Warren W. Leigh is president of the Pioneer Valley Culinary Associates and a teaching chef at Holyoke Community College's Culinary Arts program.
Warren W. Leigh, current president of the Pioneer Valley Culinary Associates, with students at Holyoke Community College. Given the demands of their working lives, restaurant chefs often find it hard to get out of the kitchen and spend time with their professional peers.
Chef Warren W. Leigh, the current president of the Pioneer Valley Culinary Associates (PVCA), has made it his mission to change that.
The organization he's currently leading is the local branch of the American Culinary Federation. With over 200 local chapters, the ACF is the largest professional association of chefs in North America.
Given the growing stature of "chef-ing" as a career, Leigh sees the PVCA as having a role to play in the region's restaurant industry.
"Chefs I approach about joining the PVCA," Leigh says, "often ask 'What's in it for me?'"
"I tell them it's a professional development thing, an opportunity to network, to mentor younger cooks and chefs, and a chance to pay it forward."
Leigh, who's a teaching chef in Holyoke Community College's Culinary Arts program, lives in the Forest Park neighborhood of Springfield. A native of Lake Placid, NY, he first came to the Springfield area in 1985 to join the kitchen staff at the Yankee Pedlar in Holyoke and subsequently worked at or owned several area restaurants, including Madeline's in Windsor, CT and the Standish House in Wethersfield, CT.
Leigh joined the faculty at Holyoke Community College in January 2009.
One of Leigh's objectives for the local ACF chapter is to develop community service projects. Speaking of such outreach activities, Leigh says that they're a great way of enhancing the stature of restaurant chefs.
To that end he and others in the organization are forging connections with various groups in the city of Holyoke. A current effort involves getting chefs to do demonstrations at the Holyoke Farmers Market, one of the longest running such events in Massachusetts.
The PVCA is also sponsoring a Culinary Knowledge Bowl team that's scheduled to compete at the ACF Eastern Regional Conference in Niagara Falls, N.Y., on April 29.
Representing the PVCA and the Culinary Program at HCC, the Knowledge Bowl team will compete against eight other teams in what Leigh describes as a culinary version of "Jeopardy." Winner of this weekend's competition will move on to a national tourney in July.
Holyoke Community College students participating in the Knowledge bowl include Rachel M. Nawrocki of Granby, Maureen E. Hindle of South Hadley, Nicholas E. Bernard of Palmer, Lucas T. Allian of Chicopee, and Cheri Ludwiczak of Springfield.
The team is coached by Jason M. Vincent of HCC's Culinary staff
The next meeting of the PVCA will be held at Holyoke Community College, Room FR 265, on May 7 at 6 p.m.
Leigh encourages interested area restaurant and hotel chefs to attend. The session's agenda will include a recap of the ACF regional conference as well as a discussion of the ACF's professional certification program for chefs. Light refreshments will be served.
For more information on the Pioneer Valley Culinary Associates and their activities, go to their website at pioneervalleyculinaryassociates.com or contact Leigh at (413) 455-3082.