her perspective on how to keep business “fresh” after 20 years in the restaurant scene. April’s member event will be held at Saucisson and will spotlight the work of two female butchers, Melissa Khoury and Penny Barend.

DALLAS Lisa Stewart

The Dallas Chapter teamed up with Central Market and Tiffany Derry to host a special evening celebrating Texas Independence Day, while raising scholarship funds. It was also the perfect opportunity to educate participants about Les Dames d’Escoffier and the wonderful work we do for the culinary community.Several of our members helped serve and prepare the meal. It

was a wonderful learning experience for our guests when Chef Derry shared stories about where the ingredients came from and on her recent experiences traveling for the James Beard Foundation, Top Chef, and as an ambassador for the United States of America. Susan Auler, founder of Fall Creek Vine-yards, shared what it was like starting a wine business in Texas and the accolades her wines have received.A special thanks to Co-Chairs Suzanne Felber and Christina

LaBarba, for putting this evening together with Karen Cas-sady of Central Market. With the ongoing support of Central Market, we continue to raise funds for scholarships. We look forward to doing more events like this in the future.

ATLANTA Natasha CaryOn March 12, the Atlanta Chapter hosted Dinner &

Movie at the Westside Cultural Arts Center, where a screen-ing of A Fine Line took place. It was a fascinating look into the role of women in the kitchen and not only the history of where they have been, but the inspiring stories of the women who are changing the story for the future. We gath-ered for networking and fellowship with one another at the arts center and enjoyed a catered meal by Avalon Catering, a woman-owned business by our Dame Cathy Conway.The menu included a sharing mezze platter set at each

table, and some of the items displayed on the buffet were: Southern BBQ Smoked Painted Short Ribs with Kimchi Slaw; Roasted Garlic and Herb Springer Mountain Chicken; and Baby Eggplant with Cumin and Rustic Rosemary Tomato Sauce. These were just some of the items we savored ,and all the food was stunning and delicious.

BIRMINGHAM Martha Johnston In late January, members attended a “Financial Challenges

Women Face in the 21st Century” workshop. Designed to give tools to achieve financial independence, both person-ally and in businesses, a CPA and two financial advisors (all women) representing three different firms participated on the panel.February saw Dames gather for our 2nd Annual Favorite

Things Party. Every member brought three items (each under $10) and told her story about why it was special. Attendees chose an item to take home as their name was drawn. The event proved a wonderful vehicle for Dames to cross the professional bridge to develop a more personal friendship as stories were shared.To insure our chapter’s strong membership continues

to grow, Leigh Sloss-Corra, VP of Membership, chaired a Membership Orientation Meeting on April 8. Policies and Standards were reviewed as well as the qualifications for potential new members, the process, and timeline for nominating them.

CHARLESTONDanielle Wecksler

The Charleston Dames gathered on April 7 at Bar Mash, hosted by Vonda Freeman, for a "Meet the Dames" mixer. The Mentorship Committee organized the event with the

ANN ARBOR | ATLANTA | AUSTIN | BIRMINGHAM | BOSTON | BRITISH COLUMBIA | CHARLESTON | CHARLOTTE & THE WESTERN CAROLINAS CHICAGO | CLEVELAND | COLORADO | DALLAS | GREATER DES MOINES | HAWAII | HOUSTON | KANSAS CITY | KENTUCKY | LONDON LOS ANGELES/ORANGE COUNTY | MEXICO | MIAMI | MINNESOTA | MONTEREY BAY | NASHVILLE | NEW ORLEANS | NEW ENGLAND | NEW YORK PALM SPRINGS | PARIS, FRANCE | PHILADELPHIA | PHOENIX | PORTLAND | SACRAMENTO | SAN ANTONIO | SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO | SAVANNAH/COASTAL GEORGIA | SEATTLE | SOUTH FLORIDA | ST. LOUIS | WASHINGTON, D.C.

CHAPTER PROGRAMS Nichole Bendele (San Antonio)

24 L e s D a m e s d ’ E s c o f f i e r I n t e r n a t i o n a l

Charleston Chapter members host a “Meet the Dames” mixer.

Carol Ritchie, Christina LaBarba Suzanne Felber, Lori Finkelman.

