Culinary Institute of New Orleans - Corporate Team Building

Culinary Insitute of New Orleans

Based on the Day Chef Program, this is a fun, exciting venue for corporate executives and staff to pull together, bonding and getting to know each other while working collectively in an unfamiliar, yet commonly interesting format. The group activity includes the production of food, from scratch, to the enjoyment of dining on the created end products. Lessons of a team with each individual depending and relying on the group, as a whole, to produce a product is the concept and goal of any corporation. Guests mingle informally and accomplish together in this venue.

The Format
Guests arrive and are placed in teams, complete with team names. A demonstration of all dishes to be prepared with the rich history, culture and heritage of the dishes is presented. Teams then go to designated work stations dressed in appropriate chef attire under the guidance of their individual instructors to recreate the dishes presented. Competition between teams is encouraged and acknowledged with the presentation of awards for dishes prepared after dining on the meal created. Prizes may be prearranged to accompany the awards. Fun, excitement and team building are the order of the day.

Teams
FLAMBEAUS
flam.beau n: a flaming torch; used to light evening Carnival parades. Flambeaus are noted for their brilliant, illuminating, and guiding light. They allow you to view the true beauty of a creation which otherwise would not be seen.

SPICE KINGS
spice n: something giving zest or relish.
king n: one that holds a preeminent position; esp. a chief among competitors. As Spice Kings you are natural leaders in a spicy, sassy, bold way.

GATORS
ga.tor n: slang for alligator. Gators are unmatched in their cunning, silent, yet devastating prey-capturing abilities.

COTTONMOUTHS
cot.ton.mouth n: a venomous semiaquatic pit viper known as a water moccasin. Cottonmouths are well adapted to their environment and are noted for their deadly striking capabilities.

BUCCANEERS
buc.ca.neer n: an unscrupulous adventurer especially in politics or business. During the War of 1812, on January 8, 1815, Jean Laffite and his buccaneers helped General Andrew Jackson win the Battle of New Orleans to free the U.S. from British rule.

WILD MAGNOLIAS
wild adj: passionately eager or enthusiastic; going beyond normal or conventional bounds.
mag.no.lia n: American evergreen tree valued for its large fragrant white, yellow, pink, or purple flowers, frequently handsome leaves, and conelike fruits. Wild Magnolias are known to be beautiful, fragrant, and enticing, yet unpredictable in nature.

MUDBUGS
mud.bug n: slang for crawfish or crayfish; a fresh water decapod crustacean resembling the lobster, but much smaller. A food delicacy in Louisiana noted for having their heads sucked and tails pinched.

MARDI GRAS MASKERS
Mar.di Gras n: a carnival period climaxing on Shrove Tuesday often observed with parades and festivities.
mask.er n.: a person who wears a mask; a participant in a masquerade. A Mardi Gras masker escapes reality by assuming a new persona. He revels without inhibitions or fear of recognition behind his mask.

CAJUNS
Ca.jun n: a Louisianian descended from French-speaking immigrants from Acadia. These swamp settlers are free wheeling, fun spirited, family oriented, and food loving.

SWAMP STOMPERS
swamp n: a wetland often partially or intermittently covered with water.
stomp n: a jazz dance marked by heavy stomping. The marshes and swamps of Louisiana are known for spontaneous combustion fires. Swamp Stompers exhibit quick thinking methods to put out fires.

ACADIANS
Aca.di.an n: a native or inhabitant of Acadia; a descendant of the French-speaking inhabitants of Acadia expelled after the French loss of the colony in 1755. These displaced Acadians settled into the swamps of Louisiana.

HALF SHELLS
half adj: being one of two equal parts.
shell n: a framework or exterior structure; an impersonal attitude or manner that conceals the presence or absence of feeling. The City of New Orleans is famous for oyster bars serving succulent oysters on the half shell. In keeping with that tradition, it remains to be seen which half you are—empty or full.

BAYOU BOOGIES
bay.ou n: marshy or sluggish body of water.
boo.gie n: earthy and strongly rhythmic rock music conducive to dancing. Wayward people dancing and prancing to the rhythms of the natural bayou setting.

CRESCENTS
cres.cent n: the figure of the moon at such a stage defined by a convex and a concave edge; something shaped like a crescent. The City of New Orleans is known as the Crescent City because it is shaped in a crescent by the winding Mississippi River as it passes the French Quarter.

GAMBLERS
gam.bler n: someone who plays a game for money; someone who stakes something on a contingency; someone who takes a chance. Riverboat gamblers plied their trade along the Mississippi River on paddlewheel steamboats, risking their lives as well as their stakes.

VOODOO HOODOOS
voo.doo n: a person who deals in spells and necromancy.
voo.doo vt: to bewitch by or as if by means of voodoo.
hoo.doo n: a body of practices of sympathetic magic.
hoo.doo vt: to cast a spell on. The City of New Orleans has a rich history of hexes, spells, and gris-gris. Beware if you do what you do to those who do hoodoo.

BOURBON STREET BLUES
Bour.bon n: a person who clings obstinately to old social and political ideas.
blues n: jazz or popular music using harmonic and phrase structures of blues. Bourbon Street Blues refers to the most decadent street in New Orleans that quite often creates the blues for those who partake of the festivities.