Editors' Blog

Here at FSD we've got a lot of opinions. The Editors' Blog is a place where we get to speak our minds. Check back often for posts from Paul King, Becky Schilling, Lindsey Ramsey and Peter Romeo on the foodservice topics of the day.

MenuDirections 2013: Day Two Highlights
Coming face-to-face with a pig's head adds clarity on FSDs' changing roles
03-05-2013

It’s not a routine conference when the speaker reaches for the severed pig’s head on the counter and lifts off the face, explaining he’d carved it free earlier so he’d have time to saw apart the carcass that’d been parted from the skull (“The brain’s still in there, but that’s okay.”)

Welcome to one of the more extraordinary sessions of Menu Directions 2013 and the lens it provides on how the food service director’s job is changing. During one of the conference's 30-Minute Universities, Stephen Gerike of the National...

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Cooking (and almost cussin') with Chef Jet Tila
The one-time Iron Chef contestant puts some salt into a demo on healthier cooking.
03-04-2013

Celebrity chef Jet Tila demonstrated the ease of removing calories, fat and salt from popular dishes during a cooking demo at MenuDirections, but not all of his instruction can be revealed here, this being a family blog.

When cooking Thai curry, for instance, the self-taught, high school-educated chef recommended an “OS” timeframe. “I can’t say what that stands for—maybe I can say ‘Oh, crap!’ instead,” said Tila. As he demonstrated on stage, the full flavor of fundamental components like curry paste, carmelized herbs and coconut cream...

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MenuDirections 2013: Dine-Around Gets Rowdy
Team Blue makes the most of the culinary tour.
03-04-2013

The Dine-Around is always one of my favorite moments at MD. My group this year—go Team Blue!—was particularly festive, thanks to July 2012 FSD of the Month Ginnie Dunleavy from Rhode Island School of Design.

Ginnie thought the blue group should have a little fun. At our third stop on the dining tour, Columbia Restaurant, Ginnie went from table to table to rally the troops for a group photo. We took two versions of the photo. The first was our, we're being serious and hard at work photo, while the second was a crazy photo. I heard a rumor one attendee offered to get...

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MenuDirections 2013: What Sunk in During Day One
Takeaways from the opening sessions of MenuDirections.
03-04-2013

The first day of Menu Directions, FoodService Director’s culinary conference for FSDs looking to offer more-healthful options, provided plenty of food for thought. It didn’t stint on food for the more usual sort of consumption, either.

Here are some savory tidbits of both sorts:

•Adjustments by foodservice suppliers to the new school meal regulations will help operators in all non-commercial sectors add more healthful options to their menus. That gem, offered by Editorial Director Paul King, was one of several served by the editors of FoodService Director...

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All Is Ready For MenuDirections 2013
Three-day non-commercial foodservice conference to focus on healthy dining
02-28-2013

This weekend, the FoodService Director crew heads to Tampa Fla., for the 11th annual MenuDirections conference. After months of preparation, we're ready to offer more than 130 operators a taste of Healthy Flavors, Healthy Profits.

This has been, without a doubt, one of the more stressful MenuDirections conferences I've been involved with. We have thrown a few new elements into the mix this year, and that always causes a few sleepless nights for the team as we think of ways to tweak the new features and try to keep the old elements fresh and sharp.

Perhaps the...

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