Studying in Spain

Hyde Park, NY, June 27, 2007 – On June 16, fourteen students from The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) departed for the first-ever CIA Spanish Food and Wine Seminar. Spending the next three weeks traveling across Spain, these students in the CIA bachelor's degree program will have the opportunity to study the distinctive foods, wines, and culture of Spain as part of this three-credit course.

This new offering is an expansion of the Food and Wine Seminar for CIA seniors, which was focused on California for a number of years before initially going international with trips to Italy in 2006. The trip is led by CIA associate professor Chef Joseba Encabo, a native of Spain's Basque region.

Designed to give students a first-hand appreciation of Spanish food and culture, the seminar will include visits to the cities of Madrid, Sevilla, Valencia, Barcelona, San Sebastian, Burgos, Valladolid, and Segovia. As part of their tour, they will learn about the wines and foods of Spain's various regions, participate in a variety of cooking classes, and visit cultural sites including the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. Culinary highlights include a tour of one of Spain's biggest producers of jamón to learn about the ham curing process; a trip to Albufera to tour rice fields, followed by a demonstration of the traditional preparation of paella; and a sherry wine tasting in Jerez.

The CIA's Spanish Food and Wine Seminar is one component of the college's 38-month bachelor of professional studies (B.P.S.) degree in culinary arts or baking and pastry management, first offered in 1994. In addition to the extensive hands-on cooking classes of the CIA's associates degree curriculum, the bachelor's program also offers a broad range of liberal arts and culinary arts management courses to prepare graduates for future leadership positions such as executive chef, restaurateur, or foodservice director within the hospitality industry.

"The exposure to a different culture is mind-expanding," explains Professor Jean Morris, Associate Professor, and one of the faculty members participating in this first trip. "Spanish cuisine is very popular, and its popularity continues to grow each year. By participating in this trip, CIA students will learn about so much more than just how to prepare traditional foods from Spain."
http://www.ciachef.edu/admissions/news/news_story_univ.asp?iNewsID=582&strBack=%2Fadmissions%2Fnews%2Fnews_archive_univ.asp&strlocationname=Media+Room

This article is a perfect example of how the CIA is teaching their students about different cultures around the world. This article mentions that the students can take a trip to Italy, one of the cuisine capitals of the world, and have recently gone to Spain. The CIA has held the World of Foods seminar at their Napa Valley campus and has a campus in San Antonio that specializes in Latin American cuisine. Adding the study-abroad experience in Spain greatly increases the extent to which they can teach about cultures and food styles that are different from those in the US.