Eat your hearts out, Vermont

Eat your hearts out, Vermont

Edd Merritt, Contributor

Well, it certainly was not a Christmas present when the announcement came that Vermont’s long-standing New England Culinary Institute (NECI) would close. For 40 years NECI trained chefs, providing them with educational credits as well as cooking skills; NECI enrolled as many as 800 students at its peak.

Matt Jennings: Making healthy food for healthy lifestyles

Matt Jennings: Making healthy food for healthy lifestyles

Phyl Newbeck, Contributor

“I grew up in a family that appreciated food,” Matt Jennings said. “My mother is a great cook and my father is a landscape architect who had a prolific vegetable garden, so food was integral to the family.” These days, Jennings continues that tradition as the vice president of culinary for Healthy Living Market and Café.