Bentonville is crafting community with intention, one project at a time, and few spaces embody local loyalty quite like our very own Brightwater. More than just a culinary school, Brightwater is tackling current issues in food education while prepping its students to usher in a more innovative and mindful future for the culinary industry.
“We’re on our own pathway for what we believe is the future of culinary education.”
Brightwater Executive Director, Chef Marshall Shafkowitz, is charged with curating the ethos of Brightwater from the top down. A calling and purpose, Shafkowitz felt the pull to education after a transformative year abroad.
“As a chef, I was classically trained French. I did an internship at Aix-en-Provence in France and worked in kitchens throughout New York City," he shared. "Then I went through a bad breakup and bought a ticket for a year and a day, and bounced around Europe. I slept on couches and in store rooms, working for a place to sleep.”
“I discovered that the quality of education and apprenticeship programs in Europe had declined. They were horrible. So, when I came back, I had a conversation with my mother and she said, ‘Do something about it.’ That set me on the pathway to get my master's degree in education.”
Guiding our walking tour through the school, Chef Shafkowitz explained some of the significant distinctions many aren't aware of. In addition to beautiful murals and plates adorned in hand-written messages from visiting chefs, the impressive facility boasts state-of-the-art equipment found in only a handful of kitchens in the country. "We’re one of the practice homes for the American Culinary Federation, Culinary Olympic Team," he said. "We're also the home for World Skills Culinary and will be the home for World Skills Pastry this coming year."
Even more impactful than what we see at Brightwater, its most powerful innovations are found in what the school does. "If you take anything away, at Brightwater, we support local businesses,” Chef Shafowitz said. “More than 40 percent of our budget goes to purchasing local. It’s important to our ethos.”
Fundamentally, one might argue that Brightwater is similar to other programs offered in the state, but internally, what Chef Shafowitz has done is focused on the hearts of his staff and students; nurturing leadership to foster agency for making good human beings, not just good culinarians.
“The ‘Why?’ for me, is the ability to right all the wrongs I was part of with other organizations," he said. " To set a path towards what the future of this industry could be."
Part of that change is tackling the dark side of the industry. Brightwater's executive director is one of many leaders who are speaking to students across the country about topics like mental health, grief, and addiction. “We have our counseling center because we want to tackle those conversations head on. We put this [chef coat] on and it has the white coat effect; like doctors. But we’re fallible and we don’t want to shy from that. That's a differentiator.”
The pedigree of its faculty is another differentiator for Brightwater. Chef Travis McConnell, formerly of Ropeswing, now leads the school’s butchery program, which received a $650 thousand grant from the US government. The program will fuel the new Butcher’s Larder by Brightwater; a shop supplying the community with local products, charcuterie ingredients, and meats cut by students.
Meanwhile, Chef Instructors Michael Drazsnzak and Erin Valadez are leading initiatives in community engagement and nutrition through Brightwater's new CORE and Certified Culinary Medicine Professional (CCMP) programs.
CORE (Community Outreach Recreational Education) classes are designed to introduce cooking enthusiasts to basic kitchen fundamentals including baking and food pairing. CORE coordinator, Chef Drazsnzak is a Fayetteville native and American Culinary Federation Culinary Gold Medal winner who spent the bulk of his culinary career in Colorado where he earned the title of Executive Chef at Colterra Food & Wine. He later made his way to California where he began his journey in education. “I had no intention of moving into education,” he said. “But because of my experience and my education, I was able to move into this arena successfully. I found a super happy home at Brightwater, and real passion for it.”
Chef Valdez is the registered dietician responsible for the school's nutrition curriculum. She moved to Bentonville from St. Louis where she earned her master's degree in nutrition and dietetics while also attending culinary school. Looking to combine her interests in nutrition, cooking, and education, she joined Brightwater in 2017 following an invitation from a former culinary school instructor.
“Out of the blue, I got a call from Dr. [Steve] Jenkins,” she shared. “He said, ‘I'm now in Arkansas, and we have this new culinary program. We need someone who's a dietician for a culinary nutrition course, but we also would like them to teach other classes.’ I had always wanted to marry food and nutrition. It’s a really cool intersection for me to be able to do both.”
With the support of subject experts like Chef Valdez, Brightwater launched its CCMP program, through Health Meets Food, to empower foodservice professionals with the knowledge and skills to transform menus into powerful tools for wellness. “In my mind,” she said. “It's about this balance of wonderful ingredients, and delicious food that is also nourishing to the body.”
Community, empathy, and innovation make up the core of Brightwater's spirit. With leaders like Shafowitz, Drazsnzak, and Valdez, the school is breaking the mold to create something new and impactful that Bentonville should be proud of.
“What we do here is create memories and emotion.” Shafowitz said. “Once you understand that, you begin to focus on food differently. It can be true nourishment for the body and the soul. That’s kind of the nutshell of what Brightwater is.”
It's not about the curriculum, it's about making good human beings. Hopefully they take what they learn to the place they work and that’s how we’ll impact change.
Food can be true nourishment for the body and the soul - That’s the nutshell of what Brightwater is.