Event cooking at CSULB

By Jeff Dusing
Daily Forty-Niner

Cooking, chilling and rethermalizing.

These three popular food service techniques will be the main focus of Cal State Long Beach's first ever chilling and cooking technologies conference on Friday and Saturday at the University Student Union.

Those wishing to attend, however, will have to pay $150 for one day and $200 for both days. The entrance fee includes breakfast, lunch and refreshments.

"The hottest ticket in food service today is this cook, chill, retherm and serve system," said conference coordinator and CSULB family and consumer sciences department lecturer Vala Stults.

"Rethermalization is bringing chilled food back to safe serving temperature." The main purpose of the conference will be to train those who are in majors such as hospitality and food service and hotel management on the new procedures, Stults said.

The conference is expecting approximately 200 participants from around the country. They will include representatives from restaurants, hotels, resorts, and various federal institutions such as schools, prisons, and military bases.

"This conference will highlight new equipment and procedures never used to produce less expensive, high-quality food," Stults said. "These technologies have been historically used for very large quantities of food production, but they are just as easily applied to small quantity preparation."

There are more than 25 speakers scheduled to speak, including officials from Belgium, Italy, and other countries.

Thursday's conference is from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. while Friday's session is from 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m.