James Beard (Tutto Toscana)

Study Abroad Italy is pleased to once again offer this special opportunity, to experience firsthand working with Apicius International School of Hospitality in the creation of a food, wine and visual experience at the James Beard Institute, in New York City.

For five consecutive years Apicius International School of Hospitality and Florence University of the Arts have organized and hosted Tuscan-themed dinners at the James Beard Foundation in New York City. This prestigious collaboration provides an exciting, genuine window to Italian culture with a focus on Tuscany to the American public who have the chance to experience the cuisine, wine, and visual and graphic arts prepared by the contemporary faces of Italy today: the Italian faculty of Apicius and Florence University of the Arts, based in Florence, Italy, and an event team composed of our Florentine staff, current and former students, and US institutional collaborators. For the 2010 edition the annual 2 day formal dinner and hands-on workshop held at the Beard House was transformed into a four day extravaganza to celebrate today’s authentic Italian culture, cuisine, and wines… made up of the traditions and evolutions that take place at the table. Given this special opportunity, Apicius  has designed a series of special event courses offered for academic credit, which students can attend and directly participate in the organization of the event in Florence and complete by managing the event on-site in New York City. All related information and specific program details can be found below.

The James Beard Foundation is America’s most well known and respected culinary foundation. It is a national, non-profit organization created “to celebrate, preserve, and nurture America’s culinary heritage and diversity in order to elevate the appreciation of our culinary excellence.” Most people might recognize the name for the prestigious James Beard Awards coveted by food professionals all over the United States. Founded in 1985, JBF is a testament to the culinary legacy left by the eponymous culinarian, professional chef, instructor and cookbook author referred to as the “father of American cuisine.” Mr. Beard’s beautiful West Village brownstone home was transformed into not only the Foundation’s headquarters but the communal space in which members of the foundation and the public can enjoy a myriad of gastronomic events every single day of the year.

Located in 4 campus sites, housed in Renaissance palaces in the historic center of Florence, Apicius and FUA are affiliated with over 50 academic institutions for higher learning of which many are US colleges and universities. Apicius and FUA are members of Palazzi Florence Association for International Education, a non profit consortium of academic institutions and services created to promote intercultural learning in Florence.

The  Program seeks to offer a once in a lifetime opportunity to collaborate hands-on on a series of events that will be held on the premises of America’s most renown reference in the world of gastronomy and the professional restaurant industry, the James Beard Foundation, as well as prestigious locations such as the Astor Center and De Gustibus at Macy’s Herald Square. The nature of the program is transcontinental between Europe and the United States in order to promote cross-cultural knowledge in the areas involved in the creation and realization of special events related to specific food concepts. Program participants will acquire theoretic and practical experience through course attendance, event planning, and on-site event management/production for a total, full immersion involvement in real-life situations. The areas of gastronomy, management, and visual arts will the be the main focus of this unique program that will offer invaluable professional experiences to participants.

In Fall 2012 Palazzi institutions Apicius will be offering a structured program that will take place in both Florence and New York and will regard all areas of special event production – event management, communications & public relations, food & wine management, art direction. Students may choose from 5 different areas of event organization and production. Three areas follow a 6 week structure that takes place in both cities while the two areas strictly regarding food and wine production and service will take place only in New York. The event concept focuses on Italian Culture and how Food and Wine have been relating to it over the centuries. The event will be planned and organized by students after a deep immersion in Italian Culture and all event aspects will be organized in detail:

Visual Communication and Writing, Public Relations, Media, Photography & Video, Menu Planning , Food and Wine Pairing , Event Direction and Advertising.

Month	Date	Day	Event
September 2012	27	Thursday	Students arrive
	28	Friday	Orientation/Final Registration
October 2012	01	Monday	Classes start
	19	Friday	Classes end in Florence
	20	Friday	Housing check-out
	22	Saturday	*Students arrive in NYC
	21	Sunday	Orientation in NYC
	21 – 27	Sun – Sat	Events in New York City- All TBA
November 2012	TBA	Thursday – Friday	On-line Post event Course Critique – Presentation of ideas for Final Papers/Portfolios Individual Video Conferences/Final Exams

Please Note:Final papers will be required for each area. Papers will be turned in before the individual video conferences.
Events may be subject to change.

Enrolled participants will choose one main area and attend related courses.

Students may combine two 6 credit areas (areas 1, 2, or 3)  for a total of 12 credits. Please see details below. Official Transcripts for academic credit will be provided for each student.

AREA 1 in Event Planning & Communications (Florence & NY 6 credits)

HP HT SE 420: Special Event Management: The James Beard Foundation Experience
This course will expose students to the planning, staffing, marketing, communicating and management of a real life international event hosted by Apicius. “Flavors of Florence” is held yearly at the prestigious James Beard Foundation in New York City and consists in a series of gastronomic events, gala dinner and hands on workshop, conducted by the culinary staff of Apicius and made available to the public. Students will be involved in all phases of event creation and management, from defining the concept to marketing and PR, event logistics, and communication and publicity strategies.

CP MC PR 340: Public Relations Writing
This is a writing-intensive course in which are covered all forms of writing for communicating public relations messages, including press releases, media alerts, public service announcements, video news releases, pitch letters, speech writing, brochures, newsletters, and other public relations presentations. Students develop a personal writing portfolio.

