Field Notes: Shaping Future Chefs

We work to connect growers with buyers and also- with eaters. But what about shaping the purchasing decisions of our growing population? These future decision makers are engaged with their food systems in a variety of ways. Recently, FARMWISE Indiana Value Chain Professional Jen Musall spent the day with our future chefs and food buyers and share her experience below.

Field Notes: Jen Musall

It all started with a question about how School Food Service and Culinary Arts Departments work together.

In February of 2025, the Indiana Grown for Schools team introduced me to Alyson McIntyre-Reiger with Indiana FCCLA. She was able to help me understand various ways FARMWISE Indiana could work with not only K-12 Food Service but also Culinary Arts Departments.

Family, Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) is a dynamic, student-led organization that connects classroom learning to leadership, service, and real-world career preparation. From Culinary Arts to Fashion Design, Education and Training to Nutrition, Human Development to Hospitality, FCCLA helps students in FCS courses advance their knowledge, apply it in meaningful ways, and prepare for careers that support families and strengthen communities.

Shaping Future Chefs

In September 2025, I attended the FCCLA Fall Rally in Danville, an event that drew over 500 FCCLA students. As soon as I arrived, I knew I was in the right place because the parking lot was filled with school buses from throughout the state. While students attended sessions, they were also able to rotate through a variety of activities.  I shared an activity with those students which allowed them to make their own seasonal, local school menu! I also talked to them about how much Hoosier families spend on groceries and if and where they spend those dollars. I let students role play a scenario where one was a local farmer, and another was a buyer and they “spent” their money on groceries including understand what local foods were available seasonally.

Over the course of a year, I have learned about FCCLA’s commitment to students and local foods. In February 2026, I was asked to participate in the Indiana FCCLA State Leadership Conference in Muncie as a judge for the ProStart Management competition. Management teams develop a proposal for the next promising restaurant concept and present it to a panel of industry judges.  As I arrived in Muncie, once again you could see every region of the state represented in the buses in the parking lot and lining the streets. The entire convention center was filled with teachers, partners, and students. Students could be found at every table, bench, corner, and even stairway landing working on their presentations and I suspect catching up on homework.

I judged the Concept section which reviewed the concept of the restaurant along with the team’s SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) analysis. It was clear these teams spent a great deal of time working out the details of their proposals. It was great to interact with Indiana’s future chefs and food buyers. And to prove how connected our food systems stakeholders in Indiana are, I judged alongside an extension educator who I had just presented to the prior afternoon.

Brianna Goode, Indiana Grown for Schools

At the same time there were ProStart Culinary competitions going on in the main hall - it was incredible to see so many students engaged. I also visited the Career, College and Community Expo and saw Indiana Grown for Schools engaging with students who were learning more about local foods for their schools. Being a value chain professional has allowed me to connect with new stakeholders throughout my region and across the state.

Contributed by FARMWISE Indiana Value Chain Professional Jen Musall.