KNOXVILLE –- The Culinary Institute at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, is inviting the community to visit its kitchen classroom and learn more about the program.
The institute will host an open house from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 14, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 15, at the UT Visitors Center at the corner of Kingston Pike and Neyland Drive. The event is free and open to the public.
Recent graduates will give cooking demonstrations and hand out food samples. People attending the open house can get a quick lesson in cutting and chopping in the kitchen.
The open house also will offer a look at high-tech kitchen instruction equipment, such as closed-circuit screens similar to those seen in professional cooking demonstrations. The Culinary Institute recently moved its classes to the Visitors Center from a smaller kitchen in the Jessie Harris Building on campus.
More about the UT Culinary Institute
The Culinary Institute is a 10-month intensive certificate program offered by the Department of Retail, Hospitality and Tourism Management of the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences. Topics include safety and sanitation, the art of tasting, baking skills and even ice sculpting.
John Antun, assistant professor of hotel, restaurant and tourism management, is the founder and director of the Culinary Institute. Antun is a certified executive chef with a doctorate in higher education administration. He has spent more than 40 years in the hospitality industry, and opened and operated four successful restaurants in the New York metropolitan area.
Antun and other local chefs are the instructors at the institute. The program is available to anyone who has received a high school diploma.
Students who complete the program receive a Certificate in Culinary Arts and the Servsafe Foodservice Sanitation certification, which is valid for five years.
For more information about the Culinary Institute, visit http://culinary.utk.edu/.
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Contact:
Elizabeth Davis, UT media relations, (865) 974-5179, elizabeth.davis@tennessee.edu