Chefs and restaurateurs always seem ready to cook for a benefit, share their culinary knowledge, travel to faraway lands to learn about other cultures, and generally ensure that people are fed. The ICE® community is no different. Over the last few months, several ICE® alumni and staff members have traveled around the world to cook, opening their hearts and their minds to share their passion in places as diverse as New Orleans, Manila, Cannes, and Hanoi.

It's not uncommon for ICE® chef-instructors to be teaching Asian cuisines. But little did Chef-Instructor Richard Ruben and Director of Student Affairs Chef Andrew Gold know that they would be teaching American cuisine in the Phillipines. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) hired them to go to the Philippines as part of Train the Trainer, which teaches Filipino culinary educators how to use American food products that are being exported there, so that they can in turn go around the Philippines to teach those skills to others. The week-long culinary programs — one focusing on cold and one on hot foods — that Ruben and Gold taught took place in a USDA demonstration kitchen in Manila, using products donated by companies like Sunkist and Hershey's and marketing board like California Grapes and that of Idaho Wagyu beef. Ruben went first, in February, and Gold taught there in April.

The Filipino chefs taking part in the program had all trained and lived in the United States, and the USDA program director there is an ICE® graduate. Bonding was immediate between the American and the Filipino chefs, and the latter have since come to New York to take classes at ICE®. "It was such an exchange program," Ruben said. "I received as much as I gave them."

Each day of the program saw them cook for eight or nine hours a day under the guidance of Gold or Ruben. At the end of each day, the group presented the food they had cooked. One of Gold's dinners received such media attention that he had to give a lecture as part of it, while Ruben had the opportunity to cook for a cocktail party at the U.S. ambassador's home with his team. Both relished the experience and look forward to going back later this year and in the spring.

"The Filipinos are the most hospitable people I've met in my life," Ruben said. "The USDA was incredible. They took my hand and didn't let go until the day I left. They just take you in, and it's like immediate family. Their sense of hospitality makes Southerners look rude."

Gold agreed: "I was invited to dinner, I went to people's homes, I met families. I loved the experience. The Philippines are beautiful."

Asia is also a region of interest for ICE® Culinary Management Instructor Neal Bermas, When traveling in Vietnam in the late 1990s, he met Jimmy Pham, who had founded Know One, Teach One (KOTO), an organization that provides street kids and disadvantaged youth in Vietnam with vocational culinary and hospitality education, life skills, jobs, and ties to a strong, caring, and supportive community. This past spring, Bermas decided to launch KOTO USA, which offers expertise and financial support to KOTO Hanoi and assists with plans to expand the model throughout Southeast Asia — including the Philippines.

"I think it's the most satisfying work I've ever done," Bermas said. "The experience of being in Hanoi and getting to know the kids in the restaurant is the richest experience I've had in my life. The opportunity to really help people who have no other choice in life is an opportunity we rarely have."

KOTO USA held its launch party at ICE® in June, raising funds and awareness for the program in Vietnam. Bermas is also in serious discussions with several major foundations that are interested in funding KOTO's expansion, he said. He is planning cross-cultural exchange programs, where students of KOTO Hanoi could spend time working in the United States to further their training. He added that the culinary community in the US can get involved by providing stages for the students.

Closer to home, a group of seven ICE® staffers and alumni joined eight other New York City culinary professionals to spend a week in June in New Orleans working with CulinaryCorps, a new organization that offers week-long culinary outreach experiences to culinary students and professionals. They stayed in dormitories at Xavier University and cooked wherever they were needed, based on a program put together by CulinaryCorps founder Christine Carroll.

"The program is going to change a little bit every trip," explained Carroll, "but typically we work with about four organizations. In June, we worked for two days with a feeding kitchen in the Lower Ninth Ward, with Café Reconcile [staffed by at-risk youths], and with Edible Schoolyards. Next time, we'll be working with Slow Food, throwing a fundraiser in Mississippi for two new markets that just opened on the Gulf Coast."

