Monthly Archives: August 2017

Campus Interview American College of Culinary and Language Arts

Campus Interview- American College of Culinary and Language ArtsAmerican College of Culinary and Language Arts (ACCLA) is a one of its kind ‘Culinary Academy’ in India, specialized in Professional Cruise Culinary Education and distinguished for high level of Quality Culinary Training.

ACCLA reshapes careers by molding one’s personality with positive attitude and discipline desired, which grooms a candidate to be an all-round personality, making one suitable for Industry’s need of Quality Professionals.

ACCLA practices a unique culture of providing Quality Education, in the world of hospitality, specialized in Cruise Lines Standards and Culinary work environment. Discipline and professionalism are elements that enlist American College of Culinary & Language Arts as one of the most reliable, exquisite and Unique Culinary & Cruise Line Academy in India.

ACCLA ensures Quality of Education by providing hands-on practical exposure in Cruise Line Galley Procedures and Practices by training the students in a Recreated Cruise Line Galley Facility. Assured Industrial Training with Top Most Hospitality Brands are the main strengths of ACCLA.

Situated in the smallest state of India’s hot spot of the Tourist all around the world, well known ‘Goa’. Tourist are mainly attracted towards the state’s sun, sand, night life, cuisines and lifestyle. Goa has the highest concentration of famous international brands of hotels mainly like Taj, W-Hotels, Leela’s, Radissons, Club Mahindra, Grand Hyatt and a many more. Culinary is a growing field and many aspire to make a career as it provides a wide range of job opportunities on Cruise liners as well as overseas.

We at American College provide training to students who aspire to make a career into international culinary. With increase in cuisines from around the world, we provide training in continental cuisine. Continental food refers to the kind of food eaten in European countries. Though the foods are based from France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, America, they have their own distinctive features, as a whole, the food from all these countries is famous as continental food. It is also known as international cuisine.

At the American College the students are not only trained into this cuisine they are trained according to the cruise line standard and also follow a ship board menu. The students are also given the opportunities to get trained in  5 Star Hotels in Goa gaining the further exposure into the production department for a period of six months. The college is more inclined in providing training to the students into cruise line standards. The students are more aspired to join the cruise liners as they can avail a number of benefits like travelling

around the world, entertainment, food and accommodation which are all being taken care by the cruise company.

The college also provides campus interviews for famous and luxurious cruise liners like Regent Seven Seas, Oceania Cruises, Norwegian Cruise Lines, TUI Cruises and other luxurious cruise liners. We have a track record of 100% in placing our student for various cruise lines and international hotels. We have students coming from various states of India like Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Uttrakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and many more including Goa. The last cruise line interviews held were on the 21st of July 2017. We had a score of 91% of the students being selected during the interviews.

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Cruise Cuisine: Food with a Twist

Cruise Cuisine: Food with a TwistFood is one of the most important experiences on a cruise ship. Chefs must constantly serve delicious cuisine to keep guests coming back year on year. But today, it is not only comfort food, such as burgers, pizzas and ice creams that have a huge fan following on board. New age dishes, fusion food, and experimental cuisine are seeing many cruise-goers take adventurous steps in the world of food.

Cruise ship chefs want food to be an experience rather than an indulgence. Companies are hiring top chefs including famous British restaurateur Jamie Oliver and noted Japanese culinary celebrity Nobuyuki Matsuhisa to revamp menus and create an inspired experience for guests that leave a lasting impression.

Celebrity restaurateur Charlie Palmer designs menus for Seabourn cruises and brings his experience from years of tantalising tastebuds to the ship’s Aureole dining room. Guests can enjoy innovative appetisers such as citrus-marinated flukes, sautéed escalope of foie gras, eggplant relish and hummus. There could be pink-roasted rack of veal, or scallops wrapped in smoked bacon as well.

Chefs on board are equally conscious of guests’ preferences and many include vegetarian-only options, such as entrées like toasted angel hair pasta with black trumpet mushrooms and a stew of braised artichokes, with white beans, thyme-roasted tomatoes and diced saffron potatoes.

Wonderland on the Royal Caribbean cruises serves what it likes to call imaginative cuisine that includes buffalo chicken eggs, slow-cooked baby beets and liquid manzanilla olives. It also has a dish called Vanishing Noodles with chicken, duck and truffle; and another called Liquid Lobster which features bone marrow and olives.

It isn’t just the ingredients used in the dishes that makes them different, but the way they are presented and eaten. Each dish is meant to be an experience in itself, that uses all the required senses – taste, smell, sight, touch, perhaps even hearing, as one listens to the sizzle of hot dishes or the sigh of steam rise.

