Chef Kathleen Vossenberg, CEC, CCE, M.Ed.

By John Bartimole

ACF Chef Kathleen Vossenberg, CEC, CCE, M.Ed. (pictured below), took a road less traveled en route to her culinary career, but one that gave her invaluable experience along the way.

After all, her bachelor’s degree in financial accounting isn’t a typical starting point on a culinary path, and it took her more than a few years to wind her way through the various steps in her life en route to her career as a chef — and as an educator.

“Yes, I’ve had an interesting path through the industry,” says Chef Vossenberg, vice president of academic affairs at Auguste Escoffier School of Culinary Arts headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, and Austin, Texas. “My mother is from a small village in Ireland, where everything is made from scratch. Daily deliveries from the milkman, fresh baked bread — that’s the picture I saw when we visited. Also, my uncle owned a bed-andbreakfast there, and that’s where I began to learn and love the hospitality industry. That combination of incredibly fresh food and excellent hospitality really formed the foundation of my culinary career.”

Today, Chef Vossenberg, who earned a 2022 Cutting Edge Award at ACF’s National Convention for her innovation in culinary education, oversees the academic development of thousands of remote culinary students around the world; Auguste Escoffier offers a robust online degree program.

“We have 8,000 culinary students, taught by 150 chefs remotely,” says Chef Vossenberg, who is based in Augusta, Georgia. “And I think remote learning offers some advantages to our students. The great thing about online learning is that our students have the option to get a recording of the lectures and the demonstrations. So, they can pause it, rewind it … whatever they need to do to learn.”

In order for their work to be evaluated, the students submit a series of photographic evidence of their process — including pictures of their uniform, their ID, their “mise en place,” sanitation — everything. “And then, they have to write a critical thinking essay where they tell us why they chose that dish and their process,” Chef Vossenberg says. “The chef instructors then use all of that information to reconstruct the cooking process, step-by-step, as evidenced by the pictures and the essay. And by reconstructing the process, they can tell students what they did right, where they could have improved, why certain foods cooked or turned out the way they did.”

Chef Vossenberg says that online culinary education “breaks down specific barriers in culinary education. “Across the country, there’s been a sharp decrease in culinary schools and attendance,” she says. “One of the most formidable barriers for students is location, and the second obstacle is the lack of flexibility in schedule. Typically, traditional culinary students must attend physical, in-building classes, etc., five to six hours a day, five days a week. That is a very difficult ask for working adults. Online learning obviates much of that.”

Another challenge for culinary students today is the cost of education. “At Escoffier, our programs are designed for students to walk away with a very small debt load that is easily serviceable by an entry-level job in the industry,” Chef Vossenberg says. “Our students tend to begin our programs in their late 20s or 30s, and many of them already have some industry experience. In contrast, many of the residential students come to culinary school fresh out of high school and already know they want a career in the field.”

Chef Vossenberg’s current position allows her to combine her love of the culinary arts with a passion for education — she holds a master’s degree in educational leadership. “My first foray into teaching was in college, when my English teacher asked me to be his teaching assistant,” she says. “That exposed me to grading papers, running classes and workshops, tutoring — all of it. And I did try accounting for a few years after graduation, working in a CPA firm and in real estate. But, to be honest, that career just didn’t get me up in the morning. However, having an accounting degree certainly helps me with the business side of my career.”

Tracy Lorenz, the school’s CEO and president, praised Chef Vossenberg for the success she’s helped bring to Escoffier, saying, “Kathleen’s passion for learning is contagious. She’s a relentless advocate for quality instruction, professional development and nurturing and inspiring culinary minds.”

Chef Vossenberg insists that students graduating from culinary arts programs are in more demand — and are more needed — than ever. “On the other side of the equation, there are eager employers who are worth working for and who will provide their chefs with ongoing education and training and keep them engaged. At the end of the day, when you’re talking about culinary arts, you want graduates to find a career — not a paycheckto-paycheck job. That situation not only stabilizes the person, but her or his family and the community. It’s empowering.”

Still, Chef Vossenberg stresses the importance of balance in life. “My husband is a chef, too, so we trade cooking responsibilities at home,” she says. “We try to emphasize a bit on the plant-forward side of things — more vegetables, more plant-based protein. That’s not only delicious, but it’s better for us overall. But we do have our weekly Fast Food Friday where we let ourselves go just a bit. It’s important for balance.”

Classical

Longtime ACF Chef John Schopp, CEC, CEPC, CCE, CCA, AAC, a culinary instructor at Virginia Western Community College and co-owner of Center Stage Catering, lists a classic French apple tarte Tatin as one of his favorite desserts. “I love it for its simplicity and elegance,” says Chef Schopp, who first learned how to make the “old-school” pastry while working under his mentor, French Chef Charles C. Semail, in Lexington, Kentucky, during Chef Schopp’s college days. “It’s just butter, sugar, apples and scrap dough,” says Chef Schopp of the dessert’s main ingredients. For a farm-to-table version, he reaches for local Pink Lady apples from Boones Mill, which is a major apple production area in Franklin County, Virginia, where he lives and works.

Modern

For a modern take on apple tarte Tatin , Chef Schopp blurs the lines of sweet and savory, even infusing a little THC in the mix. He pairs a deconstructed tart in the form of a cooked, caramelized and compressed apple, pastry short dough disc, caramel-cream sauce, candied orange and a dusting of dehydrated green apple powder with a simply seared slice of foie gras, set atop an Egyptian flan spiced with star anise, cardamom, allspice, vanilla and orange zest. A certified cannabis sommelier, Chef Schopp enjoys making his own full-spectrum THC extractions to be able to control the dosage, quality and taste preference and to use more of the cannabis plant and its nutrients. For a THC-infused bourbon-vanilla sauce used on the plate, he decarboxylates the cannabis flower in an immersion circulator at 230 degrees F for an hour and a half, and then lets the extraction marinate with 151-proof bourbon and Madagascar vanilla beans for 60 to 90 days. In this dish, he also infuses the flan with some THC in the form of decarboxylated cannabis flower mixed with pure coconut fat that’s again cooked at a low temperature in an immersion circulator. A petite salad of blackberries and fried thyme with a hint of lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper and a dusting of pulverized almond nougat adds another sweet-and-savory note to the composed dessert.

For recipes, visit wearechefs.com