For a week in early August, J.W. Foster, production supervisor in catering at Murray State University, received some schooling of his own. Every day, from 6:30 am. until after 2 pm., Foster received intense training in culinary greatness — in fact, he received 30 weeks of training crammed into six days. Foster, who has had an interest in cooking since he was young, applied and was accepted to the Culinary Enhancement Workshop at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone in St. Helena, Calif. He was one of 16 students chosen to attend the workshop, which was geared toward chefs working at higher education institutions.

Workshop attendees were taught how to streamline the food preparation process and how to effectively manage available resources, such as the kitchen, food, staff, money and time. They also learned characteristics of food, including ethnic foods, food trends, menu planning, food presentation, quality assurance and sensory evaluation, all while applying principles of the National Association of College and University Food Services Professional Practices in College and University Food Services to analyze, revise and implement changes in operations to achieve a higher level of excellence, according to the workshop's website.

Although the workshop sounds daunting, Foster said he was thrilled to have the learning experience he had while there. "The first day was a little intimidating, but after that I was fine," he said.

Foster said he has had an interest in cooking since high school. "It's been a passion of mine," he said. "My dad did all the cooking in my family, so I watched him every now and then."

He began his career in cooking with the military where he had 14 years of experience in food service. He has been working at Murray State for six years, first as a cook and then as the production supervisor in catering. "J.W. is very dependable and has been cooking for many years," said Terri Benton, associate director of food services. "He has a vast knowledge of food and food preparation. He is an excellent leader."

Foster is the only employee from Murray State's food service department to ever be accepted to the workshop. "Everything he learned at the workshop will enhance the quality and presentation of the catering department," Benton said. She said he will use what he learned there to instruct other cooks in the food service department at Murray State.

While at the workshop, Foster spent two and a half hours in the classroom in the morning learning about food preparation and techniques. That was followed by approximately three hours of hands-on cooking. "The instructor would tell us about our food and what we did right and wrong," Foster explained. "Then we would eat it, and he would critique it some more."

Foster said the ingredients and equipment available at the institution left him in awe. "It was really a lifetime experience," he said. "It was really nice, really, really professional. They had this huge, nice facility with about 40 chefs during the day doing a 30-week course. We crammed 30 weeks of classes into a single week."

According to Foster, what he learned at the Culinary Enhancement Workshop will be easily applied to his everyday work in Murray State's catering department, which feeds anywhere from six to 400 people per week both on- and off-campus. Slight changes may already be taking effect as Foster trains his coworkers on the use of some of the techniques he learned while at the workshop.

Foster lives in Paris, Tenn., with his wife, Erica, and their 10-year-old son, Jerek.