Some Great Ideas for GLOBAL CULINARY INITIATIVE Programs

The Global Culinary Initiative (GCI) was founded by Les Dames d’Escoffier International to embrace diversity. Food is the thread that connects all cultures and incorporates lifestyles and traditions. What better way for our 28 chapters to do this than to tap into the global cultures within our own communities?

The mission of the GCI is to embrace our global communities through culinary connections that will provide educational programming, training programs and cultural exchange. While the GCI is not mandatory, the initiative thrives best when our chapters are engaged and actively participating. Here is a small sampling of what chapters are doing that may spark program ideas of your own. Some may just require small tweaks to programs you are engaged in already.

Please contact the chapter featured if you would like more information about a particular program.

Chapter Programs of Culture and Learning A committee is working on showcasing a different ethnic restaurant every other month with plans to Palm Springs have the proprietor of each restaurant give a talk about the cuisine and the region during dinner.

We will be introducing the various ethnicities/cultures to the community at large. The first event will Dallas be a tour of an Asian grocery store where we will sample the ingredients and hear the stories that go with them. Following we will explore some of the current food trends. The event will be open to the public.

There is an annual ancestral potluck where each Dame brings a dish from her culture and explains San Francisco to the group the significance of the dish, as well as any serving dishes or cooking tools that make the dish special to her heritage.

The chapter is forming a GCI panel, calling it ‘Cross Cultural Lens.’ They are targeting Ethiopian, Seattle Burmese, Bhutanese and Sephardic Jews in their culinary explorations and outreach. The chapter is planning a Japanese Tea Ceremony in 2013.

The chapter is partnering with the newly formed Edna Lewis Foundation to develop an event in Atlanta February, 2013, for Black History Month. The Foundation honors the famous African-American chef, cookbook author and teacher, and former LDEI Grande Dame, Edna Lewis.

Philippine Cuisine: History and Culture in a Caldero, was one of 16 breakout session at the Washington, D.C. “Celebrating FOOD!” symposium. The session consisted of a lecture and demonstration.

Flavors of Vietnam explored the cuisine and the emotional relationships of people on opposite Seattle sides of the Vietnam war. Among the speakers were Seattle GCI chair and co-founder of Peace Trees Vietnam, Dame Jerilyn Brusseau, and four women who accompanied her there on culinary delegations.

Educating through Tours and Tastings A tour of the Buford Highway Farmers’ Market was conducted with the owner of the International Atlanta Market and followed by a Thai cooking demo by Dame Philippa Kingsley. A buffet featured the Thai food prepared, plus delicacies from the Middle East, Poland and Japan.

A walking tour of multi-cultural Wheaton, MD, open to the public, allowed everyone to experience a Washington, D.C. wide range of ethnic restaurants, from Brazilian to Vietnamese, Filipino, Italian, Latin American, Turkish and Middle Eastern, with shared lunch at an Ethiopian grocery and restaurant. One of several ethnic tours, the chapter profits an average of $500 per tour for scholarships and grants.

Fundraising We raised funds for the Westside Community Garden for the Latino population located on the West San Antonio Side, an impoverished area with 40 to 60 families coming through per week. The chapter also supports this group with diabetes prevention education.