Dallas Chapter Dames

Tiffany Derry

S U M M E R Q U A R T E R L Y 2 0 1 9 25

MIAMI Ellen KannerWe began the year with MusiMelange an evening blending live mu-

sic, gastronomic delights, and specially curated wines in Miami’s chic Wynwood district. A treat for all the senses, the Dames event was such a success it became a monthly happening. Thanks go to Gail Beckham, whose desserts made March’s MusiMelange so sweet.Spring means both business and pleasure. In early April, members

turned out at Johnson & Wales University for our general business meeting to brainstorm about goals for the coming year. We work to build our scholarship program. Awarding scholarships to deserv-ing women is where our fundraising efforts pay off in the happiest way.We’re proud of Thi Squire and her program

Grow2Heal, recently featured on local televi-sion. Thi, who does the Green Tables committee proud, runs a farm-to-table initiative growing produce—the best medicine—on site at Home-stead Hospital. That’s over 3,000 pounds of the fresh fruits and vegetables feeding hospital patients, staff, and local community.

NASHVILLE Paulette LicitraOn March 4, Nashville Dames enjoyed another segment of our

popular "Table at the Back" series. This time it was at Maneet Chauhan's newest restaurant, Chaatable, which is all about celebrating Indian street food. Nashville Dames filled Chaatable’s back room for a multi-course tasting and raised money for our scholarship fund.April 1 was our quarterly potluck at Tallu Quinn’s home. We all

enjoyed an outstanding spread of food and wine, while members socialized and got to know each other better. We also discussed more details of our plans for the 2019 LDEI Conference, here in Nashville, with Co-Chairs Anne Byrn and Mindy Merrell, and we raised scholarship money with a drawing for prizes.

NEW ORLEANS Beth D’AddonoThe New Orleans Chapter honored hospitality guru Bonnie

Warren March 31 at “Bonnie-Gras,” a celebration of her long-time involvement in public relations, publishing, and hospitality. Bonnie, the director of public relations at Bren-nan’s restaurant for 29 years, was honored as the chapter's first “Dame Emeritus.” The event was also a benefit for Les Dames and Southern Food & Beverage Museum, and it included foods from Bonnie’s heritage. She was born in South Africa to missionary parents before coming to the U.S., ultimately settling in New Orleans. Jyl Benson, SoFAB’s Director of Culinary Programming, created the menu, which included ground-nut stew and bread served with dukkah-spiced oil—a condiment made with herbs, nuts, and spices. Harkening to Bonnie’s Southern roots, barbecue pit master and SoFAB’s Curator of Meat Science Dan Robert smoked a pork shoulder for 17 hours and served it as

sliders with traditional Southern sides. “Bonnie Warren is a shining example of a strong, accomplished, and successful woman who has excelled in the hospitality arena for more than 50 years,” said Beth D’Addono, chapter co-founder. “She is always available to mentor and uplift other women, a tenet and core value of LDEI.” Chapter Co-Founder-President Stephanie Carter agrees, “We're so proud to celebrate her as our first honorary Dame.”

NORTH CAROLINA Paulette LicitraOur third annual fundraiser, celebrating DUDES FOR DAMES

was a tribute to the men behind the women rather than the other way around, and featured Chefs Justin Burdett, Bill Smith, Phil Bey, Josh DeCar-olis, Sean Fowler, Gray Brooks, Sam McGann, and Jake Wood. The event was hosted by incoming Dame Karen MacDonald at the stunningly lovely Lavender Oak Farms in Chapel Hill. Pro-ceeds benefitted the NC Jr. Chef Competition & No Kid Hungry North Carolina, in memory and honor of award-winning Pastry Chef Karen Barker.

PHILADELPHIA Natanya DiBonaThe New Year began with our annual Winter Potluck at Jacqueline

Kelly’s home. In February, Dames and The Geographical Society of Philadelphia held a Georgian Wine Dinner. Jill Weber paired Georgian wines with the dishes. We also went to Samuels and Son Seafood for a tour, lunch, and discussion on underutilized fish.In conjunction with the Philly

Chef Conference in March, we hosted an Empowering brunch and panel discussion with Mashama Bailey (Savannah), Ka-tie Button (North Carolina) and Elle Simone Scott (Boston).We partnered with Riverbend

Environmental Education Center to present “Our Table, Our Planet,” a sustainability dinner featuring Lisa Calvo of Sweet Amalia Oysters, Chef Kiki Aranita of Poi Dog Philly, and Jonathan Deutsch, PhD of Drexel’s Center for Food and Hospitality.In April, we hosted our first Veg-

an Spring Soiree at Walnut Hill College. Timed to coincide with the Food as Medicine Conference, Lynn Buono, Fran Costigan, Kathy Gold, Alice Leung, and Char Nolan designed a plant-based menu that was prepared by students under the direction of Marie Stecher and Chef Todd Braley. We also hosted our 4th Annual Women in Food Reception.

