Hospitality Students Plan, Prepare, Serve Ethnic-Inspired Lunches at Maple Bistro

Taylor LaCour

Students in Lobat Siahmakoun's Food Preparation and Menu Layout class plan, prepare and serve ethnic-themed lunches each Wednesday at Maple Bistro, an on-campus learning lab in Bumpers College's hospitality innovation program.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – You no longer have to travel the world to experience the unique flavors different countries have to offer. In fact, you don't even have to leave campus. Students in the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Science's hospitality innovation program are serving cuisine inspired by foreign cultures.

Lunch, which costs $9, is served every Wednesday now through Nov. 16, with the exception of Oct. 19. The meals mirror Irish, Vietnamese, Cuban, Latin and Mediterranean cuisine. The final lunch on Nov. 16 will be a Thanksgiving meal.

Lunches are served in the Maudine Saunders Commons (rooms 108 and 109) in the Human Environmental Sciences Building at noon. Reservations can be made by emailing maplebis@uark.edu.

Students in the Food Preparation and Menu Layout class are responsible for the Maple Bistro experience. They spend two days a week in the classroom learning about meal preparation and planning the menu for the week, and then prepare the meal for customers Wednesday during the lab section.

"The students learn about time management," said Lobat Siahmakoun, instructor of the class and lab. "They learn to put menus together, to use purchase orders, to stick to a budget, to work as a team…but more than anything else, they learn to be responsible and work under pressure."

These skills, said Siahmakoun, are hard to develop in the classroom alone.

Many students express how helpful this class is in development for their future career.

"I want to work in a full-service hotel," said Jessica Brightman, a senior in hospitality innovation. "In a full-service hotel, there is a restaurant, so knowing all the ins and outs of the restaurant, what is necessary from everyone and all the operational obligations will really help me be a better manager."

"I don't want to be a chef," said Maddie Seaton, a senior from St. Louis. "But this class has definitely given me more respect for chefs. If I work in front of the house or I'm managing a kitchen one day, it's easier to respect the chef because I understand all that goes into this."

"The lab is challenging," said Brightman. "But if you're up for the challenge, it's a lot of fun!"

The remainder of the schedule for the fall includes Vietnamese on Oct. 12, no service Oct. 19, Cuban Oct. 26, Latin Nov. 2, Mediterranean Nov. 9 and Thanksgiving Nov. 16. The semester opened with Chinese and Irish meals on Sept. 28 and Oct. 5, respectively.

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.