Military cook-off in Schaumburg serious business

Don’t look now, but recruiters were in town over the weekend looking to fill jobs at the White House, of all places.

It happened at the Schaumburg Convention Center, where the International Food Service Executives’ Association met for its national conference. Next year, they’ll meet in San Diego.

The association is the industry’s oldest professional organization, which began partnering with the military 50 years ago. Association members evaluate military food service, offer classes, culinary competitions and awards for excellence.

Consequently, soldiers in fatigues and Naval officers in their service khakis dominated the convention.

They included chefs, culinary specialists and other high level military personnel who make decisions about menus for the troops. They joined business leaders from the food industry, who held classes, pitched new products, demonstrated cooking techniques and presented awards.

Some of the most popular sessions were the fruit and vegetable carving demonstrations and cake decorating, as well as the classes on tapas recipes and plating techniques.

Among the heavy hitters in attendance was Chief Warrant Officer David Longstaff, who manages the Army’s culinary staff and oversees meals prepared for deployed military in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Another was Chief Petty Officer Catina Harris, a senior chief culinary specialist with the Navy, currently commanding Naval cooks at the White House.

She cheered on the Navy chefs during the live cooking competition, which included teams from the Army, Navy and Military Sea Life Command, as well as three college culinary programs.

Harper College students won first place in the Iron Chef-type competition, followed by the Navy.

Harris was coming off her latest assignment as leading culinary specialist on the USS Leyte Gulf. The guided missile cruiser, which docks in Norfolk, Va., won an award Saturday night for having the best food service among medium sized Naval ships.

Now installed at the White House, she enjoyed the networking opportunity at the convention, as well as observing some of the Naval chefs working against the clock.

“We’re recruiting sailors to come and work,” Harris said, “but we have rather stringent requirements. They have to get through security and have culinary experience.”

Harris explained that her staff of 50 Naval chefs prepare dinners for presidential and vice presidential affairs, but leave the large state dinners — and meals for President Obama’s family — to civilian chefs.

Harper College’s culinary students were involved in much of the convention, helping guests navigate their way through the center and one was the emcee for the cooking competition.

Patrick Beach, coordinator of the Hospitality Management Program at Harper College and a member of the food service association, helped bring the convention to Schaumburg.

In doing so, he drew more than 650 convention members, who booked 2,300 hotel room stays over the weekend in the Northwest suburbs.