Effects on skills and knowledge of a sensory teaching program for culinary students

Culinary practitioners (chefs and healthcare cooks) need tools to systematically assess and improve the sensory quality and acceptance of the food they produce. Sensory science provides these tools to develop, revise and improve foods. However, in the culinary arts educations in Denmark teaching in...

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Main Author: Michael Bom Frøst
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Intellect 2022-11-01
Series:International Journal of Food Design
Subjects:
Online Access:https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/ijfd_00041_1
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author Michael Bom Frøst
author_facet Michael Bom Frøst
author_sort Michael Bom Frøst
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description Culinary practitioners (chefs and healthcare cooks) need tools to systematically assess and improve the sensory quality and acceptance of the food they produce. Sensory science provides these tools to develop, revise and improve foods. However, in the culinary arts educations in Denmark teaching in sensory science is limited. We developed a teaching programme for culinary arts educations, focusing on the use of central practices of sensory science in production kitchens. The teaching programme was tested and developed in dialogue with vocational teachers and culinary students. The material consists of five theoretical and practical teaching modules that cover topics such as the senses, sensory vocabulary development and training, fast sensory methods and factors contributing to palatability. In total, 137 culinary students participated in the teaching programme. The goal was to make culinary students master sensory evaluation techniques and improve their ability to develop food that is liked by consumers. Consequently, these practitioners can improve the sensory quality and acceptance of sustainable and healthy foods. Learning outcomes in a combined sensory knowledge (ten questions) and skills test (eight sensory tasks) were examined. Altogether 89 culinary students participated in both the baseline and follow-up test. Results demonstrate a highly significant effect in both domains. The knowledge scores were significantly higher after than before the course and the scores in the skills tests revealed a significant improvement of culinary students’ vocabulary after completing the course as measured by a higher number and quality of descriptors used to describe four different foods in an open description task. A higher number of descriptors used to describe foods by means of a check-all-that-apply (CATA) sensory descriptive methodology emphasized these findings. Integrating a course on sensory science and methods into the culinary arts educations leads to significant improvement of culinary students’ sensory vocabulary, knowledge and skills. The sensory educational programme is available in Danish with elaborate instructions for teachers through Taste for Life’s online services. Additionally, to train vocational teachers so they can teach it themselves, virtual courses on the sensory educational content were created in 2021 and are accessible online.
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spelling doaj.art-6a65bcb9b1a54ac0b0feef89d07ce9412023-09-29T10:01:31ZengIntellectInternational Journal of Food Design2056-65222056-65302022-11-017211914110.1386/ijfd_00041_1http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/journals/ijfd/7/2Effects on skills and knowledge of a sensory teaching program for culinary studentsMichael Bom Frøst0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0854-960XISNI: 000000010674042X University of CopenhagenCulinary practitioners (chefs and healthcare cooks) need tools to systematically assess and improve the sensory quality and acceptance of the food they produce. Sensory science provides these tools to develop, revise and improve foods. However, in the culinary arts educations in Denmark teaching in sensory science is limited. We developed a teaching programme for culinary arts educations, focusing on the use of central practices of sensory science in production kitchens. The teaching programme was tested and developed in dialogue with vocational teachers and culinary students. The material consists of five theoretical and practical teaching modules that cover topics such as the senses, sensory vocabulary development and training, fast sensory methods and factors contributing to palatability. In total, 137 culinary students participated in the teaching programme. The goal was to make culinary students master sensory evaluation techniques and improve their ability to develop food that is liked by consumers. Consequently, these practitioners can improve the sensory quality and acceptance of sustainable and healthy foods. Learning outcomes in a combined sensory knowledge (ten questions) and skills test (eight sensory tasks) were examined. Altogether 89 culinary students participated in both the baseline and follow-up test. Results demonstrate a highly significant effect in both domains. The knowledge scores were significantly higher after than before the course and the scores in the skills tests revealed a significant improvement of culinary students’ vocabulary after completing the course as measured by a higher number and quality of descriptors used to describe four different foods in an open description task. A higher number of descriptors used to describe foods by means of a check-all-that-apply (CATA) sensory descriptive methodology emphasized these findings. Integrating a course on sensory science and methods into the culinary arts educations leads to significant improvement of culinary students’ sensory vocabulary, knowledge and skills. The sensory educational programme is available in Danish with elaborate instructions for teachers through Taste for Life’s online services. Additionally, to train vocational teachers so they can teach it themselves, virtual courses on the sensory educational content were created in 2021 and are accessible online.https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/ijfd_00041_1culinary practitionersgastronomyfast sensory methodschefsensory trainingeducation program
spellingShingle Michael Bom Frøst
Effects on skills and knowledge of a sensory teaching program for culinary students
International Journal of Food Design
culinary practitioners
gastronomy
fast sensory methods
chef
sensory training
education program
title Effects on skills and knowledge of a sensory teaching program for culinary students
title_full Effects on skills and knowledge of a sensory teaching program for culinary students
title_fullStr Effects on skills and knowledge of a sensory teaching program for culinary students
title_full_unstemmed Effects on skills and knowledge of a sensory teaching program for culinary students
title_short Effects on skills and knowledge of a sensory teaching program for culinary students
title_sort effects on skills and knowledge of a sensory teaching program for culinary students
topic culinary practitioners
gastronomy
fast sensory methods
chef
sensory training
education program
url https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/ijfd_00041_1
work_keys_str_mv AT michaelbomfrøst effectsonskillsandknowledgeofasensoryteachingprogramforculinarystudents