thedrifter
01-02-08, 09:53 AM
Chef's background questioned
Tom Mayer
Sun Journal Staff
June 15, 2007 - 5:57PM
Maybe Joshua Adam Garcia should be working at the home of the whopper.
Garcia, a former Marine now working at New Bern’s Lieu Secret as chef de cuisine, has apparently been telling a few of his own.
Currently a finalist en route to win The Next Food Network Star — a reality television cooking show that offers a six-episode series as its top prize — it now seems Garcia may have embellished more than his food preparation.
The online Military Times published Wednesday a story questioning the education and military background Garcia provided to Food Network executives and numerous media sources.
In a series of recent interviews, the 25-year-old Havelock resident told the Sun Journal that he was a graduate of a New York culinary school. A phone call to the school, now the Art Institute of New York, revealed otherwise.
“Josh Garcia attended the Art Institute, but did not graduate,” Midge Elias, director of the school’s public relations, said Friday.
The school could not verify that Garcia used the GI Bill to help pay for his schooling, as he indicated to the Sun Journal, because of privacy rules.
During other discussions with the newspaper, Garcia said he had served as a grunt, or Marine infantry specialist, and had been deployed abroad. His Food Network video profile backs that claim.
“I was a grunt in the Marines for a year and a half, two years, and then I, uh, became a cook,” Garcia says on the video.
Military Times reports that cook is the only military specialty listed in Garcia’s file, and refutes his claim that he was deployed to Afghanistan as a member of 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment in 2002.
That unit, based at Camp Lejeune, did not deploy to Afghanistan that year, officials said.
The Division of Public Affairs — Media Operations Branch verified familiarity with the Military Times story and referred the Sun Journal to Marine Corps Manpower in Quantico, Va., as its source. Officials there did not respond by press time to a request to validate the assertions made by the publication.
When reached by phone Thursday, Garcia told the Sun Journal he would not speak about the inconsistencies in his military and educational records.
He said he had no comment when asked to verify his deployment to Afghanistan as well as his educational background.
When asked about the length of his military service, Garcia said, “No comment. I can’t comment on any of that. I’m sorry, man.”
A short statement released by Food Network indicates the former Marine has been gagged.
“As of right now, Josh Garcia is not commenting to the press regarding the Military Times story,” said Lisa Del Colle, a publicist with Food Network in an e-mail to the Sun Journal.
The network is now examining Garcia’s claims.
“Food Network has launched a full investigation into Joshua Garcia’s background af-ter questions were raised by the Military Times. We will address our finding when appropriate,” reads a statement from Bob Tuschman, senior vice president, programming and production for Food Network.
The initial response to its investigation has been for Food Network to update Garcia’s biography on its Web site. Now, instead of listing the cook as “graduated” from The New York Restaurant School, it indicates he “attended” the school.
Also, Web sites for Garcia’s personal MySpace account and Lieu Secret have been altered. Both sites had indicated Garcia was a graduate of the New York school.
Now, the MySpace account is private and restricted.
The restaurant site no longer carries a link for “About the Chef.” That link had listed Garcia as a “classically trained Chef de cuisine from New York city.” Similarly, a link for “Ask the Chef,” is now missing from the Lieu Secret site.
Although at least one online media source has apparently decided to pull its back story on Garcia from its Web site — the story is no longer accessible online — the Sun Journal will keep its archives intact with an added editor’s note referencing the possible inconsistencies. A link will take readers to updated stories.
The dilemma might not be so easily solved for the Food Network.
Much of the network’s nine-episode The Next Food Network Star has been filmed. The show airs 9 p.m. Sundays through July 22, when the two remaining finalists fly to Miami to compete for votes from viewers to choose the winner.
As of June 10, three contestants had been eliminated with Garcia considered a strong local favorite for the win.
Ellie
Tom Mayer
Sun Journal Staff
June 15, 2007 - 5:57PM
Maybe Joshua Adam Garcia should be working at the home of the whopper.
Garcia, a former Marine now working at New Bern’s Lieu Secret as chef de cuisine, has apparently been telling a few of his own.
Currently a finalist en route to win The Next Food Network Star — a reality television cooking show that offers a six-episode series as its top prize — it now seems Garcia may have embellished more than his food preparation.
The online Military Times published Wednesday a story questioning the education and military background Garcia provided to Food Network executives and numerous media sources.
In a series of recent interviews, the 25-year-old Havelock resident told the Sun Journal that he was a graduate of a New York culinary school. A phone call to the school, now the Art Institute of New York, revealed otherwise.
“Josh Garcia attended the Art Institute, but did not graduate,” Midge Elias, director of the school’s public relations, said Friday.
The school could not verify that Garcia used the GI Bill to help pay for his schooling, as he indicated to the Sun Journal, because of privacy rules.
During other discussions with the newspaper, Garcia said he had served as a grunt, or Marine infantry specialist, and had been deployed abroad. His Food Network video profile backs that claim.
“I was a grunt in the Marines for a year and a half, two years, and then I, uh, became a cook,” Garcia says on the video.
Military Times reports that cook is the only military specialty listed in Garcia’s file, and refutes his claim that he was deployed to Afghanistan as a member of 2nd Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment in 2002.
That unit, based at Camp Lejeune, did not deploy to Afghanistan that year, officials said.
The Division of Public Affairs — Media Operations Branch verified familiarity with the Military Times story and referred the Sun Journal to Marine Corps Manpower in Quantico, Va., as its source. Officials there did not respond by press time to a request to validate the assertions made by the publication.
When reached by phone Thursday, Garcia told the Sun Journal he would not speak about the inconsistencies in his military and educational records.
He said he had no comment when asked to verify his deployment to Afghanistan as well as his educational background.
When asked about the length of his military service, Garcia said, “No comment. I can’t comment on any of that. I’m sorry, man.”
A short statement released by Food Network indicates the former Marine has been gagged.
“As of right now, Josh Garcia is not commenting to the press regarding the Military Times story,” said Lisa Del Colle, a publicist with Food Network in an e-mail to the Sun Journal.
The network is now examining Garcia’s claims.
“Food Network has launched a full investigation into Joshua Garcia’s background af-ter questions were raised by the Military Times. We will address our finding when appropriate,” reads a statement from Bob Tuschman, senior vice president, programming and production for Food Network.
The initial response to its investigation has been for Food Network to update Garcia’s biography on its Web site. Now, instead of listing the cook as “graduated” from The New York Restaurant School, it indicates he “attended” the school.
Also, Web sites for Garcia’s personal MySpace account and Lieu Secret have been altered. Both sites had indicated Garcia was a graduate of the New York school.
Now, the MySpace account is private and restricted.
The restaurant site no longer carries a link for “About the Chef.” That link had listed Garcia as a “classically trained Chef de cuisine from New York city.” Similarly, a link for “Ask the Chef,” is now missing from the Lieu Secret site.
Although at least one online media source has apparently decided to pull its back story on Garcia from its Web site — the story is no longer accessible online — the Sun Journal will keep its archives intact with an added editor’s note referencing the possible inconsistencies. A link will take readers to updated stories.
The dilemma might not be so easily solved for the Food Network.
Much of the network’s nine-episode The Next Food Network Star has been filmed. The show airs 9 p.m. Sundays through July 22, when the two remaining finalists fly to Miami to compete for votes from viewers to choose the winner.
As of June 10, three contestants had been eliminated with Garcia considered a strong local favorite for the win.
Ellie