AREA 2 in Art Direction: Digital Media & Visual Arts (Florence & NY 6 credits)

DI PH PJ 240: Introduction to Photojournalism
This course introduces students to the world of photography with specific focus on the photo journalistic aspects of this art medium. The course will be divided between field study and learning introductory digital techniques, working with both black and white and color digital printing and finishing. The lab practice will give students the capability of elaborating and correctly printing his/her own pictures. The course concentrates on the journalistic area of photography using digital equipment. Students learn about the history, compositional issues and techniques of photojournalism by studying the work of influential photographers like Cartier-Bresson, Smith, Capa, Salgado, Nachtwey, and others. The class will also be conceiving, shooting, printing and laying out a series of documentary projects. This course is recommended for communications, journalism and social science students. Basic photography experience and knowledge will be helpful. A digital camera of 5.0 mega pixels minimum with an optical zoom lens of at least 3X is required.

DI VP DP 410 Documentary Production
Students learn the process of documentary production from idea creation to distribution and will discern the theoretical aesthetic, ethical and practical considerations contributing to successful documentary production. Emphasis will be on narrative writing techniques, interview procedures and live production procedures along with dynamic editing practices.

AREA 3 in Food & Wine Management (Florence & NY 6 credits)

FW WE WS 335: Wine Service and Beverage Management
This course will examine the figure of “the sommelier” and provide essential information about the following: stocking a cellar, storing wine, reading and composing a wine list, selecting the proper wine glasses, serving wine, decanting wine and an introduction to beverages other than wine.

HP FB CM 593: Successful Culinary Management
6 semester credits (30 lecture hours- 300 hours field apprenticeship)
This course consists of the cost and control management practices applied in the food service sector. Included topics of the theory and principles of the course cover accounting, cost control, food and beverage operations and purchasing, inventory and assets, budgets, the break-even point calculation for sales projection, and labor and wages. The practical section of this course provides the opportunity for students to put into practice the learned concepts and develop them into competent skills in a real-life restaurant situation. Students will work with industry software programs and computer applications as well as manual forms in order to oversee the management practices at GANZO the non-profit cultural association and restaurant-club operated by Apicius student

AREA 4 in Food Production (New York City only 3 credits)

FW CA CT 689: The Italian Chef’s Table
This partially self-directed course is designed to provide the culinary student with the opportunity to design, organize, implement, serve and evaluate a special dinner event, which will take place at the end of the 10-week apprenticeship. Emphasis will be placed on the training of the student towards effective production management, market-related menu planning, mise en place, a la carte cooking and service techniques in the context of a special event. Customer needs, case studies and weekly events will allow students to experience the balancing that existing between dreams, ideas and customer satisfaction

Area 5 in Wine Service (New York City only 3 credits)

FW WE FW 461: Food and Wine Pairing and Wine Service
Students will perform and operate firsthand Wine and Food Pairing along with Wine Service at the Apicius restaurant-club Ganzo. Tasks will range from tasting, serving, interpreting labels, wine terminology, and storage. Wine lists will be prepared under the supervision of a faculty member. In addition, the student will cover the principles of correct restaurant style food and wine pairing along with professional wine service and wine service management.

Course Content and Teaching Methods

5-week courses will begin with lectures and event preparation in Florence and will conclude with coursework and events in New York. The Florence component of the 6-credit areas will consist of weekly lectures and practical experience that will involve students during all phases of event creation. The two food and wine production areas that only take place in New York will be offered for 3 credits each and will integrate onsite lecture components and event production and management at event locations.

Learning Objectives

Participating students will walk away from the experience having created, planned, organized and successfully realized a high-profile international event from a transcontinental, intercultural point of view.

Event Planning & Communications

• Planning event logistics, managing communications between Palazzi and the various entities involved in the events including locations and the media.
• Coordinating and managing internal project production and communications between team members
• Specialize in international and cross-cultural communications for events involving more than one country.

Art Direction

• Creating and producing all materials related to the event concept and image.
• Manage production projects involving specific skills in videography, photography, video making
• Preparing, revising and editing graphic layouts for print and online publication.
• Deepen knowledge and visual approaches to specifically targeted events and event concepts

Food & Wine Management

• Successfully coordinate Italian menu and wine list development
• Manage food & wine logistics from abroad for the New York events.
• Directly communicate with wine producers
• Create meaningful wine profiles and presentations for the American public
• Develop strategies for presenting Italian wines in international settings and impart the approach to the Wine Service Team.

Food Production

• Collaborate in a professional Italian kitchen brigade for large scale events.
• Apply food production skills as practiced in the culinary lab in a food production facility and demonstrate improvement in basic food production skills such as knife cuts, station organization, sanitation, and order execution.
• Practice advanced food production skills, such as sauces, soups, daily specials, and desserts.
• Describe the commercial food production process and experience in a detailed written report

Wine Service

• Collaborate in a professional Italian wine service team for large scale events.
• Curate wine lists, wine presentation and tastings for special events
• Investigate wine as a major flavoring ingredient
• Differentiate wines and their basic flavor profile
• Identify how to pair food with wine and successfully communicate not only the technical characteristics of the wine but also its cultural value to special event attendees.

Visit the Tutto Toscana blog  (Fall 2011): http://blog.apicius.it/?category_name=tuttotoscanajames-beard-foundation-2011

Syllabi are available for all courses offered in this program. If you are interested in consulting a specific syllabus or have further questions regarding this program please contact marilyn@saiprograms.com