Let’s take the Vanishing Noodles, for example. It appears before the guest as a bowlful of delicious udon noodles ready to be eaten. But when a savoury hot chicken broth is poured gently over them, the magic takes place. The noodles dissolve, and the dish becomes almost a soup with a variety of tastes – Nueske bacon, sous vide capon, black truffles and root vegetables. The chefs created the noodles themselves from an emulsion of duck liver, cream and chicken broth, which each bring their own game to the dish.

The Wonderland restaurant also serves an edible balloon on a string. The balloon is made of taffy, and once popped in the mouth releases a breath of helium with a green apple infusion. This ticks all the boxes for innovative cuisine as it appeals to all the senses, and is fun, memorable and exciting for the guest.

Innovative cuisine blends a deep knowledge of ingredients and how to cook them with imaginative ways of presentation. This requires cruise ship chefs to have intimate knowledge of the basics so they are able to recreate these dishes as designed by their creators. Every member of staff in a galley that serves dishes like these is usually hand-picked, chosen for their skills, experience and ability to work with precision.

It goes without saying that work experience in restaurants that serve innovative cuisine, headed by celebrity chefs, goes a long way in boosting your own career profile.

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How Cruise Ship Chefs deal with Dietary Restrictions

How cruise ship chefs deal with dietary restrictionsToday, cruising is becoming increasingly inclusive, with people across ages and dietary needs coming on board to have a good time. This makes cruise ship chef jobs that much more skilled as many dietary restrictions, such as allergies, can be harmful to the guest.

Voluntary restrictions include diets such as vegetarianism, lacto-ovo vegetarianism, veganism, pescetarianism and others, in which people do not eat certain food items or meats. This is mostly prompted by personal or religious philosophy and many can be quite strict about it. This means that any mistakes on the chef’s part can lead to complaints to the cruise line, so staff in the galleys must be careful.

Here is what the most popular diets include:

Vegetarianism: A diet that excludes meat, including products that result from animal slaughter, such as gelatin and rennet. Hindus, Buddhists and Jains often follow this diet, although some may be lacto-vegetarian. Jains additionally do not consume root vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, etc, as well as mushrooms, fungi and yeasts. Strict Jains may not consume fermented foods either such as beer, wines and other alcohols.

Fruitarianism: A diet that consists mostly of raw fruits

Lacto-vegetarianism: A vegetarian diet that includes eggs, but excludes dairy.

Ovo-vegetarianism: A vegetarian diet that includes dairy, but excludes eggs. Many Indians follow this diet, and as such, a lot of north Indian cuisine adheres to it

Lacto-ovo vegetarianism: A vegetarian diet that includes dairy and eggs

Veganism: Vegans extend the vegetarian diet to exclude any items produced by animals, including bee honey, dairy and eggs

Pescetarianism: A diet that includes fish but not meat

Flexitarianism: A diet that is mostly vegetarian but occasionally includes meat

Halal food: Many Muslims strictly adhere to diets that consist of halal food or food allowed to be eaten under Islamic law. Those not permitted are called haraam, and include alcohol, pork, and meat from any animal not slaughtered according to Islamic ritual methods

Kosher diet: Cruise ship chefs catering for Jews on board must learn more about their Kashrut laws which requires food to be prepared a certain way for it to be considered Kosher. It prohibits alcohol, caffeinated beverages and certain shellfish.

In some diets, such as the variants of vegetarianism, chefs use substitutes, such as vegetable oil instead of butter, soy or almond milk instead of cow’s milk, or a mixture of baking powder, oil and water instead of egg.

Cruise ship chefs must also consider diets for guests with food allergies. Any food can cause an allergy, but the most common ones are cow’s milk, eggs, peanuts, fish, shellfish, tree nuts like cashew or walnut, wheat and soy. Peanuts, fish, shellfish, soy, tree nuts, and gluten from wheat can cause severe reactions including anaphylaxis characterised by swelling and breathing problems, which must be treated using epinephrine.

Typically, guests fill out a form ahead of the cruise, or on the first day, noting their dietary restrictions and allergies. Main dining rooms and specialty restaurants often point out the main allergens on the menu card itself, and kitchens ensure they are equipped to handle such cases. For example, dishes made for people with tree nut or peanut allergies will in no way come in contact with those containing the allergen.

Many other diets exist, such as Paleo diets, macrobiotic diets, organic food diets and Mediterranean diet. Because any hospitality venture, including cruises, are rated mainly on service, cruise ship chefs and other kitchen staff must go out of their way to ensure standards are met, particularly when the health of a guest is concerned.

Cruise ship chefs should constantly read about the various diets and allergies, what to include and what to exclude, so they are better able to help guests with specific culinary requirements.

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