France is taking steps to expand the Champagne region to include up to 40 additional villages.  Any wine labelled and sold as Champagne must be produced in the Champagne region.  This expansion would be the first since 1927.

France Champagne region set to expand - Avenue Vine

France to expand Champagne region - BBC

Champagne region set to expand - Wine Spectator

Grant Achatz, chef of Chicago’s Alinea restaurant, is currently profiled in The New Yorker.

Achatz, 34, underwent chemotherapy and radiation treatment for tongue cancer.  His sense of taste, destroyed by the treatment, is slowly coming back. He relies on his sense of smell and the taste buds of his sous chefs to continue his work in the kitchen.

Food & Wine magazine has named Chicago the #8 best restaurant city of the world for 2008. 

1. Tokyo
2. Paris
3. New York
4. London
5. Barcelona
6. Sydney
7. Madrid
8. Chicago
9. Stockholm
10. Vancouver

The Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade (ICEX) presented last January 21, the 2008 Culinary Scholarships in Spain Program . The aim of this program is to train foreign culinary professionals from the culinary industry (restaurant and pastry) in Spanish high cuisine , while providing them with basic knowledge of the culture, language and history of Spain.

In 2008, the Spanish institution will offer 20 culinary scholarships to young professionals from the United States, China, Denmark, Germany, Japan and Switzerland.

The training program, which will last from a minimum 8 months to a maximum of 14 months, includes courses in Spanish Language, and Spain’s gastronomic history and culture. Afterwards, the trainees will train at Spanish restaurants and pastry shops that have at least one Michelin Star, learning and practicing their culinary techniques. The training period will end with a juried competition among those participants in the eleven month training course.

(NOTE: It is too late to apply for 2008 so use this information to get a head start on 2009)

For more information, click here.

If you go, grab some bowl scrapers for me. They are my absolute favorite trade show giveaway!

The annual National Restaurant Association trade show will be held May 17-20, 2008 at McCormick Place. Check out the schedule at a glance here - there are seminars, book signings, demos, competitions and more.

Local chef John Bowers blogs his home cooking adventures at Plants and Animals.  His blog was featured in The Stew on April 19.