(Marietta, Ga. – May 12, 2017)
Having worked in the hospitality industry for more than two decades, Chattahoochee Technical College’s culinary instructor Chef Hillary Gallagher is no stranger to exploring exotic flavors. The college’s top chef now has an opportunity to learn the nuances of emerging trends as she navigates Spain’s culinary scene while traveling abroad May 14-25.
Since 2012, Chattahoochee Technical College has offered short-term faculty-led study abroad trips. The academic focus of this program is cultural immersion, visiting significant points of interest, and instilling a sense of global citizenship. Chattahoochee Tech full-time faculty who participate in the study abroad experience are able to implement a greater sense of culture into their curriculum.
Over the course of the 11-day trip, students and faculty will visit Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, Valencia, Granada, Costa del Sol, Segovia and the Rock of Gibraltar.
“This is a great opportunity. All of the destinations are set for us, and they are going to make sure we have an enriching experience as tourists, but we are also able to take time to see things that we want to see that might be different from traditional tourist stops,” Gallagher said.
One specific side bar to the trip that Gallagher mentioned was immersing herself in Spanish cuisine to learn new techniques and ingredients. Because cooking requires an understanding of culture, ingredients and how dishes came to be, Gallagher said knowledge is arguably the biggest takeaway from this trip.
“In the hospitality industry, which is the No. 2 industry in the state of Georgia, it is important that I – and the education we are giving our students – remain on top of trends,” she said. “The Spanish have contributed a lot of trends to the dining scene in America, and we see that in restaurants that are serving [tapas] and small plates. That style of dining comes from Spain.”
When the study abroad group arrives in Barcelona, Gallagher said they are going to do a walking tour of Las Ramblas, and within that area, there is one of the oldest markets in Spain.
“There are food vendors and people selling wares,” she said. “I am really excited to get in there and check out some of the dishes. There is also an old pastry shop, Escribà, which I am really interested in.”
A regional specialty Gallagher is particularly captivated by is Ibérico ham, which is made from free-range, acorn-fed pigs.
“There is a man in Tennessee who sells this type of bacon and ham to famous chefs in the Southeast, but Spain has been producing this ham for hundreds of years,” she said. “The Ibérico pig and the ham that is produced from them is very unique to Spain. It’s supposed to have a sweeter, nuttier flavor.”
The highly credentialed chef found her passion for cooking at a young age after accompanying her parents to dinner parties and thumbing through her mother’s gourmet magazines.
“It is just something that I always enjoyed doing. When I got old enough, my mother would tell me that we had to bring something to the dinner party and I would volunteer,” she said. “When I was in high school and in college, I always worked in the hospitality industry. It just became clear to me that this was what I wanted to do.”
Gallagher eventually talked her way into the kitchen at the Last Resort Grill in Athens and went on to graduate from culinary school.