August 29/New York/PRNewswire -- The International Culinary Center, founded as The French Culinary Institute, announced the development of its inaugural and innovative farm-to-table concentration at its New York campus. The program will provide an opportunity for aspiring chefs to learn beyond the four walls of a kitchen, extending their culinary education into the fields and farms that produce the ingredients chefs rely on daily. The program will offer a unique, hands-on introduction to ecological agriculture and cuisine led by Dan Barber, executive chef and co-owner of Blue Hill New York and Blue Hill at Stone Barns, and one of the nation's most respected authorities on America's food supply and its future. To supplement the Classic Culinary Arts curriculum taught at The International Culinary Center, students will participate in a number of field trips during the six-month program, including an urban rooftop farm, a vineyard and a dairy farm. The program will culminate in a weeklong participative experience at Blue Hill and Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture in Pocantico Hills, N.Y. (45 minutes north of New York City).
"I am very excited to announce our farm-to-table program at The International Culinary Center in New York, the most innovative of its kind in America," said Dorothy Cann Hamilton, CEO and founder of The International Culinary Center. "By being one of the first culinary organizations to offer a concentration in ecology and cooking and placing sustainability at the heart of one our programs, we are not only preparing our students to be the very best chefs, we are also helping them preserve our culinary and farming heritage for future generations, while focusing on the practical knowledge, skills and tools needed, as our collaborators Blue Hill and Stone Barns Center affirm, to create a farm-powered kitchen."