International Lunches for $8 Prepared by Hospitality Students at Maple Bistro

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Bumpers College hospitality innovation students are preparing $8 lunches each Monday and Wednesday through April 20 at the Maple Bistro in the Human Environmental Sciences Building.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Are you interested in lunch samplings from Africa or France without leaving campus? How about food from the Caribbean, Italy, Portugal, Asia, Persia or the Mediterranean?

From now through April 20, you can experience and enjoy different cuisines with an $8 lunch at the student run Maple Bistro in the Human Environmental Sciences Building. Open each Monday and Wednesday until April 20, first seating in The Maudine Sanders Commons (rooms 108 and 109) begins at noon. Reservations can be made by emailing maplebis@uark.edu.

Students in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Science's hospitality innovation program are fully executing all facets of the operation with different cuisine featured each day.

"I have learned how to improve my communication skills and challenge myself," said Melannie Grubb, one of the students. "Working in the kitchen has given me the opportunity to be hands-on and obtain knowledge on how to execute certain situations in the food industry. I love being able to take a recipe and see the final product and please our customers. I believe in the lab you're able to grow each day from learning new cooking techniques to managing the kitchen. Learning these skills has helped me feel better prepared for my future in the hospitality industry."

Instructor Lobat Siahmakoun's "Food Prep and Menu Layout" class has more than 30 students who are handling table setup, food prep, serving, cleanup, and cooking and preparing appetizers, main courses and desserts.

"We start together and we finish together," said Siahmakoun. "In this course, students learn responsibility, time management, managing people and customer service. They will convert these experiences to their real life and professional world. I train my students to use their common sense, which is an important aspect to being successful in life. In addition, I like to introduce them to different flavors, spices and textures that they may not have experienced before."

Students, and diners, are exposed to those flavors with different cuisine groups each day Maple Bistro opens. Hawaiian and Romanian were on the menu the first two days. The remaining schedule is Italian on March 14, African on March 16, Caribbean March 28, Portuguese March 30, Persian April 4, Thai/Southeast Asian April 6, French April 11, Mediterranean April 13, and chef choices on April 18 and April 20.

"This class is an amazing way for our students to be creative while exercising critical thinking skills they have learned in class," said associate professor Kelly Way. "While the customer may only see the meal served and enjoy the final product, they don't see the teamwork, planning and organizing that goes on behind the scenes. Students learn the three most important things in the hospitality industry: hot food hot, cold food cold and phenomenal customer service."

Students chose the recipes to be prepared and Siahmakoun prepares a special salad dressing each day depending on the flavor of the main course.

All salad greens are grown locally and provided with coordination through professor Michael Evans in the Bumpers College's Horticulture Department. Meals are prepared in the commercial kitchen, which was renovated in 2011 with support from the Maudine Sanders estate.

About the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences: Bumpers College provides life-changing opportunities to position and prepare graduates who will be leaders in the businesses associated with foods, family, the environment, agriculture, sustainability and human quality of life; and who will be first-choice candidates of employers looking for leaders, innovators, policy makers and entrepreneurs. The college is named for Dale Bumpers, former Arkansas governor and longtime U.S. senator who made the state prominent in national and international agriculture.

About the University of Arkansas: The University of Arkansas provides an internationally competitive education for undergraduate and graduate students in more than 200 academic programs. The university contributes new knowledge, economic development, basic and applied research, and creative activity while also providing service to academic and professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the University of Arkansas among only 2 percent of universities in America that have the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the University of Arkansas among its top American public research universities. Founded in 1871, the University of Arkansas comprises 10 colleges and schools and maintains a low student-to-faculty ratio that promotes personal attention and close mentoring.