Table at the Back – Chaatable. Nashville Chapter Potluck.

Dames Katie Button, Mashama Bailey and Elle Simone Scott. Dames Susanna Foo and Angie Brown with Stephanie Willis. Vegan Spring Soiree Planner.

Bonnie Warren

Chef Bill Smith with North Carolina Chapter Dames Sandra Gutierrez, Margaret Norfleet-Neff, and Eliza-beth Wiegand. Photo: Susi Séguret.

Thi Squire

26 L e s D a m e s d ’ E s c o f f i e r I n t e r n a t i o n a l

SAN ANTONIO Nichole BendeleAt our January Bi-Annual Membership Meeting we honored Dr.

Adena Williams Loston as our Legacy Award recipient. She serves as the 14th president of St. Phillips College (San Antonio), the only college to be federally designated as both a historically black college and Hispanic-serving institution. Degrees in culinary arts as well as baking & pastry arts are some of the degrees offered. Chef Elizabeth Johnson’s top-rated organic restaurant catered the dinner with locally-sourced ingredients.In February, Kathy Gottsacker hosted the Word-of-Mouth Book

Club potluck and discussed the book Being Dead is No Excuse by Gayden Metcalfe and Charlotte Hays. Dames cooked recipes from the book and socialized.In April, scholarship applications were turned in to Diana Barrios

Trevino. The Board approved Past President Kathy Shearer’s nomina-tions for new officers for President, Vice President, and Corresponding Secretary. Membership will vote on the nominated slate in May.

SOUTH FLORIDA Irene MooreIn January, Miami Dames rode the new Brightline train to Palm

Beach and attended New York Times’ Food Editor Sam Sifton’s presen-tation, “In the Kips Bay Kitchen.” Champagne, tea sandwiches, and a tour of the Kips Bay Showhouse followed. Stacey Stolman was our event co-chair.In February, South Florida Dames held an Italian Winter Black Truffle

Dinner in Wynwood with Dōma Italian Restaurant and Urbani Truffles as part of our Global Culinary Initiative and learned the difference between Italian and French truffles. Karen Escalera and Gina Natoli were co-chairs.Patty Ruiz and Irene Moore represented the SoFL Dames on Trade

Day in February at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival. They distributed 2,000 samples of crudités and handmade tzaziki to inter-national members of the wine and food trade. Paulette Bilsky also participated.Dames held their “April in Paris” fundraiser dinner with Semilla

French Bistro and Wine Bar in Miami Beach, promoting French cul-ture and classic French cuisine. Executive Chef/Owner Frederic Joulin presented an exceptional culinary journey, familiarizing Dames with the cuisine of his native France. Breakthru Beverages Florida provided French wines to accompany the dinner. Denise Courshon and Irene Moore were co-chairs.

WASHINGTON, D.C. Eileen DykesOur chapter held its inaugural “Pitch Fest” a program modeled after

“Shark Tank.” Women entrepreneurs pitched their business models to

our panel of Dame experts. Panelists served as judges weighing a variety of criteria including strong concept with research and data, poise and professionalism, ability to communicate market and target, and answer questions with base of knowledge. Judges were Stacey Adams, president, Tastings Gourmet Market, Annapolis; Susan Callahan MA Gastronomy, chef instructor HTM, Univer-sity of Maryland Eastern Shore; Jill Collins, owner, Jill Collins Public Relations Group and Sophia Maroon, founder & CEO, Dress It Up Dressing. The moderator was Aviva Goldfarb. “Pitch Fest” was held at Mission Navy Yard. Laurie Bell, owner, Great Falls Tea Garden, Jodi Lehr, co-owner,

Santa Lucia Coffee and Nancy Baggett award-winning cookbook author, shared the histories of our favorite caffeinated beverages and how these commodities’ trade and consumption changed our societies and cultures. With origins from around the globe, coffee, tea, and chocolate had colorful histories centuries before they were introduced to the European continent. Guests enjoyed a plethora of these luxury beverages, paired with creative confections and a variety of taste treats from Ris Lacoste and her staff.

