Meet Our 2013 Scholarship, Grant and Internship Awardees

A truly international initiative, among this year’s scholarship and grant winners are a food blogger from Bombay, India, an Australian cupcake entrepreneur, a baker from Detroit, a pig farmer from Belfast, Ireland, an American Christian missionary working in East Asia, and a Yale University English Major from Manhattan. The Culinary Trust has awarded nearly $1,500,000 in scholarships and study grants to more than 500 individuals and has recently expanded the program, which was started by Julia Child in 1984, with the addition of nine internships for food professionals.
A total of 10 of scholarships were awarded; for this article we’re featuring four of our recipients:

Le Cordon Bleu Paris Intermediate Cuisine Certificate
Shaheen Peerbhai, who is known in 58 countries as the Purple Foodie, is from Bombay, India. She came to culinary arts somewhat by accident as a food blogger in 2007 and hasn’t looked back since. According to Shaheen, PurpleFoodie.com is India’s most popular food blog with 1.5 million readers, and she has been picked up by international press including magazines such as Vogue. Shaheen was the recipient of the Le Cordon Bleu London Basic Patisserie in 2011 and conducts baking classes at home. You can follow her 12-week program at LCB Paris, which started at the end of June, on Twitter @PurpleFoodie or via her blog. You can learn more about the LCB Paris program here.

Le Cordon Bleu London Patisserie Program
Rojina McDonald is from South Australian. At only 23, she’s spent several years in the wine business at Chalk Hill before starting Cupcakes by Rojina McDonald. Last year, she earned a business management certification and is excited to receive the scholarship. In her application she wrote, “to complete a basic patisserie course would be the start of truly something magnificent.” It would be “my passport to the culinary world.” You can learn more about the LCB London program here.

International Culinary Center – Pastry Arts
Christina Niarhos is from Detroit and has been ready to take the leap from a medical career to follow her “true calling and passion” in pastry arts for a while. She started Wicked Good Desserts out of her kitchen to raise funds for culinary school and has been booked solid throughout her first year. So far, she has taught herself how to cook from You Tube and taken a few classes. Professional school will give her the boost she’s looking for, although Christina is already well-known in her community for her pumpkin cheesecake recipe and her version of  “Detroit Bumpy Cake,” a chocolate and buttercream tradition.  You can learn more about the International Culinary Center’s courses here.

Cook Street School of Culinary Arts (Denver)
Casey Bell from Missouri is changing careers from a Church Planting Missionary in East Asia to become a social entrepreneur in the culinary arts. While living in Taiwan, Casey discovered his calling somewhat by accident when he found himself cooking healthy and affordable meals for expats who didn’t have time to shop and cook. His plans after his courses at Cook Street include starting a social enterprise that sells ready-to-eat meals. You can learn more about Cook Street here.

Every year, two Julia Child grants are awarded: one is the Julia Child, The Boston Foundation Grant and the other is Julia Child, The Culinary Trust Grant.

This year’s recipient for the Julia Child, The Boston Foundation Independent Study Grant is Julia Bailey. Julia is a pig farmer and partner in Pheasant Hill Farm in N. Ireland. She also caters events and weddings and sells the farms products at the Farmers Market in Belfast. As the winner of the Julia Child grant, Julia Bailey will spend six months in France learning about French charcuterie techniques in order to make delicious value added products from the heritage pigs on the farm.  She will research four key product development areas: raw sausage production (Lyon), and air dried production of sausage (Arles), ham (Bayonne), cured pork loin and pork shoulder (Corsica).

TCT’s Internship program grew from five internships in 2012 to nine internships in 2013. One of these professional development internships was awarded for:

Spoons Across America Internship
Hallie Meyer is from Manhattan and studying English at Yale University. No stranger to the food business, Hallie has worked on farms in Connecticut and Italy, helped start a rooftop garden for a hotel/restaurant, taught nutrition in low-income neighborhoods, and has a thriving sustainable baking and catering company with a business partner at Yale. Her goal is to help lower income families cook and feed themselves with affordable, sustainable and delicious food. Learn more about Spoons Across America here.

The Culinary Trust, IACP’s philanthropic partner for close to 30 years, solicits, manages and distributes funds for educational and charitable programs that provide culinary professionals with the tools and opportunities to learn and act on critical issues in the world of food. The trust depends on donations from members, fundraising events, sponsorships and culinary schools.

To DONATE to The Culinary Trust, click here. If you would like to learn about partnership opportunities with TCT, please contact Laura Atkinson at laura@theculinarytrust.org or 347-284-6415.

– WRITTEN BY ALEXA VAN DE WALLE, TCT BOARD SECRETARY