PRESS
Jerusalem Culinary Institute Teams with Hadassah Hospital to Offer New Program in Healthy Cooking for Professional Chefs
The Jerusalem Culinary Institute is proud to announce a joint program with Hadassah Hospital to provide instruction to professional chefs in nutrition and healthy cooking. This program is designed to give chefs the knowledge and cooking skills to meet the increased need to serve healthy and flavorful meals and to address the varied special dietary requirements of their customers who suffer from obesity, diabetes and other nutritional related illnesses. Graduates of the program will have the ability to further their career as culinary health consultants. The heart of the program is the Mediterranean diet and the Jerusalem Culinary Institute is located in the heart of the Mediterranean.
The program, scheduled to begin in May, includes 400 hours of kitchen and classroom instruction, taught over six months, at the Jerusalem Culinary Institute. The curriculum is designed by Hadassah Hospital under the direction of Dr. Rani Polak, the Founder and Director of the Center for Healthy Cooking at “Hadassah Optimal”, a subsidiary of Hadassah University Hospital in Jerusalem. The Center is the first and only of its kind. Dr. Polak is a physician and Cordon Bleu-educated chef and the author of “Delicious Diabetic Recipes: The Gourmet Cookbook for a Healthy Diet”. In addition, Dr. Polak received the 2005 Hebrew University Kaye Innovation Award for the healthy cooking workshops that he designed for people with special dietary needs. Dr. Polak is a member of the Board of Directors of the Israeli Forums for Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease and he is currently a lecturer at the Hebrew University’s School of Nutritional Sciences and at the School of Culinary Arts, Hadassah College.
About the Jerusalem Culinary Institute
The growth in the kosher food industry requires specialized and trained industry personnel. JCI offers programs and courses to meet those needs. JCI was founded in 2003 and is the first and only Mehadrin kosher cooking school in the world. Located 20 minutes outside of Jerusalem in a beautiful Tuscan style building, the school includes 3 professional kitchens, a lecture hall and a restaurant. As the school expands with new programs in health and nutrition and with its new high level French patisserie, boulangerie and chocolaterie program, JCI is moving well beyond the initial kosher culinary program.
Our most popular 7 month courses are the Culinary and Wine program and the Patisserie program, offered in a practical setting, taught with a “hands on approach”. Offered within these programs are a kashrut course, a practical understanding of business within the industry and a wine appreciation program. Upon completing the 6 month intensive program at JCI, students are given the opportunity to be placed in a 1 month apprenticeship internationally.
Graduating with diploma in hand, students can gain employment as sous-chefs, caterers, small business proprietors or a host of other industry related positions. JCI offers short term courses throughout the year for culinary enthusiasts based on diverse and popular culinary topics from ethnic cuisines to specific patisserie techniques. Our facilities are also available for events of up to 50 people in the JCI restaurant or for up to 100 people in the garden.