Truffles at South Florida’s Winter Black Truffle Dinner. Irene Moore and Patty Ruiz at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival. “In the Kitchen with Sam Sifton.”

26 L e s D a m e s d ’ E s c o f f i e r I n t e r n a t i o n a l

By Jennifer Goldman, (San Antonio Chapter) LDEI SecretaryHalfway through this year as

Board Secretary, I am pleasantly surprised by the number of women who want to start new

chapters of LDEI. Across the U.S. and spanning the globe, there are currently 13 loca-tions where women leaders in hospitality are working to pull their community together under the LDEI banner—places such as Huntsville, Las Vegas, and Madison, Wisconsin, and reach-

ing as far as Ontario, Greece, and Florence, Italy. Most come from member referrals, but oth-ers are aware of LDEI and want to be part of the collaborative and supportive culture. These women work full time, but they are finding the incredible amount of time it takes to orga-nize a chapter so their commu-nity of influencers can benefit from the resources of LDEI.

Speaking to these women is a constant reminder of the value of this organization for our members and partners alike. Our programs and networking opportunities further our goals as chapters and professionals, as our philanthropic and mentor-ing missions feed our souls. Participation is the key!

New Chapter Development

LAUNCHPOINT

S U M M E R Q U A R T E R L Y 2 0 1 9 27

N A P A VA L L E Y

Rutherford, Napa Valleywww.cakebread.com

(800) 588–0298

Blending innovation & tradition since 1973

www.beautifulbrinysea.com

28 L e s D a m e s d ’ E s c o f f i e r I n t e r n a t i o n a l

MEMBER MILESTONES Dottie Koteski (Philadelphia)ATLANTAKeio Gayden was featured in Atlanta Magazine for her work with Miller Grove High School’s Culi-nary Program. For the past 10 years, Keio has been inspiring stu-dents and changing their lives. Her school kitchen was one of the first four in Georgia to be accredited by the American Culinary Federation. BIRMINGHAM Geri-Martha O’Hara opened a second location for Big Spoon Creamery in Home-wood. She began selling ice cream in 2014 with a store-front in Avondale in 2017. Her business is a small batch artisan ice cream company making seasonal flavors with local ingredi-ents and creating new innovations on the classics. www.bigspooncreamery.com Patricia H. Terry, PhD, RD, LD, FAND, Professor at Samford University, is one of thirteen U.S. dietitians selected to receive the Cabot Creamery Community Award that recognizes dietitians with a com-mitment to the profession, who give self-lessly of their time to volunteer within their communities and encourage eating local food. www.samford.edu/healthsciencesRebecca Williamson, owner and creator of Holmsted Fines Chutney, ran in the Maebashi Japan Mara-thon on April 21. She represented the City of Birmingham through the Birmingham Track Club in our Sister City's Marathon. www.holmstedfines.comJennifer Yarbrough, owner of Crestline Bagel Company, Inc., announced the open-ing of a third location in downtown Birming-ham at Innovation Depot. This artisan bakery also has loca-tions in Mountain

Brook and Cahaba Heights. www.crestline-bagel.com/ www.crestlinecatering.comBOSTON Kristen LaCount, As-sistant General Man-ager of The Country Club in Chestnut Hill, received the Ris-ing Star Award which recognizes a future GM who has ex-hibited outstanding leadership skills in the U.S. David Chag, CCM, General Manager recognized her excellent performance and said, “Kristen more than qualifies as a rising star; she has risen in my eyes.”CHARLESTON

Robin Griffith, a longtime, hospitality industry executive, appeared on a panel of industry professionals in May at the Chicago NRA Show to ad-dress executives from Galunion, a Brazilian company special-izing in foodservice. She spoke about the challenges of being a woman and a minor-ity in the Food and Beverage Industry.Katie Weinberger, the owner of Charles-ton's King Bean Coffee recently joined television show host Vera Stewart on her popu-lar Southern cooking show, "The Very Vera Show." Check Vera Stewart’s You Tube channel to watch the segment at www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VyTpYkVghUCLEVELANDBev Shaffer once again attended the Al-zheimer’s Association Advocacy Forum from March 31-April 3 in Washington, D.C. She addressed the 1,300 delegates at the dinner the evening before the ambassadors visited Capitol Hill and all of Congress to request their continued support and budget funding to find a cure and treatment for Alzheimer’s.MONTEREY BAY Mary Chamberlin was recently honored with a lovely article in the “Great Lives”

