Seaside serves up skills

Eastbourne has perhaps been thought of more for retirement homes and fish and chips by the sea than for being a centre for culinary excellence, innovation and training. Pictures of old aged pensioners shuffling along pavements and mums and dads dragging ice cream-toting youngsters come readily to mind.

But all that could change in time with the advent of the Culinary Arts Studio, part of the University of Brighton's Darley Road Campus. Having existed previously, the unit was refurbished and re-opened on February 10, 2006 by celebrity chef Rick Stein and could be hired out to a variety of clients. It is equipped with a kitchen-cum-diner with four cooking stations, sinks, ovens and grills, toilets, two conference rooms for up to 60 delegates, plus a third smaller meeting room. Its layout makes it ideal for training chefs and restaurant workers, but it can also be a great asset to food and drink manufacturers, says Gilly Nicol, business development manager in charge of the site.

It is stocked with the latest Charvet- and Rational-branded equipment. "There is potential for the facility to be used for product or equipment development and it lends itself to small, medium or large companies to use for their own ends," says Nicol. "We would look to see companies using not just the facility itself, but to benefit from what is on offer from the university as well." While it is attached to Brighton University's School of Service Management, much of the university students' training takes place elsewhere. Nicol certainly believes the studio can equally be used for more commercial purposes. "It can be used as a training facility and we're working towards having more manufacturers down here for that. Sometimes companies need to step away from their in-house facilities. They can bring a group in here and it takes them out of their comfort zone."

It's not just product development training that could take place there either, says Nicol. "It's also suitable for health and safety training or team building."

It can also be used for interviewing, say, product development or catering chefs, says Nicol. Remote control cameras can be rigged up in the main food preparation area and interviewers can observe candidates' performances via a monitor in another room.

In addition, the Culinary Arts Studio could offer the opportunity for equipment testing. "People designing equipment can bring chefs down here and say they are thinking of doing this or that and try it out," says Nicol.

It's kitted out with a data projector, a PA system and Apple Mac computers connected to the internet via wireless technology, all of which could be used as teaching aids. Nicol is clearly enthusiastic about heading up the centre. She has had food in her blood from an early age, having grown up in a family encouraging such interests. "My parents ran restaurants and delis, so I was born into catering. Initially I wanted to be in retail and was training in retail management, but I started to help my parents more and ended up running their company, Suburban Catering."

She went on to run Country Catering, supplying fresh sandwiches to businesses in the Redhill area of Surrey, and staff canteens for Morning Plastics and Hawker Sidley.

A move to Guildford led to Nicol taking over catering at The Park Bistro restaurant, while dabbling in adult education cookery courses on the side. "I was teaching cookery to retired gentlemen, judges, senior police officers, the whole gamut, in Godalming. At the end of the term, they could invite one guest to Christmas dinner, where they served them food."

She became a local celebrity, even running cookery spots on Southern Counties Radio.

Then came a career shift to events management in the US in 1992, although Nicol says she kept her hand in catering with the occasional project here and there.

Returning to the UK in 2000, she continued to pursue events management on a freelance basis, but her old love would not leave her be. She became increasingly involved in the Craft Guild of Chefs and pitched in to judge international contests between chefs. From there she moved on to her present role.

Nicol is not the only food luminary involved with the Culinary Arts Studio. Professor Svetlana Rodgers, of Brighton University's School of Service Management, has been recruited as well.

Rodgers is described as a leading authority on product development, functional meal design, food production systems, equipment design and evaluation and raw material quality control tests.

She is also a specialist in food safety and hazard analysis critical control point courses. She is excited about the Eastbourne facilities, because, she says: "The whole area of foodservice technology has been neglected by academics. Much of the basic design of foodservice equipment has not changed since its conception."

The centre offers the opportunity for suppliers of such equipment to develop their ideas. But because of its inventory, it could also be used by food manufacturers looking to make the move into foodservice.

In addition, there's room for processors to work together with equipment suppliers in developing products. One local bakery firm recently used the centre to work with oven maker Rational on the development of its breads, says Nicol.

The facilities are available for hire at weekends and in the evening and free parking is available. Official costs are £150 for evenings and mornings and £700 for a whole weekend or weekday.

A week's hire would cost £2,500 according to the current charges sheet, but Nicol insists that there is some room for negotiation. "We're open to talking to people."

As interest in using the Culinary Arts Studio grows, perhaps the image of Eastbourne as an ageing seaside town will undergo a transformation. Certainly Nicol's efforts represent a quiet revolution, the impact of which remains to be seen.

For more details, call 01273 643667 FM

Climate change teaching from Schumacher

Carbon labelling has made the whole area of climate change and carbon emissions a big issue for food manufacturers and retailers alike.

Walkers' use of the Carbon Trust's carbon emissions mark on packs of crisps sparked off a fierce debate about the way carbon emissions should be measured and the emphasis placed on them.

Confusion reigns regarding the subject, so the introduction of a course covering it specifically for the food and drink industry, called 'Developing low carbon food policies', couldn't be more timely. The training will run from October 11-15, running over a weekend, and aims to help attendees understand how carbon emissions from food production and distribution can be reduced. The module is intended for all those involved in the supply chain, including local authority officers, retailers and growers, policy makers, academics and consumers.

As part of a suite of modules aimed at business professionals, the scheme is the result of collaboration between food retailers, environmental consultancy CarbonSense and Devon-based Schumacher College, a centre for research into sustainable living. Katherine Symonds, climate change manager at Tesco, and Craig Sams, founder of Whole Earth Foods and Green and Black's organic chocolate are involved in the project. Guy Watson, founder of organic vegetable farm Riverford Farm, and Janice Ansine, project co-ordinator for the Greener Food Project, run by London Sustainability Exchange, will also help teach the course.

"Course tutors will talk about relevant international policy and present the practical approaches that are currently being used by organic producers and major food retailers," says Anna Lodge of Schumacher College. Participants will be able to explore how new approaches translate into practical policy initiatives in large urban areas and elsewhere. The course will cover climate change issues from production to consumption."

Antony Turner, md of CarbonSense, says the subject of climate change is of particular relevance to the food industry. "Generally, business professionals in senior positions want to be able to make informed choices when making decisions in the area. They should know that, when subjects such as the Kyoto Protocol or emissions trading come up, they should be able to converse with confidence and authority."

The teaching will examine key issues including carbon trading, agriculture and food, how to go beyond carbon neutrality and the roles of private finance, technology and democratic processes in reducing carbon emissions.