Students
Students
JWU Students Published in Flavor & the Menu
Foodies know Flavor & The Menu, a magazine published by media company Get Flavor to deliver trends and strategies for food and beverage menu developers. Recognizing that Johnson & Wales University students will be among the next generation of food professionals and thought leaders, the magazine partnered with JWU on “Generation Next,” a collaborative series of installments featuring profiles of JWU students.
Flavor & The Menu has an esteemed leader at its helm: Cathy Nash Holley, who serves as publisher and editor-in-chief of the magazine as well as president of The Flavor Experience. Holley also serves on the advisory council to JWU’s College of Food Innovation & Technology (CFIT), a connection which facilitated the collaboration.
“The objective of this ‘future of foodservice’ department was to give our readers a glimpse into the next generation preparing to enter the workforce,” Holley explained of the project. “This project not only reflects the talent of JWU’s budding food writers but also underscores the value of authentic storytelling.”
“This was a fabulous opportunity for JWU students presented to us by the team at Flavor & the Menu,” stated CFIT Dean Jason Evans. “Food Writing has always been one of our students’ favorite courses at JWU, and this initiative gave several an opportunity to see their work as published pieces for a broad food-centric audience and to experience the professional editing and publishing process.”
To get a little meta, here are some brief profiles on the student profilers — and where they hope to go next.
Chloe Landry ’25
Tourism & Hospitality Management major Chloe Landry’s Generation Next profile, “Chasing Michelin Stars,” captured how Food & Beverage Industry Management and Culinary Arts major George Gonzalez ’25 is driven to creating exceptional experiences for diners. Gonzalez, who even before graduating JWU was hired as executive chef at Estiatorio Fili in Providence, set a record in his capstone project, joining with fellow students to serve a whopping 17-course meal for 25 guests.
Similarly driven to succeed, Landry and was thrilled to learn that she’d been recommended to Dean Evans by former associate professor Megan Stoessell, who had been her faculty advisor for JWU’s Campus Herald. “I was and still am extremely grateful for her support of my journalism career while at JWU,” Landry stated.
Evans tipped off Landry about Gonzalez’ fabulous reputation, and doing some digging on social media convinced her that he’d make a great profile subject. “His food account on Instagram was what convinced me that I was going to speak with a truly passionate chef of my own generation,” she shared. “I think his unwavering outlook on cooking standards and recent record-breaking achievements makes for an interesting story to hopefully anyone at all.”
She found the research aspect of writing the profile on Gonzalez to be the most fun. “I love finding that one piece of information that brings me to a question I can’t wait to ask,” Landry revealed. “I found that the more excited I am about it, the more the subject will be also.”
Throughout the Flavor & the Menu process, Landry worked closely with Evans and received her first revisions from Associate Professor Richard Miscovich, author of From the Wood-Fired Oven. “Using those edits, I then worked with the digital managing editor of Flavor & the Menu, Nicole Duncan,” she explained. “I had past experience with receiving edits, and I was grateful to hear both Miscovich’s and Duncan’s feedback.”
That past experience is pretty impressive; Landry recently completed an internship with The Boston Globe, where she wrote three innovator Q&A articles in the Rhode Island section, and interned with The Borgen Project, where she wrote two articles on global health and raised awareness about global health through campaigning and fundraising. “I also have a personal blog where I write for fun,” she shared. “I plan on continuing to pitch stories to newspapers, magazines and beyond while writing for myself and blog followers about whatever I’d like.”
Landry was drawn to JWU for its Tourism & Hospitality Management degree, stating that “the program seemed one-of-a-kind.” But she also loves being in cities, finding them “a welcome change to 18 years spent in one of the smallest towns in New Hampshire.”
Her next goal: working on a cruise line to both utilize her degree and write about her experiences. “Even if I see the world through the confines of the boat, and 12-hour shifts, I still can’t wait to see it all,” she shared. “My ultimate dream job is to become a travel writer.”
Isabella Mock ’27
Isabella Mock, a Food & Beverage Entrepreneurship major at JWU Charlotte with a focus on Baking & Pastry Arts, wrote her Generation Next profile, “A Soldier and a Chef,” on how Culinary Nutrition major Ken Hughes ’25 has been applying his military experience to his JWU education to create delicious, healthy food for both service members and civilians.
