Project North America, Canada horizon!

CAST Alimenti opens out to Canada and announce its new partnership with Fanshawe College

After our visit to their campus in London, Ontario in March 2017 and theirs to our headquarters in Brescia the following June, finally in April this year CAST Alimenti and Fanshawe College could see their aspiration come true as the first batch of Canadian students, escorted by some faculty members from the School of Tourism, Hospitality and Culinary Arts, spent a full week in our labs to attend a program we have planned together and customized according to their specific needs and requirements. As we normally plan when it comes to train foreign attendees, the course outline also comprised some field trips for visiting prime Italian companies sourcing superb first-class ingredients representing the subjects investigated and learnt during in class-lessons, enabling thus students to experience the authentic Italian culinary traditions exactly where they originate.

The experience was a true success for us all; here are some assessments students let us before leaving Brescia to go back to London:

• “Learning from chefs from a different country, is the same feeling as learning from the source. For how the cuisine has been watered down in Canada and the United States, it is always amazing to learn how to make the real Italian food the right way”;
• “This experience beyond surpassed my expectations. I was highly impressed with the level of charm, chivalry, skill and professionalism displayed at CAST Alimenti”;
•  “I really enjoyed learning some of the stories and history behind the food we were making”;
• “Meeting Chef Instructors was one of the best parts of this trip. Super entertaining and very informative! Their flair for plating is unsurpassed. They do it all with a calm, cool attitude too. Terrific instructors”;
•  “I would love to thank Fanshawe College and CAST Alimenti, to give me this opportunity to go to Italy and learn from the best. I had some of the best time of my life learning and absorbing the Italian food culture. From the walks in olive gardens to the late-night drinks, this trip will always have a special place in my heart!”
• “It was a joy to learn at CAST Alimenti; all chefs, assistant chefs, faculty were more than just kind and helpful. I learned a whole new bunch of techniques………. The program was specifically designed for my batch and ………………kept us interested in learning all week long. If I had the opportunity, I would definitely come back for some more advanced courses”.

Fanshawe College started in the 1960s as a local vocational training center. Since then, they have seen impressive growth in student population, economic impact and even the size and shape of their campus. They are now a leader in applied education and a destination of choice, attracting tens of thousands of talented students from more than 80 countries every year.

Fanshawe College became one of Ontario’s largest colleges, with four campuses in London, Simcoe, St. Thomas and Woodstock and an offer of more than 200-degree, diploma, certificate and apprenticeship programs to 43,000 students each year, helping them to unlock their potential and achieve success in a variety of disciplines developed in response to local, national and international labor market needs.

Within six months of graduation, 87 per cent of their grads begin to build meaningful careers all over the world, even in the actual still-recovering economy.

Fanshawe also plays an important role in providing re-skilling and skill upgrading opportunities for mature learners by delivering custom training for federally and provincially sponsored trainees, community organizations, sectoral training councils and private sector employers in the business, health, industrial and services sectors.

• Certificate in Culinary Skills-Chef Training;
• Diploma in Culinary Management
• Diploma in Baking&Pastry Arts management
• Diploma in Food and Nutrition Management
• Certificate in Graduate Certificate in Artisanal Culinary Arts
• Certificate in International Cuisine

Along with a whole set of Management degrees, these are some of the educational paths offered by the School of Tourism, Hospitality and Culinary Arts at Fanshawe College at their London campus.

The existing educational paths offered by the School – to which students access after orientation with professors who tutor them individually throughout their entire course of studies – are wide-ranging and accurate, and include a mandatory period of internships in corporations affiliated with the College, consistent routine shifts at Saffron – the campus didactic restaurant, and now study abroad hands-on training at CAST Alimenti in Brescia, Italy which has become part of the actual study plan starting from Spring semester this year.

Together with adding an overseas syllabus for their students, the School of Tourism, Hospitality and Culinary Arts is undergoing renovation and extension works necessary to meet the constantly increasing number of matriculations and for the technological renewal of labs and equipment and will open its brand-new doors downtown London this coming Fall.

Thank you, Fanshawe College! You gave us one more chance to pursue our values of representing and promoting the best of the Made in Italy by willing to learn and practice food crafts in Brescia.