October 12, 2006

Seven Oregon Coast Culinary Institute baking and pastry program students indulged in the opportunity to learn from the best – observing first-hand and sampling the work of some of the best chocolateers, bakers and dessert makers in the world – during a trip to Europe last month.

The students visited some of the world’s best chocolate makers, bakers and other dessert specialists in Belgium, Italy and France during a two-week tour of Europe in September. The trip began in Belgium, where the students visited the world-famous Callebaut Chocolate Factory. The group toured between 50 and 60 chocolate shops in five Belgian cities. At Boon Chocolate Shop, the students participated in an all-evening seminar with one of the world’s great chocolateers.

“We covered a lot of ground,” OCCI Baking and Pastry Director Kevin Shaw said. “At Callebaut they got to see chocolate production all the way through from the cocoa bean to the finished product.”

“At Callebaut they got to see chocolate production all the way through from the cocoa bean to the finished product.”
— OCCI Baking and Pastry Director Kevin Shaw

In Paris, students purchased pastries from some of the world’s best shops. In between, the students were able to do a lot of site-seeing and other activities of first-time visitors to the continent.

“France was about pastry shops, the world’s best pastry places,” Shaw said. “We bought things and the students learned what they were. That was really cool.”

In Italy, the students toured various sites in Venice and Rome, where they learned a great deal about gelato. One of those shops, an artisan operation, invited the students back for an impromptu visit so they could see them make the gelato.

It was a fitting way for the students to end their academic experience with OCCI. Now the students are either completing or preparing to embark on the final part of their program, job training externships in locations including New Zealand, Bandon Baking Company and the Empire Café on the Southwestern Oregon Community College campus in Coos Bay. Shaw said the trip provided a vital learning experience and he hopes to repeat the trip for the current cohort which began Fall Term.

“Every place we went opened up the opportunity for us to go back next year,” Shaw said.