Well Fed Network

Christopher “Kit” Goldsbury is a man who made his millions from salsa, namely Pace Picante.  The former owner of Pace, Goldsbury, has given the Culinary Institute of America $35 million to open The CIA Center for Foods of the Americas, in a big push for San Antonio’s Pearl Brewery redevelopment. 

Between his generous donation, and the CIA’s ongoing work, there will now be a greater focus on more balance in the food industry, paying closer attention to Latino cuisine.  The announcement will be made official this morning by CIA President Tim Ryan at the National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago.

The $35 million gift will be put towards a new $7 million facility in San Antonio, a new $5 million facility devoted to Latino cuisine at The CIA’s Hyde Park, NY campus and the remaining $23 million dispersed as scholarships.

Although there are a significant amount of Latino employees in the food and beverage industry, only a small percentage of them ever make it to become top chefs or managers (the most famous mainstream Mexican chef being Rick Bayless), and Mr. Goldsbury and CIA president Dr. Tim Ryan both wanted to address this imbalance. 

Mr. Goldsbury, who had taken a baking class at The CIA’s Greystone campus in California, initially approached The CIA about opening a cooking school in San Antonio almost three years ago. The deal was finally sealed two weeks ago after Dr. Ryan came up with the concept of “El Sueno”– the dream–for CFA, a place where aspiring chefs could attend a 30-week certificate program in the city that is the Gateway to Mexico (60% of the population is Latino and, of those, 70% work in the food industry). The most gifted students would then receive scholarships to pursue an associate or bachelor’s degree at The CIA in Hyde Park, where they could also concentrate in Latino cuisine at a dedicated facility there. The dream is that these students would become top chefs and culinary entrepreneurs.

Culinary professionals and aficionados will study authentic Latino cuisine at The CFA with guest chefs from such countries as Mexico, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Argentina, and Peru. The objective is to offer a world-class education while shining a spotlight on some of the world’s most diverse cuisines that are often difficult to replicate authentically in the United States. The CIA also plans to hold annual conferences on Latino cuisine at its San Antonio campus.