Mock, who serves as a culinary assistant at JWU, was approached by Culinary Department Chair Jennifer Gallagher, who knew Mock was in the Honors Program and thought she’d be a good fit to write a Flavor & the Menu story. “She encouraged me to take the opportunity,” Mock shared. “It’s a little outside my comfort zone, but she sent me the details and I said yes, I’ll do it.”
She had worked with Hughes a few times and thought his nutrition and military background would make a great profile subject. “We sat down together and talked about his upbringing and how he became part of the industry,” she said. “It was super fun to get to know him more on a personal level through that.”
Mock found the process of talking to the Flavor & the Menu publishers and seeing what people thought about her writing interesting: “They encouraged more fluid storytelling than my original Q&A structure, and I liked that a lot more; it was more creative to transition through the questions and felt more like a conversation.”
Focusing her strengths on science and mathematics, Mock hasn’t historically considered herself a writer, but she has enjoyed becoming one. “Because I’m in the Honors Program I do have to write a lot of essays, and it’s been interesting getting to see what kind of writer I am, seeing patterns and how they translate into my writing. I’m always willing to step out of my comfort zone and do something a bit more challenging. I have a twin sister and we’re kind of polar opposites; she was always into reading and language, so it was fun stepping into her realm. She was surprised when I shared it in a family group chat. It was nice to be able to share something with my family and show them something I’m academically doing.”
After JWU, Mock hopes to open her own bakery. “In addition to being a culinary assistant at JWU, I’m also assistant pastry chef at The Fig Tree Restaurant,” she revealed. “That’s been fun and is something I want to pursue a bit longer — maybe a small town in the South where I can cater to the local community.”
Ava Zajczenko ’27
Zajczenko received her associate degree in Baking & Pastry Arts before creating her own JWU Providence bachelor’s degree in Nonprofit Management with a focus on food insecurity. She wrote her Flavor & the Menu profile, “Putting the Art in Culinary Arts,” on Food & Beverage Industry Management and Baking & Pastry Arts major Meriel Robbins ’27, focusing on Robbins’ zeal for travel and for incorporating artistry, from color to brushstrokes, into her desserts.
“I am on the JWU Campus Herald, and I’m going to become the [newspaper's] president in the fall,” Zajczenko explained. “When Dean Evans told me I was recommended by faculty, I assumed it was because I’ve written a lot of articles for the food column on the newspaper. With a lot of my chefs, I like to be involved, get their opinion on different things, so it could have been one of them who recommended me.”
Her profile subject wasn’t a stranger: “I met Meriel last year (Fall 2024 semester) when studying abroad in Florence, and we became friends. I chose her for this piece because to me she’s very passionate about using where she grew up (along the coast of Mystic, Connecticut) within her cakes. I knew whenever I’d talk to her about baking or cooking that she just loved it. I knew I wanted to write the piece about her; she was very much a baker and loves doing it.”
Like Landry, Zajczenko had guidance from CFIT faculty on her Flavor & the Menu piece: “Chef Miscovitch is a published author, so he edited my first draft, and I took into account all the edits. Dean Evans and I also went back and forth, and he would ask if I could expand on aspects of this or that.”
She hopes to turn her personal and writing and Campus Herald food reporting into something even more rewarding: “In the future, I’m learning to do grant writing because after graduating from JWU I hope to work at a nonprofit that helps people who are starving. I’m really interest in World Central Kitchen; it would be an amazing opportunity to work with them and with people who are passionate about using their skills in the kitchen to help others.”
Although she was not available for comment for this story, Culinary Science & Product Development major Amy Magdaleno ’27 was the fourth JWU student published in Get Flavor, profiling fellow major Ervin Barrera ’27 in her piece, “One Student’s Quest for the ‘Why’ of Cooking.” But the hope is that Flavor & the Menu will publish many more student-written profiles in the future.
“The quality of the editorial work submitted by each student was impressive, and our team was struck by the level of detail and passion conveyed through their skilled writing,” Holley stated. “We look forward to continuing to provide a format for JWU students to showcase their work.”
