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27 TheSouthShoreMagazine.com The food service and hospitality industries are booming, and Massasoit Community College answers the call with their first-rate culinary arts and hospitality management programs. Its associate degree curriculum provides the experiences necessary to enter a position in any area of the food service and hospitality fields. The comprehensive courses encompass both sweet and savory foods, and teach skills such as stamina, dexterity, food safety, preparation, presentation, multi-tasking and professionalism. The results of an independent survey performed by Massasoit revealed that food service and hospitality were the jobs in highest demand in southeastern Massachusetts. "Restaurants are having trouble finding people to fill all the available positions," says Associate Professor Paul Weeden. "We are constantly getting calls from employers asking us if we have qualified people we can recommend." Massasoit's culinary arts students are among the most competitive candidates, as the program includes extensive training, field experience and job application skills. Massasoit also keeps up with the latest trends and equipment. "We keep the program cutting edge and current," says Weeden. "In response to the locally grown, farm-to-table movement, we have created a sustainable, perennial herb garden that is tended to by the students." The garden includes innumerable herb types, with thirteen varieties of mint alone. Other trends included in Massasoit's program are international fusion, vegetarian and gluten-free dishes, plating sauces, and deconstruction, which involves taking a recipe apart and then putting it back together in a new and artful way. "We make sure that students aren't just learning the classics; we teach real-world skills" says Associate Professor Donna Wright. "We have the latest six-foot rotary oven and artisan deck ovens in our classrooms so that the students will learn on the same equipment that will be in the workplace. We teach knife skills for chopping, dicing, paring and peeling, but we also teach them how to use the time-saving, industrial slicers and cutters that they will be expected to use." Students can expect both breadth and depth in their instruction, which comes from highly experienced, devoted professors. Professor Weeden holds bachelors' degrees in both hospitality Culinary Arts AT MASSASOIT COMMUNITY COLLEGE P roviding U nlimited O pportunity by Erica Ford fusion