Twenty cooks and assistant cooks, including four from Yale, gathered in University Dining Hall (Commons) for four days of lectures, demonstrations and hands-on training. The workshops featured lessons in general kitchen skills, enhancing a kitchen's repertoire of recipes and advanced methods and techniques. Among the topics covered were Asian cuisine, vegetarian and vegan diets, and batch cooking.

The workshop was presented by the National Association of College and University Food Services (NACUFS) and the CIA. Jeff Trombetta, executive chef for Yale Dining Services, coordinated the effort, the first in the 1999 series of NACUFS workshops.

Trombetta serves on the NACUFS committee that organizes in-service programs, and he participated in setting the national curriculum.

The four Yale Dining Service employees who took part in the training session were Frank Douglas from Trumbull College, Sharon Little from Commons, Sevie Pearson from Pierson College and Lyle Widdows from Silliman College.