section of The Carmel Pine Cone news-paper, which described all the highlights of her culinary career and her cookbook, The Traveling Soup Pot, now in its fourth printing. It features Mary’s soup recipes from 27 countries. NASHVILLEDee Patel, Manag-ing Director of The Hermitage Hotel in Nashville, has been honored with the Outstanding Woman Hotelier of the Year Award from the Asian American Hotel Owners Association. In addition, Nashville Business Journal named Dee as one of its 2019 Women of Influence.NEW YORKOdila Galer-Noel opened PRonCall, a multi-service communications and event planning agency, which focuses on wine, spirits, and food. Odila’s passion for story-telling and crafting innovative campaigns led her to privileged relationships with the media and trade. PRonCall’s goal is to positively impact awareness for clients through the power of public relations. PHOENIXBarbara Pool Fenzl is semi-retired and has closed Les Gourmettes Cooking School which she operated for 36 years. Barbara hosted countless guest chefs including: Jacques Pépin, Paula Wolfert, Martin Yan, and Anne Willan. She continues to teach occasional private classes and appear on local morning tele-vision cooking segments.SAN FRANCISCOEmily Luchetti took a detour from food writing to co-author with friend Erin McHugh, So Who’s Counting?: The Little Quote Book About Growing Older and Still Kicking Ass. They got tired of hear-ing the self-deprecating jokes about aging, but know that they are just hitting their stride! (Andrews McMeel, publisher)SEATTLE Renee Erickson, biz partner Jeremy Price, and the Sea Creatures Restaurant Group’s Willmott’s Ghost was nominated by the James Beard Awards for Outstanding Res-taurant Design.

Keio Gayden

28 L e s D a m e s d ’ E s c o f f i e r I n t e r n a t i o n a l

Geri-Martha O'Hara

Jennifer Yarbrough

Patricia H. Terry

Rebecca Williamson

Kristen LaCount

Robin Griffith

Bev Shaffer

Dee Patel

Barbara Pool Fenzl

Renee Erickson

S U M M E R Q U A R T E R L Y 2 0 1 9 29

lounge serving gourmet Roman cuisine, and gym with a wellbeing program. www.kwepr.comWASHINGTON, D.C.Gladys Abi-Nijam and her four siblings were hon-ored by the National Restaurant Association with its 2019 Faces of Diversity Award. For nearly 40 years, Gladys and her family have been actively giving back to the community as well as providing their Lebanese Taverna employees with opportunities to achieve their American Dreams.Cathy Barrow's new book, Pie Squared: Irresistibly Easy Sweet & Savory Slab Pies (Grand Central Publishing), is a finalist for the Baking and Desserts category of the James Beard Foundations Book Awards. Her first book, Mrs. Wheelbarrow's Kitchen was the IACP Award Win-ner for Best Single Subject Cookbook in 2015!Najmieh Batmanglij was featured on PBS News Hour with Jeffrey Brown as she prepared her feast for Nowruz, the Iranian New Year holiday. She remi-nisced about her life in Iran, France, and the U.S. www.pbs.org/newshour/show/a-culinary-tradition-for-the-persian-new-yearAmy Brandwein, Executive Chef/Owner of Centro-lina, is a finalist for the Best Chef Mid-Atlantic from the James Beard Foundation. Amy was nominated for the 2019 RAMMY* (Restaurant Association Metro-politan Washington*) award for best Upscale Casual Restaurant of the Year.Cecilia Glembocki created The American Egg Board’s commemo-rative egg for First Lady Melania Trump at the April 22 White House Egg Roll, which Cecelia has chaired for 37 years. Cecilia decorated the egg by quilling, a centuries-old art form whereby small, rolled strips of paper are shaped and glued together.Ruth Gresser is Executive Chef/Owner of five Pizza Paradiso restaurants. Her DuPont Circle location was nominated for the 2019 RAMMY* award for best Beer Program of the Year. Pati Jinich received the James Beard Foundation (JBF) award for Best Television Program in-studio or fixed location for her syndicated PBS cooking show, Pati’s Mexican Table. Last year, she was named Best Television Personality from JBF.Susan Soorenko has finally opened her Ellicott City, Maryland, and Moorenko’s Ice Cream at 8054 Main Street in April. The opening was delayed because of the flooding in Ellicott City last year. Susan will also have a shop within a shop (Serendipity and More on Prince Street) in Frederick, Maryland, later this spring.CiCi Williamson was chosen manager of the 2019 Association of Food Journalists Awards Competition. The 40-year-old awards received 373 entries in 15 categories. Several Dames were among the 44 judges CiCi invited to score the contest entries, and her 12 years chairing LDEI’s M.F.K. Fisher Award gave her contest management experience.

