Nashville’s Music City Center was recently awarded REAL Certification by the U.S. Healthful Food Council. REAL (Responsible Epicurean and Agricultural Leadership) is a nationwide program that helps combat diet-related disease by recognizing food service operators committed to holistic nutrition and environmental stewardship.

The Music City Center is the nation’s first convention center to receive REAL certification.

“We are tremendously proud of this achievement,” said Charles Starks, president and CEO of the Music City Center and an IAVM member. “It signifies the Music City Center’s commitment to our customers and the community.”

Factors that led to the certification include using local produce, sustainable sourcing, and offering healthy menu options. The venue purchases 99 percent of its produce from 68 local and regional farms. It also donates all leftover food to local nonprofit organizations.

“Coming to the Music City Center, I was excited to work with the Middle Tennessee farmers and explore the local bounty that Tennessee has to offer,” said Max Knoepfel, executive chef of the Music City Center. “We focus on using the best fresh, nutritional, and local ingredients from farms in the area. I believe it’s important for us to return as much as we take from the land, which is why my team in the kitchen works hard to be as sustainable as possible.”

The center was also recently awarded LEED Gold certification for New Construction by the U.S. Green Building Council and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute.

Factors leading to this certification include a green, four-acre roof; a rainwater harvest system; and extensive LED lighting with specialized controls. The building consumes 20 percent less energy than conventionally designed buildings of the same type.

“We are tremendously proud of this achievement,” said Marty Dickens, chair of the Convention Center Authority. “It signifies Nashville’s commitment to the environment, and the Music City Center is proud to be a part of the green building movement here.”

And while we’re talking about the Music City Center, check out the October/November 2013 issue of FM magazine, which features the venue as a powerhouse of wired and wireless connectivity.

(Image: Music City Center)

Congratulations to Chef Allan Wambaa—who we featured in our December/January issue of FM magazine with his tips for venues to consider when setting up a farm-to-table program—on earning his ProChef III certification.

Wambaa is the executive chef of the Oregon Convention Center (home of this year’s VenueConnect), Portland’5 Centers for the Arts, and the Portland Expo Center, all serviced by pacificwild catering co.,  a division of ARAMARK created for Metro venues.

“Allan has shown that fine dining can be synonymous with venue food service,” Robyn Williams, an IAVM member and executive director of Portland’5 Centers for the Arts, told the Metro News. “Our food is as classy as our patrons.”

The certification, awarded by the Culinary Institute of America, requires up to a year in preparation and tests a chef’s knowledge in several areas, such as cooking, human resources, wine, and finances.

“It’s something I wanted to do,” Wambaa, who wants to achieve the highest certification possible—Master Chef status from the American Culinary Federation—told Metro News. “ProChef III is a demanding curriculum, a kind of a ‘culinary PhD’ and a litmus test for becoming a master chef, which will be my ultimate goal to crown my career.”

Chef Allan brings world class acumen and taste to what he does, but he also knows how to deliver a very local, Portland product, said Scott Cruickshank, an IAVM member and executive director of the Oregon Convention Center, in the Metro News story.

“Convention center meals are often thought of as institutional type food,” Cruickshank said. “But not here. We are fortunate to have Chef Allan as part of our team and are very proud of his recent accomplishment.”

(Image: From Oregon Convention Center Facebook page) 

The fountain of good health flows with green tea. It helps with weight loss (by increasing metabolism), it reduces bad cholesterol, and it regulates glucose levels. Now you can add brain power to its many benefits.

Researchers at the University of Basel in Switzerland have reported for the first time that green tea extract enhances cognitive function, particularly the working memory.

Professor Christoph Beglinger from the University Hospital of Basel and Professor Stefan Borgwardt from the Psychiatric University Clinics had 12 healthy male study participants drink a soda containing 27.5 grams (0.97 ounces) of green tea extract before solving a working memory task. Beglinger and Borgwardt then analyzed the men’s brain activity in an MRI machine. They found increased connectivity between the parietal and the frontal cortex of the brain, which correlated positively with task performance improvement of the men studied.

“Our findings suggest that green tea might increase the short-term synaptic plasticity of the brain,” Borgwardt said.

Consider this finding the next time you reach for a soda for a little pick-me-up and perhaps choose a cup of green tea instead. Your brain will thank you.

(photo credit: KOREA.NET – Official page of the Republic of Korea via photopin cc)

There was a lot of news this past week. Here are some stories that caught our eyes.

London’s £12bn Olympic Park Opens Up to the Public
—The Guardian
“Almost 10 years and £12bn in the making, the full extent of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park will finally open to the public on Saturday, revealing ‘the biggest new park in Europe for 150 years’, magicked from the mud at the bottom of the Lea Valley.”

From Football to Food
—The Meeting Professional
“When George Wasai—director of food and beverage for the hospitality division of Legends at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas (home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys)—played football in the 1980s for Bishop College (now Paul Quinn College), he never suspected that he would return to that same field more than two decades later as part of a team making a difference in the community.”

More to Cultural Venues Than a Name
—The Global Times
“The Shanghai Concert Hall was recently renamed the Sennheiser Shanghai Concert Hall to mark its strategic cooperation with the German manufacturer of headphones, microphones and wireless transmission systems.”

PepsiCo Demands Higher Visibility at IPL Venues
—The Economic Times
“The American snacks and beverages major is seeking increased visibility in boxes in the stadium, perimeter boards, dug-outs and drinks trolleys among others, after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced that the first phase of the IPL will be played in the United Arab Emirates because of the Lok Sabha elections in India.”

Melbourne’s The Palace Theatre to Close for Good in May
—The Music
“The venue started trading in 1860 and has been home to a number of venues, including Apollo Theatre, Metro Nightclub, Metro Theatre, St James Theatre and Brennan’s Amphitheatre.”

(photo credit: sludgegulper via photopin cc)

George Orwell once said, “If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” With that in mind, let’s consider the way a job notice is worded.

According to a new study from Technische Universität München (TUM), women will respond less to job ads that feature such words as “determined” and “assertive,” because they feel those words are tied to male stereotypes. The researchers found that women preferred words like “dedicated,” “responsible,” and “sociable.” The wording in job ads made no difference to males.

“A carefully-formulated job posting is essential to get the best choice of personnel,” said Professor Claudia Peus from the Chair of Research and Science Management at TMU. “In most cases, it doesn’t make sense to simply leave out all of the male-sounding phrases. But without a profile featuring at least balanced wording, organizations are robbing themselves of the chance of attracting good female applicants. And that’s because the stereotypes endure almost unchanged in spite of all of the societal transformation we have experienced.”

This new study is similar to one published in 2011 that found the same results.

“When job advertisements were constructed to include more masculine than feminine wording, participants perceived more men within these occupations, and importantly, women found these jobs less appealing,” wrote the authors in the separate 2011 study. “Results confirmed that perceptions of belongingness (but not perceived skills) mediated the effect of gendered wording on job appeal.”

Do you agree or disagree with the findings of these studies? Please contribute to the conversation in the comments section.

(photo credit: bpsusf via photopin cc)