Interview with Demetra Stamus
Interview with Demetra Stamus
Inspiring interview with Demetra Stamus, GCI curriculum designer, emphasizes sustainable culinary education and the importance of understanding food systems. She aims to cultivate global culinary leaders who bridge cultures through food.
"Cooking is a way of bringing people together, my way of showing love, not only with food but expressing it with a generosity of spirit."
Demetra Stamus is a curriculum designer on the education team responsible for the development of the GCI Flagship Immersion Program for the Galilee Culinary Institute by JNF, Rosenfield School of Culinary Arts. She is part of a team of visionary culinary educators dedicated to reinventing culinary education and building bridges with food.
What attracted you to the culinary industry?
There are a couple of reasons. The foundation of what attracted me, and drives me today, is that cooking is a way of bringing people together, my way of showing love, not only with food but expressing it with a generosity of spirit. This is hospitality. Raised in a Greek Orthodox home, this was and is a natural way of being for me. It was during my freshman year in college, that my view of food expanded after learning that my food choices had an environmental impact. While, also at the same time, I was focused on fitness so I began evaluating these food choices and their connection to nutrition and realized that food is medicine. It was an epiphany, that eating was both for my health and the health of the planet.
What would you change in the culinary education system?
The perspective that culinary arts is far more than just hands-on cooking, techniques, and skills. It’s always been more than just the kitchen. It’s about where the food is grown, how it’s grown, who grows it, and who works the fields. We need to look at sourcing, food systems, and food waste as a guide to improving culinary education.
How do you relate to the larger GCI vision and its connection to the way culinary arts are going to be taught?
It’s an unbelievable opportunity that GCI finds its home in the Northern Galilee. Beyond the richness of resources (wine, wheat, and olives), it is a vital area where we can build bridges with food across the borders of culture, geography, religion, and politics. As an international culinary school, students will share their foodways while learning culinary techniques and discovering new flavors from across the world.
What has been your goal in putting together the curriculum?
At GCI, we are reinventing culinary education with the goal of producing industry leaders and changemakers with a global perspective, not just in the kitchen but in business, media, service, and leadership. The curriculum cultivates learning and curiosity through hands-on and theory classes with leadership skills, palate development, and sustainability at its core.
What's a fun culinary fact about you?
That I also cook for dogs. My dog ate better than most of my neighbors. Joking aside. I made my dog’s food. As important as delicious and nutritious food is for us, so it is for our dogs. It’s wonderful to see the growth of the fresh dog food category as our canine family members deserve only the best.