Amy Grondin, co-owner of Duna Fisheries, presented her work as a commercial fisherman on the sustainability of salmon at the annual meeting of chefs and mangers from the Seattle based Columbia Hospitality group. The meet-ing was hosted at the Abeja Winery and Inn in Walla Walla, WA.Gretchen Mathers, former LDEI president and co-founder of the Seattle Chapter, was inducted posthumously into the Washington State Uni-versity School of Hospitality Business Manage-ment's Hall of Fame. Prior to this, the chapter honored Gretchen with an endowed scholarship in her name. Jamie Peha was named in-terim Executive Director by the Auction of Washington Wines. Jamie has played a key role as part of the AWW team and as director of its Private Barrel Auction, she grew the program from eight wine lots in 2015 to thirty-one in 2018.Kim Smith, baking and pas-try instructor, was presented with the 2018 Educator of the Year Award from the ACF’s Washington State Chefs Association. When asked what she enjoys most about teaching, Smith said “it’s the moment when students realize they can have a career and love what they do.” SOUTH FLORIDA Patty Ruiz from The Mad Table participated in the South Beach Wine Food Festival where her meatball appetizer was voted second place in Sunday’s Yelp’s Best Bite. She also cooked one of her Cuban recipes with Sara Moulton. She will be featured on Sara’s Weeknight Meals, which airs this fall. www.stressfreecooking.comBarbara Seelig-Brown an-nounced that she has filmed a new season of Stress Free Cooking aired nationally on We Cook TV Network Channel 1 and is available on Roku and Altice Media/Cablevision. www.themad-table.comRobyn Webb, owner of Paris Made for You, was recently hired by the Washington, D.C. branch of the Alliance Française Language School to create their first language immersion vacation program in Paris. The excursion took place March 10-16 and included exclusive culinary and cultural events plus daily French lessons. www.parismadeforyou.com Karen Weiner Escalera of KWE Partners an-nounces a new client Sofitel Rome Villa Borghese, which opened after a complete renovation of the property. The former noble residence features 78 larger rooms and suites, a restaurant, a rooftop

xKim Smith

Jamie Peha

Barbara Seelig-Brown

Cecilia Glembocki

Pati Jinich

EMAIL MESSAGES AND LDEIGreg JewellExecutive Director

In the last few months, we have seen an increase in the number of undeliverable emails that bounce back to us. Some return with messages like “info@ldei.org does not have permission to email” or “not in trusted senders list.”

We make every effort not to abuse our email privileges. We know your time is valuable and your inbox is full. We also want to make sure that all of our messages are reaching the intended members.

If you feel like you are not receiving messages from LDEI (we send one to two messages per week, on average), please check your email settings. Please note that all email servers are different, so you might need to search around a bit to find the appropriate setting.

• Check your Trusted Senders list (it may be called something different in your email utility). Make sure that info@ldei.org is listed as a trusted sender. This gives your email server permission to accept messages from LDEI.

• Check your filtered email (this is a Gmail feature under Settings>Inbox. You might want to override your filters to make sure your LDEI messages are getting through.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at info@ldei.org.

30 L e s D a m e s d ’ E s c o f f i e r I n t e r n a t i o n a l

IN MEMORIAM

Kathleen Mulhern, a trailblazing restaura-teur who opened the acclaimed restau-rant The Garden in 1974, passed away on February 2nd at the age of 93. She is credited with sparking the Philadelphia Restaurant Renaissance. She fought legislation that prohibited

outdoor dining and was the first to have outdoor tables in a garden in the middle of the city, thereby bringing Philadelphia into the modern age. Many future food professionals went thru The Garden and it became a finishing school for the scene that followed. She was demanding yet generous at the same time. Many city institutions benefited from her largess including the Philadelphia Art Museum, the Barnes, the Free Library, and various

schools. She was an active advocate for the city of Philadelphia.Our chapter was proud to have honored

her this past fall with our Outstanding in Her Field award, as a charter member of the Philadelphia chapter.The Philadelphia food community

is standing on her shoulders. She was one of the greats and will be missed. - Lynn Buono, Vice President (Philadelphia)

