Student Team Shines at 2004 IKA Culinary Olympics

More than a year of preparation paid off in October 2004, when the J&W Student Culinary Olympic Team won a bronze medal for its display at the IKA International Culinary Art Competition—widely known as the Culinary Olympics—in Erfurt, Germany. While the team is comprised of undergraduate students, the group entered as a professional regional team against 52 competitors from around the world in the cold food division.    
 
“For the students to have received medals—judged along with professionals, no less—is a testament to their skill and dedication,” said Karl Guggenmos ’92, ’02 MBA, university dean of culinary education. Indeed, coach Uta Schepers ’03 estimated that each student put in 1,200 hours of practice time—added up, that’s more than 250 days in the kitchen: more than eight months of painstaking care, of sleep loss, of non-stop thinking about how to make each entry even better.
 
“These kids gave up so much in their quest to make it to Germany. They gave up time with their families, time with their friends…just tremendous dedication,” said team manager, Kevin Duffy ’82, dean of culinary education at the Providence Campus.
 
The “kids” include senior Guillaume Bienaime, junior John Paul Carmona, junior Michael Finnen, senior Nicholas Manning and sophomore Brittany Tanelli.
 
While training for the Culinary Olympics, they won regional competitions throughout the U.S. and triumphed at the American Culinary Federation national convention in July, taking the Student Team of the Year title.
 
The students received much guidance from their coaches, who put in countless hours of supervision and advice. They included chefs Joseph Leonardi ’97, ’99 MAT, George O’Palenick ’81, ’88 MS, Uta Schepers, Mark Soliday, Gill Stansfield ’94 and Robert Zielinski ’75. Three of the coaches entered categories on an individual basis as well, and all came home with medals.
 
O’Palenick won a gold in ice carving and a bronze medal in venison platter and six individual appetizers and Leonardi, culinary arts department chair, garnered a silver medal in ice carving and a bronze in seafood platter and six individual appetizers, for which Schepers won a silver.

As the team’s first industry sponsor, The Vollrath Company, L.L.C. provided financial support as well as cookware to the team. Marty Crneckiy, executive vice-president, said, “Vollrath was honored to be given the opportunity to become the first industry sponsor of the Olympic Culinary Team. The success in the competition of not only the team, but also the coaches who chose to participate, speaks highly of the whole program offered by Johnson & Wales. Vollrath is proud of its association with the university.”

In addition, Tyson Foods Inc., was also a sponsor of the 2004 J&W Student Culinary Olympics team through its Tyson Foods Commitment to Education for Generations partnership with the university. “We at Tyson Foods congratulate the team and coaches on their outstanding performance at the Culinary Olympics,” said Dan White, director of customer and channel marketing at Tyson Foods. “We commend the team’s hard work and dedication and look forward to what the future holds for these rising stars.”