US Foods’ Executive Chef, Duane Legg, leads a team of students each of whom is enrolled in their respective high school’s Pro Start culinary program to demonstrate the extraordinary variety and wonderful taste of West Virginia’s farm products as a preview of Friday evening’s Tastes from the Mountains.   From 11:00 to 1:30 on the stage in the Town Center Mall, Chef Legg and these students create tastings for the public that will amaze visitors and their taste buds.

West Virginia’s educational system has recognized both the need in the tourism industry for this type of high school training and its workforce potential for the state.  West Virginia boasts of 50 high school culinary (called Pro Start) programs enrolling over 1,000 students each year.   Greg Atkinson, who works in the industry as Vice President of Better Foods, Inc., describes the value of the program in this way: “One of the important things to note about our ProStart Program is the exposure to real world learning.”   

Studies confirm that destination tourism is increasing in our state and we need to nurture and keep our culinary talent.  That is why Collaborative for the 21st Century Appalachia has as a primary objective raising scholarship dollars for West Virginia students to attend post secondary culinary schools.