Thursday, May 20, 2010

Paula Deen ... Responsible for teaching your children how to cook?

Health food activists in Savannah are questioning the local school system's decision to partner with Paula Deen on a new culinary arts program.

According to a recent report by Georgia Public Broadcasting, some parents are horrified that the celeb chef responsible for the cookbook selected as the past decade's "unhealthiest" by a group of physicians will be steering the curriculum for high schoolers enrolled in the Paula Deen Academy of Culinary Arts.

A spokeswoman for Savannah's Brighter Days Natural Foods was unaware of the controversy when reached by phone, but wondered why the schools didn't pick a nutritionist as a consultant. According to Audrey Biloon, there's no shortage of talented Savannah chefs who don't bathe their vegetables in bacon grease or fry balls of butter. "You don't have to eat a high-fat diet in the South," Biloon contends.

Although a spokesperson for the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System didn't respond to repeated requests for comment, a release issued by the system quotes the high school's executive director as saying "Paula Deen is an internationally recognized chef with the expertise and ability to connect our students to opportunities within the culinary arts industry. We are honored and pleased that this program will be unique in that it is the only culinary arts school partnership with Paula Deen."


Paula Deen Academy students, who will earn culinary arts certificates along with their high school diplomas, will follow a curriculum based on state guidelines, American Culinary Federation standards and Deen's recommendations.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Eating Liberally Austin

I had said several weeks (or was it months) ago that I was starting a local Austin chapter of Eating Liberally and it has come to pass. We'll be having our first meeting tomorrow night (May 19th) here in Austin at Get Sum Dim Sum. We even have our own Facebook page. So if you're out and about tomorrow for dinner and have no idea of where to go or what to do, drop by and say hi :)