The chefs behind the chefs: Alaska offers culinary training.

• Author: Lavrakas, Dimitra
• Position: Alaska Business Power Lunch

This month, Power Lunch brings you the chefs behind the chefs who make your lunch. Alaska is blessed with several culinary schools that train quality chefs to work in kitchens across Alaska.

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Tim Doebler is excited about the University of Alaska Anchorage's (UAA) Culinary Arts program, after 21 years on the job and close to the age of retirement, he's reluctant to even think about leaving. As director of UAA's Department of Culinary Arts and Hospitality, his program is expanding and reaching out to would-be chefs of all ages.

"Alaska's hospitality industry is growing, tourism is skyrocketing--it's a real exciting time to be here," he said in his temporary office in the Russian Institute at UAA.

It's temporary because the program's home, the Lucy Cuddy Hall, is getting a makeover this summer with an herb garden out front. The entire building will have Wi-fi, an atrium named after Betty Cuddy with a new coffee stand and art throughout donated by the Cuddy family. It is on time and on budget and will re-open in August.

The program is multifaceted. The Culinary Boot Camp for ages 12 to 17, reveals the wonderful world of real food to kids whom Doebler has christened, "The Reheater Generation."

"When I asked them where burritos came from, they answered, 'Hey, dude, they come frozen from Costco in a box,'" Doebler said. "Kids are becoming more obese than ever before and they live on processed food. We need to teach kids how to cook."

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The camp has become something of a recruiting tool, he said, moving them on to one of UAA's programs.

ALL THIS AND ITALY TOO

A four-year degree in Hospitality and Restaurant Management provides thorough culinary training and a solid curriculum for business management. Through partnerships with Northern Arizona University and the University North Las Vegas, two of the top 10 hotel-restaurant programs in the country, a student may take two semesters at either school. Majors in the Culinary Arts, also a four-year program, may study for one semester at Apicius, the Culinary Institute of Florence in Italy and credits are transferable to UAA. The Dietetic Internship prepares pre-professionals to pass the National Registered Dietitian exam and meets all of the American Dietetic Association's requirements. A minor in nutrition complements the other programs. A partnership between UAA and the State Office of Children's Services' Family Nutrition Services offers a course for...