Creole Culinary Arts
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WIF’s Founder & CEO, Dr. Monique Y. Wells, has represented the Académie de l’Art Culinaire du Monde Créole (Academy of Culinary Art for the Creole World) in the United States since 2016. The Academy’s mission is to promote, encourage, foster, and transmit Creole culture and cuisine in France and around the world.
From 2016-2018, Dr. Wells served as U.S. Ambassador for the Academy and in 2018, the organization appointed her as its U.S. delegate. Her function is to represent the Academy in the U.S. and develop amicable economic, cultural, and science-based relationships with desirable partners on U.S. soil. Through this close relationship, she has organized numerous educational culinary experiences for study abroad and other traveling groups from the U.S. that have been delivered by the Academy.
Dr. Wells introduced the award-winning Jessica B. Harris – culinary historian, college professor, cookbook author and journalist – to the organization in 2016. The Academy invited her to attend its award ceremony that November and they honored her with their Trophée Excellence Créole (Trophy for Creole Excellence) for a person who has distinguished himself / herself in the field of gastronomy throughout his / her career.
In 2020, Dr. Wells and the Academy coordinated a multi-year program for students at the Marion P. Thomas Charter School High School of Culinary and Performing Arts (MPTCS) in Newark, NJ. The course consists of virtual presentations and cooking classes delivered by chefs at the Academy and is intended to culminate with the students traveling to Paris for a culinary study abroad experience.
In preparation for the video training, during Fall Semester 2020, Dr. Wells delivered a six-week course that taught MPTCS students how to write and maintain a food blog so they could record and share their transatlantic culinary experiences. The participants have decided to name the blog “What’s Cookin’ at the ‘P’.”