Panel to Discuss Hospitality Careers for Women

A panel discussion on "Career Opportunities for Women in the Hospitality Industry" will be held later this month at Pennsylvania College of Technology:

Sponsored by Penn College's School of Hospitality and the Pennsylvania College of Technology Foundation

Featured panelists: Chef Traci Des Jardins, Spring, 1997, Distinguished Visiting Chef Chef Susanna Foo, Chef/Owner and Cookbook author

Also represented: The International Association of Women Chefs and Restaurateurs

Date: Thursday, Feb. 20
Time: 1:30-3:30 p.m.
Where: Thompson Professional Development Center on the main campus of Penn College in Williamsport
RSVP: Phone (717) 326-3761, ext. 7697 or ext. 7800, no later than Friday, Feb. 14

Traci Des Jardins
Executive Chef

Using family connections in France, Chef Des Jardins moved to Roanne and worked for the Troisgros family. In all, she apprenticed at four prestigious locations in France. After she returned to the United States, she worked for 10 years in French restaurants.

Her restaurant experience includes: sous chef at Montrachet in New York; chef de cuisine at Patina in Los Angeles; and Agua and Elka in San Francisco; before working with Drew Nieporent, opening Rubicon.

In 1995, she was named James Beard Rising Star Chef of the Year, and one of "Food and Wine Magazine's" Best New Chefs for 1995.

In addition to serving on the International Association of Women Chefs and Restaurateurs Board of Directors and its Executive Committee, Traci is spearheading a new IAWCR committee of chefs and restaurateurs to advise the organization.

Traci will be opening a new restaurant in partnership in San Francisco. The restaurant will be a reflection of her heritage, which is a combination of Cajun and Mexican.

Chef Susanna Foo
Chef/Owner and Cookbook author

Susanna Foo got into the restaurant industry by accident. When her husband's family restaurant was in a financial flux this former librarian, with no professional cooking experience or training, jumped into the labor costs. Now, 18 years later, she and her husband successfully operate their own restaurant in Center City Philadelphia.

Foo was born in Northern China, where rice was nonexistent and lamb and wheat noodles were the norm. Her family moved to Taiwan, where she was raised amid an array of classic Chinese cuisines. When she moved to the United States, her taste buds were further opened to Western flavors, which she gracefully incorporated into her cooking of out-of-the-ordinary fare that is deeply rooted in various classic Chinese cuisines.

Foo was listed as one of "Food & Wine Magazine's"10 Best New Chefs in 1989.

Her first cookbook is "Susanna Foo Chinese Cuisine," published by Chapters Publishing Ltd., Shelburne, Vt. It contains 175 recipes, grouped as dim sum; fish and seafood; veal, pork, lamb and beef; noodles; rice; breads, pancakes and crepes; and desserts.

Explains Foo: "Good Chinese food is no more difficult to cook than good Italian food. The basic principles are the same: freshness, simplicity and the preservation of the uniqueness of each ingredient."

For more information, contact Chef Monica Lanczak or Chef Mary Trometter.