Israel is set to get its first professional training program dedicated to meat, with a new course offering instruction in everything from cattle raising and butchery to aging, processing and cooking.
Photoand the Hai Bari Quality Seal are launching the Meat Academy, a 50-hour program designed to give participants a comprehensive understanding of meat and its journey from farm to plate.
Organizers say the program aims to set a new standard for professional training in Israel’s meat sector by combining practical culinary skills with an understanding of how cattle are raised, how meat is produced and which factors affect its quality.
Participants will receive hands-on training in butchery, meat aging, processing and cooking while also meeting cattle farmers, butchers, chefs, researchers and other industry professionals.
The program will include tours and meetings intended to expose participants to parts of the production chain that many culinary professionals encounter only rarely during their training. Topics will include the origins of meat, cattle-raising practices, production processes and factors that influence the quality of the final product.
All meat used during the course will be Israeli beef sourced from pasture-based farms in the Golan Heights approved under the Hai Bari Quality Seal. Organizers said the approach is intended to combine classroom instruction with direct exposure to the meat industry and its supply chain.
The Meat Academy
(Photo: ORT Dan Gourmet Culinary Training Center)
The academy will be led by chef Avi Steinitz, culinary director at ORT Dan Gourmet and a prominent figure in Israel’s meat and culinary sector, and chef Yosef Elsberg, who specializes in meat and meat product development and leads the meat sector for the Hai Bari Quality Seal.
“Our goal is not simply to teach people how to work with meat, but to understand it,” Steinitz and Elsberg said in a joint statement.
They said professionals who understand the factors affecting meat quality from the earliest stages of raising cattle, as well as the decisions made throughout the production process, are better equipped to make informed decisions in the kitchen.
“A professional who understands what affects meat quality from the earliest stages of raising the animal, how decisions are made throughout the process and what lies behind the raw material they are working with gains a broader perspective and is able to make professional decisions based on a deeper understanding,” they said.
Chef Avi Steinitz
(Photo: Courtesy of ORT Dan Gourmet Culinary Training Center)
The Meat Academy is scheduled to open Nov. 8 at ORT Dan Gourmet in Tel Aviv. The 50-academic-hour evening course will comprise 10 weekly sessions held Sundays from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. It will also include a full-day professional field tour of cattle-raising areas in the Golan Heights.
Tuition is 9,800 shekels per participant. Further information and registration are available at 1-700-502-999.
ORT Dan Gourmet is jointly operated by the Dan Hotels chain and ORT Israel and provides professional training in cooking, pastry, baking and hospitality. It offers theoretical and practical courses for industry professionals as well as culinary enthusiasts.
The Hai Bari Quality Seal has operated for about a decade to promote transparency, food quality and animal welfare in Israel’s food production chain. It develops farming standards covering cattle, sheep and goats, poultry, eggs and fish, as well as operational standards for production facilities and points of sale.
The organization also operates a monitoring and inspection system covering the production chain from farms to points of sale. It says the system is intended to give consumers and industry professionals information about where food comes from, how it was produced and the standards under which it was produced.