The saddest of news, Dame Renee Joseph Kientz died sud-denly in her home in Covington Sunday, March 03, 2019. She suffered a heart attack. Although her title was vice presi-dent of marketing and communications for the St. Tammany Tourist Commis-sion, Renee was really a master storytell-er. A longtime journalist, Renee helped shape the image of the Northshore as a

destination—across Lake Pontchartrain from her hometown of New Orleans. She was incredibly dedicated to telling

the many stories of the small businesses and restaurants on the Northshore as few could. For those who knew her, Renee was un-

failingly kind and a supportive friend be-yond measure. She chaired the programs committee for the New Orleans Chapter and was a font of knowledge and ideas—truly she is irreplaceable. Renee was whip smart, an amazing writer, and she was passionate about her hometown of New

Orleans and promoting the Northshore.Renee epitomized what it means to be a

Dame— her mission was always to uplift, raise up, and support women. She will be greatly missed. A huge fan of Mardi Gras, she went to Muses and Nyx parades be-fore she passed on Bacchus Sunday.  Her zest for life remains an inspiration. Donations may be made to St. Tamma-

ny Parish Humane Society 20384 Har-rison Ave. Covington, LA 70433 http://www.sthumane.org/civicrm/contribute- Beth D’Addono (New Orleans)

It is with heavy hearts we share the news that Aileen Robbins passed away peacefully the morning of March 23, surrounded by her family, at home. Before opening The Dunn/Robbins Group in 1994, Aileen served as Management Supervisor at Beisler/TBWA, working on accounts ranging from Evian and Absolut Vodka to Wines of Spain. Previously she worked as Director of Communications for Campari USA, and before that, ran her own company, AR Associates.A dedicated Dame, Aileen rarely

missed a program and was an active volunteer, most recently co-chairing the LDNY Scholarship Committee. Aileen gave graciously of her time, mentoring many scholarship recipients in addi-tion to sponsoring a number of Les Dames members. Aileen was a generous corporate benefactor as well, funding The Dunn Robbins Scholarship Wine & Food Scholarship. Along with her extensive knowledge

of—and great enthusiasm for—fine food and wine, Aileen had other talents, too, including being a professional opera singer in New York City for several years; she was also a published author of cook-books, and food and wine columns. Aileen’s family and dear friends gath-

ered on March 26 at NYC Central Syna-gogue for a beautiful service with many moving tributes expressed with word and song. Her daughter Ariel welcomes Dames to email any stories or photos of her mother that you wish to share at ariel.fantasia@gmail.com.In lieu of flowers, the family requested

contributions be made to the Central Syna-gogue Music Fund, Les Dames d’Escoffier New York Scholarship Fund or to Memo-rial Sloan Kettering.Aileen was a much beloved member of

our Les Dames family. We will miss her immeasurably. - Ronnie Campbell, Vice President (LDNY Chapter)

30 L e s D a m e s d ’ E s c o f f i e r I n t e r n a t i o n a l

Kathleen Mulhern (Philadelphia)

Aileen Robbins (New York)

Renee Kientz (New Orleans) 1953-2019

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

S U M M E R Q U A R T E R L Y 2 0 1 9 31

DEADLINES FALL ISSUE – AUGUST 1, 2019 WINTER ISSUE - NOVEMBER 11, 2019 | SPRING ISSUE— JANUARY 10, 2020

MEMBER MILESTONES To submit your milestone, go to this link: http://link.ldei.org/ldei-member-milestonesFor any questions or issues, email the editor at MemberMilestones@ldei.org. Include: • CHAPTER• DAME’S NAME• Maximum 50 words for each Dame about personal honors or accomplish-

ments, but not about new product introductions or other promotions. Please include a website URL, if applicable. Press releases and cookbook covers are NOT accepted.

PHOTO: You may submit a high resolution quality headshot to accompany your news (see below), and agree to the photo permissions questions for the photo.Note: Due to space constraints, only two Member Milestones will be published per Dame per year.

CHAPTER PROGRAMS To submit your chapter program, go to this link: http://link.ldei.org/ldei-chapter-programs Up to 200 words about chapter events that have already occurred. For any questions or issues, email the editor at ChapterPrograms@ldei.org. Include:• CHAPTER• SUBMITTER’S NAME• Maximum 200 words for each chapter.• Captions for all photos submitted. Photos without captions will not be used.Submissions that exceed 200 words will be edited to comply. Press releases are not accepted. We regret we don’t have space to print full menus but menu items can be included in the copy.

