PARIS, FRANCE – USA Rice recently joined with seven other agricultural groups to support the launch of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service culinary partnership with Lycée Albert de Mun.
The vocational high school hosted an event last month where certified health coach and U.S. chef
Nancy Waldeck taught a food and wine pairing masterclass for graduating students of Lycée Albert de Mun, showcasing U.S. rice as well as other U.S. food products.
“Chef Wadeck has a fun, energetic personality. Her informative sessions use food and wine to help students learn more about the world,” said Eszter Somogyi, USA Rice director Europe, Middle East and Africa. “A self-described ‘healthy partyologist,’ Waldeck walked her class through the preparation of a dish featuring U.S. rice paired with Alaskan seafood that was easy to replicate and tasted delicious.”
The school provides educational and vocational opportunities for youth in the inner city and is part of the Conseil National de l'Enseignement Agricole Privé, a much larger network of 183 institutions scattered across France that educate more than 50,000 chef students.
“What an honor to teach future chefs how to take advantage of our incredible products from the U.S,” said Waldeck. “When I showed a photo displaying the culinary results of our hard work in class to a winemaker friend, he said to me, ‘Oh, French food is always so colorful and beautiful.’ I quickly corrected him and pointed out that it was American products bringing the color and deliciousness, and the students used my American recipes – score for the home team!”
The U.S. exports about $1.5 million of rice to France each year, and the European Union as a whole, imports more than $40 million U.S. rice annually.