The key to the future lies in our tastebuds, says writer Keith Stewart, who has launched an online programme to teach restaurant staff how to use theirs more effectively.
Stewart, who has a 30-year background in the drinks business and is a judge of the Sommelier of the Yearcompetition, said he developed the programme because waiters and others working in the hospitality industry needed a course focused on the fundamentals of taste if New Zealand was to maximise the potential of selling its food and beverages in the increasingly sophisticated world market.
"Forget IT, biotechnology and clever marketing," he said.
"Unless we equip our people with taste skills we are doomed to a Third World future trading in commodities."
Stewart's Neat Drinkschool programme will offer an introductory certificate in drinks through NZQA approved unit standards run under the Hospitality Standards Institute industry training framework.
He hopes the programme will train up to 1000 people a year - equivalent to about a quarter of those now training in the hospitality industry.
Most of the study for the $150 course will be done over the internet, an approach Stewart said suited the unusual hours waiters and other in the industry worked.
However, the programme begins and ends with face-to-face sessions, the first one-day session aimed at giving students the confidence to use their tasting skills. The final two-day session would include tasting of faults in wine and the evaluation and assessment part of the course.
The course will tap into Stewart's wine news and information website, Sommnet, but he said it was not just intended to teach wine appreciation.
"Our primary aim is to teach an approach to tasting that can be applied right across the range. Whether people are tasting whitebait or whether they're tasting wines doesn't really matter."
The course will include study on other areas relevant to those working in the hospitality industry, including liquor laws and workplace health and safety.
Stewart said if there was sufficient demand he would expand Neat Drinkschool to include a more advanced diploma course in beverages services and evaluation.
