Cafeteria serves up something different

By: Sarah Longhibler

Posted: 10/22/07

UMKC Dining Services brought something new and exotic to the table last Monday.

Peruvian Chef Juan Carlos Barzola was on campus to cook lunch with the dining staff as part of Sodexho's Global Chef program.

The Global Chef program transfers Sodexho's executive chefs from its affiliates around the world in 80 countries to share international cuisine and different techniques across cultures.

"Peru is a really diverse place so it has many different types of food there," Barzola said.

Authentic Peruvian cooking has strong European and Oriental influences, according to Barzola.

"We call it 'mestizaje,' which is a Spanish word for the mixture of different races," he said.

The main ingredients used in Peruvian cooking are seafood, zucchini, peppers, onions, tomatoes, rice and meats.

Barzola's lunch menu on Monday included vegetarian ceviche (citrus-marinated seafood salad), shrimp cocktail, sautéed beef tenderloin, saltado creole taypa (vegetables and pasta), rice pudding and passion fruit mousse.

From 10 to 10:40 a.m. students, faculty and staff were invited to meet Barzola and sample his appetizers, which included the shrimp cocktail and vegetarian ceviche.

"My favorite part of the program is traveling to different universities and teaching the university chefs and dining staffs about Peruvian cuisine and being able to share new recipes with them," Barzola said.

Along with being a cook, Barzola is a manager, which is why he enjoys the chance to meet with students and get feedback on the recipes.

According to Sodexho, Barzola joined the company in 2006 and is the Executive Chef of the Business & Industry and Education segments.

He graduated from high school in Peru, then moved to the United States to study management at the New York Institute of Business Technology where he realized how big the food industry was.

"I enrolled in a few credits at the French Culinary Institute just for fun," he said. "That's where I discovered how much I love working with food."

After interning in New York, Barzola returned to Peru and enrolled at Le Cordon Bleu Peru to further his training in Culinary Arts and Hotel Management.

Since then, Barzola has worked in many prestigious hotels and restaurants as well as Royal Caribbean Cruises. He was also the Executive Chef for one of the largest catering companies in Peru.

One of the things he loves about being a chef is working with other chefs.

"Sodexho sends me on so many exchanges where I can share techniques and recipes with my colleagues and learn from them as well," he said.

When an earthquake struck Peru in August, Sodexho sent Barzola along with other executive chefs to help the Peruvian government by preparing and distributing 12,000 meals a day to people who had lost everything in the earthquake.

"It wasn't in the budget but Sodexho is a very unified company and its countries support each other," Barzola said.

slonghibler@unews.com