The project that had the most striking impact on the June volunteers was their work with Emergency Communities in the Lower Ninth Ward. When they arrived to prepare four meals in 36 hours, they realized that the fridges and freezers had not been working properly, and were full of meats that had thawed out and been refrozen, or were two years passed their expiration dates. The group had to start by tossing the food out, thoroughly cleaning the refrigeration equipment, and get a technician to come and do the necessary repairs. This, however, did not leave them with much to feed the 300 people who were expected these meals. "We had all this donated food, but it was unfit for consumption," 1997 ICE® graduate Kim O'Donnel, the food blogger for WashingtonPost.com, said. "We were going to have to throw it out. So I called my husband and said, ‘call our friends and family to ask for donations to buy clean food.' We didn't raise that much, but it made me spring into action, and then made him spring into action, and made our friends spring into action."

Jeff Seligman, a 2005 culinary arts ICE® graduate who works in catering and culinary education, said that he joined the program to really make a difference in helping others: "I saw an opportunity to go somewhere and do some good, as opposed to just throwing money at the situation," he said. "Through many years I've been to New Orleans for business, but I never took the time to see the underbelly of the city."

CulinaryCorps reaches out to chefs and culinary students to give them an opportunity to be leaders in the community, Carroll said. The other goal of her program is to help the population CulinaryCorps is serving regardless of their needs.

"We don't just target one population, which makes us a very flexible organization," she said. "We'll help anyone who needs food put on the table, needs to preserve their heritage. We're not anti-hunger, not anti-obesity, but we'll do that if we're asked."

O'Donnel particularly appreciated the opportunity to specifically apply her culinary skills to assist others. "What Christine's done is that she's created a very unique concept," she explained. "She founded a service organization that goes beyond just getting in line and feeding people in a soup kitchen, but getting to know the issues at very immediate and local level. She's the genius behind it all."

CulinaryCorps trips will depart for New Orleans in September and November. By 2008, Carroll hopes to be able to expand to other U.S. regions in need of help. Participants in CulinaryCorps programs pay a small fee for the program, in addition to their airfare, which covers part of their room and board and local expenses. Funding comes from grants, which help subsidize the remainder of the volunteers' costs, as well as operating costs.

Meanwhile, five ICE® alumnae had the opportunity to see the French Riviera, and even some movie stars, up close while working for the American Pavilion during the Cannes Film Festival in May. Atsuko Boyd, a 2002 alumna who owns Food Studio, a culinary events company, was one of the 20 people selected to cook there, after responding to an ad she saw on ICE's weekly alumni newsletter. Seven more people functioned as managers. After being selected based on their application form and resume and interviewed, the participants then pay about $1000 for room and board, in addition to their airfare, and go on to spend two and a half weeks in Cannes.

The group was responsible for the food provided at the American Pavilion itself, which is open to members and is one of the only meeting places with food on the Croisette during the festival; food offered at catered events; and food served at the Student Union to 120 film students attending the festival. The trip was definitely not a vacation. Cooking for 1000 people was no rarity, and the work days were grueling. While the experience was not quite what she was expecting, Boyd encourages others to attend the program if they are have the time to do so.

"I have to admit that I went there thinking it was all about the stars, and having access to everything," Boyd said. "But what I most enjoyed, ultimately, was my team. We were all hanging out together in our off hours. We had ample choice to do different things, but we were a very cohesive group"

Tia Graves, who graduated from ICE® in 2005 and now works in Minnesota, had the opportunity to see more of Cannes because she was assigned to breakfast duty at the Student Union, and then mostly free the rest of the day.

"My experience was really learning about myself more than anything," Graves said. "I didn't really learn any cooking skills. I wouldn't recommend it for people looking to learn skills or lessons in culinary arts, but I would recommend it for people looking to go to Europe. It's a great opportunity to go to Europe, and ultimately, is really what you make it."

-- Anne E. McBride