French chefs visit Revelton

On Friday, members of Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) and six visiting French chefs made the drive down to Revelton Distilling Company in Osceola for a tour and gathering to celebrate the 40th anniversary of DMACC’s French Chef Exchange Program.

In 1985, Des Moines started a sister city in Saint-Étienne, France. Saint-Étienne is located in the southern and eastern half of France, about six hours south of Paris and an hour west of Lyon. In 2022, Saint-Étienne had a population of just under 173,000 people.

In 1986, two chefs from Saint-Étienne came to DMACC to visit the Culinary Program as part of their exchange program. At the time, the only person at DMACC who spoke French was English and French adjunct professor Maura Nelson. It was only her second week on the job when she was asked to help interpret for the cooking class.

“I was the only person who spoke French,” said Nelson.

After that demonstration, Nelson offered to work out a way to have guest chefs from France come every year to work with students. Since that time, every January two chefs from the Saint-Étienne area - which Nelson said is similar to Des Moines and surrounding towns - come to DMACC for two weeks to work with the culinary students. The chefs come as part of the L’Association des Cuisiniers de la Loire and Iowa Culinary Institute (ICI), and do demonstrations for the full two weeks, teaching the students how to cook French gourmet meals. The chefs and students then prepare a dinner for donors of the French Chef exchange program to enjoy.

In May, the top eight graduates from the DMACC Culinary Program get to go to France where they spend two weeks visiting Michelin Star restaurants and interning with the chefs from L’Association des Cuisiniers de la Loire. Nelson accompanies the students on the trip, and oftentimes donors of the program will go along as well.

“Since 1995, I’ve taken over 800 people to France,” said Nelson.

Every five years, all of the previous visiting chefs and their spouses are invited back to DMACC to visit.

Since its inception, the program has been a great success for the students at DMACC to learn new skills, and bring the taste of France to Iowa. She said many DMACC chefs have gone on to become executive chefs, sous chefs and general managers. Oak Park, a newer restaurant in Des Moines, has seven of its eight chefs who are DMACC grads.

“The program has really changed how we dine in Central Iowa,” said Nelson.

John Andres, Director of Culinary Arts for ICI at DMACC, agrees that the program is life changing for many of their students.

“For our students, it’s an incredible opportunity to get international exposure and experience,” said Andres. Many of the students are from the Des Moines area or Central Iowa, and likely would not have had the opportunities L’Association des Cuisiniers de la Loire provides otherwise.

Revelton founders Rob and Christi Taylor have been members of ICI for 15 years, and Rob lauded the French chef exchange program.

“The program is invaluable to students,” said Rob. “A French-trained college in Iowa.”

The Taylors have had the opportunity before to visit some of the French chefs’ restaurants and bars in France.

This is the second time that DMACC has brought their visiting chefs down to Revelton. Of the return visit, Rob explained that the chefs are really interested in the distillery, as they are far less common than the well-known wineries and breweries of France. Revelton’s Honey Whiskey has even been used in a Korean BBQ short rib recipe for a dinner made by the chefs.

DMACC’s culinary program is the only community college in the United States that partners with a French Chef Association. In the spring 2024 issue of the ICI Experience magazine, Andres wrote that 40 years ago, the Culinary Arts Program only had three students. Today, there are more than 220 students in the DMACC culinary program.