[February 15, 2012]

Wounded Warriors Receive Top-Shelf Cooking at The Culinary Institute of America

Wounded Warrior Project™ (WWP), whose mission is to honor and empower wounded warriors, will be sending alumni to a four-day course on learning to prepare healthy and flavorful home-cooked meals at the Hyde Park campus of The Culinary Institute of America (CIA), the world's premier culinary college.

Wounded Warrior Project: Healthy Cooking Boot Camp will provide hands-on instruction in fundamental culinary techniques, with an emphasis on health and wellness. This culinary immersion program will give warriors the knowledge and skills to quickly, easily and affordably prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner items with well-balanced nourishment in mind.

Three CIA Boot Camp dates have been confirmed for wounded warriors and families: February 14-17, March 6-9 and March 26-29.

During the program, students will be guided in the kitchen by an award-winning CIA chef-instructor in learning how to excel in their home kitchen. Among the culinary talents focused upon in this program are all-important knife skills as well as a variety of cooking methods that provide time-saving and health-conscious benefits.

The CIA will provide each participant with a chef's uniform, training tools and a curriculum guide that includes all recipes made during the class, cookbooks and instructional DVDs.

The Healthy Cooking Boot Camp will teach participants to make good ingredient selections and to cook in a way that ensures that food is delicious, nutritious and well-balanced. Students will participate in interactive lectures and hands-on training, and then sit down to enjoy the meals they created. In the evening, the Wounded Warriors will dine at one of the restaurants on the CIA Hyde Park campus, enjoying cuisine prepared and served by full-time students in the CIA's degree programs.

"We thank The Culinary Institute of America for providing this hands-on experience, teaching warriors some very practical cooking skills an valuable knowledge from a nutritional perspective," said Richard Stieglitz, executive vice president, Physical Health & Wellness, Wounded Warrior Project. "This certainly goes a long way in bolstering the healthy diet practices of the warriors in attendance, and truly aligns with our vision of fostering the most successful, well-adjusted generation of wounded warriors in our nation's history."

The CIA has a long-standing relationship with the U.S. military that dates back to 1946, when the college was founded to provide vocational training for soldiers returning from World War II. Since then, cooks from the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard have been developing their skills at the CIA, and the Navy and Air Force have sent their Ney Award and Hennessy Trophy Award winners to the CIA for special training since the 1970s. In addition, hundreds of service personnel from all branches of the military have earned CIA ProChef® Certification. And thanks to the support of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, more than 100 veterans are currently enrolled in the college's bachelors and associate degree programs.

"We are proud to be working with Wounded Warrior Project on a program that is both exciting and personally enriching," said Chef Brad Barnes, '87, CMC, CCA, AAC, senior director of continuing education at The Culinary Institute of America. "This current project follows proudly in our treasured tradition of working with servicemen and women to provide important culinary skills for professional growth. Through this special CIA Culinary Boot Camp, warriors and their families will be able to apply practical good cooking techniques with all the right concepts to make delicious food which is nutritious, delicious and based on good cooking to their everyday lives."

About The Culinary Institute of America

Founded in 1946, The Culinary Institute of America is an independent, not-for-profit college offering bachelor's and associate degrees in culinary arts and baking and pastry arts as well as certificate programs in culinary arts, Latin cuisines, and wine and beverage studies. As the world's premier culinary college, the CIA provides thought leadership in the areas of health & wellness, sustainability, and world cuisines & cultures through research and conferences. The CIA has a network of 44,000 alumni that includes industry leaders such as Grant Achatz, Anthony Bourdain, Roy Choi, Cat Cora, Dan Coudreaut, Steve Ells, Johnny Iuzzini, Charlie Palmer, and Roy Yamaguchi. In addition to its degree programs, the CIA offers courses for professionals and enthusiasts, as well as consulting services in support of innovation for the foodservice and hospitality industry. The college has campuses in Hyde Park, NY; St. Helena, CA (News - Alert); San Antonio, TX; and Singapore. For more information, visit www.ciachef.edu.

About Wounded Warrior Project™

The mission of Wounded Warrior Project^™ is to honor and empower wounded warriors. WWP's purpose is to raise awareness and to enlist the public's aid for the needs of injured service members, to help injured servicemen and women aid and assist each other, and to provide unique, direct programs and service to meet their needs. WWP is a national, nonpartisan organization headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. To get involved and learn more, visit woundedwarriorproject.org.

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