A $35 million grant from a salsa king – the largest in the history of culinary education – is making it possible for the Culinary Institute of America to create a Center for Foods of the Americas. The C.I.A., whose main campus in located in Hyde Park, New York, plans to develop a new Center for Foods of the Americas in San Antonio – the ‘heartland’ of Latino cuisine north of the Mexican border - to train aspiring chefs. Many of these new students, C.I.A. president Tim Ryan explains, have worked in the food service industry for years, albeit in the more low paying strata. This new program, he believes will provide terrific Latino would-be chefs with a far more lucrative career path in the industry. The San Antonio center is the first step, Ryan explained, adding that there are also plans to develop a parallel new facility in Hyde Park.. There, students pursuing a full B.A. will now have the option of specializing (majoring) in Latin American cuisine.
In San Antonio, the CIA will offer a basic certificate in Latin American Food and have the opportunity of coming to Hyde Park to complete their BA, with a large proportion of the grant also earmarked for scholarships.
The move into exploring Latino cuisine in a culinary context mirrors the highly successful strategy the C.I.A. employed many years ago, when it acquired Greystone in the heart of California’s Napa Valley and used it to champion the now iconic spa/organic cuisine the valley is now famous for.