eGullet Culinary Institute

[Dave the Cook]

All of us at the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters are very pleased to announce the impending start of the eGullet Culinary Institute (eGCI) winter semester on Valentine's Day, Monday, 14 February 2005.

We’re also excited to announce that Janet Zimmerman (“JAZ”) will be our new eGCI dean, the latest in a short but distinguished lineage of deans. Janet, a former eGCI instructor and long-time eGullet Society member and volunteer, has been working hard to plan the new semester, bringing the same energy and dedication to her new role that she has shown as host of the Fine Spirits and Cocktail forum, and as an eG Forums manager. Under Janet’s leadership, the eGCI will continue to promote the distribution and enhancement of culinary knowledge through explicitly educational means. This undertaking, open to all, seeks to serve two audiences that have been neglected by commercial media and instruction: advanced amateur food enthusiasts, and the disadvantaged.

Upcoming classes for the eGCI will be a mix of technique-, equipment-, and ingredient-driven classes, along with more general topics and instruction for the disadvantaged. We'll begin the new semester with a clinic on braising, followed by: a multi-part course on roasting, including explorations of high-temperature, low-temperature and convection techniques using multiple cuts; basic and advanced nutrition; cooking for special dietary needs such as diabetes; healthful and tasty cooking on a tight budget; and an intensive immersion in authentic Coq au Vin. You can also look forward to improved organization of new and existing classes -- soon, you’ll be able to select the courses according to your skills and interest, without having to wade through the chronological catalog. Finally, the eGCI's long-term plans include more community outreach, bringing important information and instruction to those in need.

Interactivity is the hallmark of the eGCI. This underscores the way the Society fulfills its mission, as well as the unprecedented nature of its educational undertaking. Unlike textbooks, extension courses or self-paced curricula, eGCI classes are in session 24/7/365, until the students themselves decide they’ve learned enough. Although the eGCI publishes a schedule, the reality is that, once it’s commenced, an eGCI course never ends. Courses from the first term of the eGCI, a year and a half ago, still draw questions from an ever-chaging class roster, and answers from the instructors.

None of this takes place without substantial assistance, and of course, without the foundation built by previous staff and faculty (our many thanks to them). Organization, editing, layout and instruction are all handled by volunteers. If you’d like to help, use the personal messenger (PM) system to contact Janet (JAZ) or Marlene Newell (Marlene). Alternatively, if there’s a course you’d like to see, please let us know -- interactivity works in more than one direction.

The eGullet Society, the eGCI and eG Forums are member-supported. Your generous donations allow the Society to improve its infrastructure and services and to pursue new directions. Becoming a Society Donor is as simple as clicking "Upgrade" at the top left of your screen.

See you in the classroom in a few weeks.