Note: “Chapter Programs” and “Member Milestones” may be dispersed through LDEI social-media channels, as well as in print and online.

PHOTOGRAPHY/IMAGES • Electronic images must be properly focused and in color

with a minimum resolution of 300 dpi (TIFF or JPEG). • Cell phone photos are acceptable if they meet requirements. • Do not send photos taken off the Internet or embedded

with text in Word files or PDF files. • Include photo credits, if required. • A photo permissions form must be submitted.• A maximum of three photos can be submitted per chapter.• ALL PHOTOGRAPHS MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY

CAPTIONS OR THEY WILL NOT BE PUBLISHED.

LDEI regrets that we cannot include lengthy profiles of individual Dames due to space limitations. Dames’ accomplishments should be submitted to “Member Milestones” or to LDEI’s Closed Group on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/218435184886471/

E-NEWS To submit your e-news, go to this link: http://link.ldei.org/ldei-enews (Not for the Quarterly) This bimonthly email newsletter reports upcoming events in other chapters. Include title, date, time, cost, a one-sentence description, and an email contact for your chapter’s events. For any questions or issues, email the editor at ENews@ldei.org.

UPCOMING in the fall issue 2019 Grande Dame Nora Pouillon | GCI Postcard from Seattle Trends and Fundraisers

JUST CLICK SUBMIT! A New Way to Submit Your NewsBy Danielle Wecksler (Charleston), LDEI Second Vice PresidentWhen you open the latest issue of the Quar-

terly, what column do you read first? If you are like most of us, you immediately turn to the Member Milestones and Chapter Programs columns to learn what your sister Dames and chapters have been up to. It’s a way for all of us to stay connected and up to date and to cheer each other on in the pages of the magazine. Our section editors do a great job compiling

your accomplishments and pulling together all of the information for each issue (a huge shout out and thanks to Dottie Koteski, Nichole Bendele, and Diane Wheeler!). I can assure you that this is no small task! But to make everyone’s life easier, we’re

excited to announce a new way to submit your information for the Member Milestones and Chapter Programs columns in the Quarterly, as well as the bimonthly email newsletter (E-News) about upcoming Chapter Events. It’s now as easy as filling out an online form. The form will prompt you for the information we need so you don’t have to remember all of the required pieces and parts (how many times have you referenced the Submission Guidelines when sending something in?!?).So how does it work? Here are the details:• For Member Milestones, go to this link in

your web browser: http://link.ldei.org/ldei-member-milestones

• For Chapter Programs, go to this link in your web browser: http://link.ldei.org/ldei-chapter-programs

• For Chapter E-News Events, go to this link in your web browser: http://link.ldei.org/ldei-enews

• Fill out the form with your information. Any field marked with an asterisk (*) is required. Note that some forms have character limits because we only have so much space in each issue.

• If you would like to submit a photo for the Member Milestones or Chapter Programs, be sure to reply “Yes” to the last question (“Would you like to submit a high resolution quality image….”), and then click “Next.” You will be taken to a second page where you can upload your images.

• Be sure to click the SUBMIT button to upload your responses. You will receive an email con-firmation that your submission was received.

• Note that you can still email your information too if you prefer! The email addresses listed under the Submission Guidelines will always be active and will forward to the right person.

Any questions at all, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at danielle@platefulsolutions.com. I look forward to reading about all of your future achievements!

P.O. Box 4961Louisville, KY 40204

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PAIDLOUISVILLE KYPERMIT #1051

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O U R N A S H V I L L E I N W O R D S . . .

Dear Dames,Our LDEI Quarterly editor asked for at least 250 words written on the Nashville Conference, and so we took that assignment literally and wrote down enough words, plus a few extra, that say Nashville—that’s right, count ‘em! You will hear these words at the LDEI Conference in October, see them in print, possibly taste and sip them, and hopefully they will explain to you a more complete Nashville. This is a Nashville with enough country music and hot chicken to give you what you came for—“wet your whistle”—but also a curated Conference of programming that digs deeper into big issues and unveils the real Nashville we know and love.All the Nashville Dames are excited to host you. See you at Con-ference 2019 in the Music City!!Anne ByrnMindy MerrellCo-Chairs