Fleming College

A partnership between Fleming College and the Durham District School Board will give hundreds of culinary students a chance to test their skills in a “Culympics” competition in Europe. All trip participants have the opportunity to apply to be on one of the Culympic teams. The Fleming College Culinary Challenge Tour is planned for October 22 to November 2, 2009. Chef David Hawey, Coordinator of the college’s culinary programs has teamed up with the Durham Board to organize the trip for both Fleming students and high school students taking culinary programs. Competing in teams of four, two high school students will be paired with a Fleming student or recent graduate for the competition and a Swiss culinary student, which will take place near the end of the trip in Lucerne, Switzerland. To date, the Culympics will include seven categories – hot appetizer, main course, plated dessert, bread showpiece, cake decorating, fat sculpture and fruit and vegetable carving. Touring Europe ahead of the competition, the students will tour Italy, Germany and Switzerland, visiting famous landmarks and touring cheese factories, pasta factories, vineyards, breweries and chocolate factories. Also part of the trip, the students will tour European culinary schools and attend a Tuscan cooking class. The tour is designed to augment and provide a practical application of the Fleming Culinary programs and the Hotel and Resort Management program curriculum, said Chef Hawey. It’s also an opportunity to mentor high school students, and participate in an international experience, he added. The itinerary has been set through travel company Explorica. The students will start in Rome, Italy and then head to stops in Florence; Venice and Innsbruck, Austria. Then it’s on to Munich, Germany and the final stop is in Lucerne, Switzerland. There will be guided tours at each location and at all times students will have an interpreter who speaks the local language and English“We want to make this as educational as possible,” said Chef Hawey.  The cost of the trip is $3617. The price includes airfare, all accommodations, two meals a day (breakfast and dinner), all tours and transportation costs. This also includes uniform costs and return transportation from the airport. Students have the option to pay on a monthly plan ahead of the trip. Chef Hawey said there are plans for a series of cook-offs to raise money for the trip and help off-set costs. Chef Hawey will be part of a planning team heading to Switzerland at the end of May to organize further details.