2024 Global Plant-Forward Culinary Summit

Seminar C: From New York and Pittsburgh: Essential Flavor Insights into Meat-and-Dairy-Free Cooking Chef Amanda Cohen opened Dirt Candy in New York over fifteen years ago when vegetarian restaurants were present but not prevalent with the goal to create vegetable dishes that people crave the way they crave fried chicken and pizza. Since then, she’s garnered praise, including a Michelin star. Chef Kate Lasky is also a trailblazer; along with her partner Tomasz Skowronski, in 2016 she opened the vegan restaurant Apteka in Pittsburgh. In this land where pierogi hold a special place in people’s hearts, Apteka has attracted a local following and critical praise for their complex, flavorful modern take on central and eastern European cuisine. In this session, these critically acclaimed pioneering chefs will share culinary R&D on creating sophisticated dishes that are complex, inviting, and satiating while also being meat- and dairy-free. • Michael Orloski (Senior Director OOH—East, North Ame

Seminar D: From Seeds to Nuts to Fruit: Elevating Everyday Meals Seeds, nuts, and fruit lend sweetness, color, sometimes acidity, and a range of different textures to a dish and have a wide range of uses in sweet and savory applications, making the most basic meals special. Get inspiration from our chefs—Abra Berens and Andrea Nguyen—to add these delicious ingredients to your plant-forward toolbox. • Jennifer Breckner (Director of Programs and Special Projects, CIA; Napa, CA) • Abra Berens (Author and Chef, Granor Farm; Three Oaks, MI) • Andrea Nguyen (Author and Chef; Viet World Kitchen; Santa Cruz, CA) ————————————————————————————————————————————————————— CIA: CIA for Enthusiasts: CIA at Copia: CIA ProChef: Founded in 1946, the Culinary Institute of America is the world’s premier culinary college. Dedicated to developing leaders in foodservice and hospitality, the independent, not-for-profit CIA offers master’s, bachelor’s, and associate degrees with majors in culinary arts, baking a

General Session VIII: Modern Mediterranean: A Mix of Culinary Influences This session spotlights how the diversity and appeal of the traditional, plant-centric Mediterranean approach to cooking can be built upon to highlight a broad swath of cultures—Turkish, Greek, Armenian, Jewish, Arabic, and Persian—that have roots in and influence the foodways of the eastern Mediterranean. Chef Sayat Ozylimaz ’15, who is Armenian and grew up in Istanbul, has spent years in restaurants in the Bay Area coaxing maximum flavor out of seasonal produce and garnering acclaim for inventive and festive Mediterranean-influenced cuisine. He will provide recipes and insights on how to build flexible and plant-forward menus that give diners the option of having a fully vegetable-driven experience and share strategies for building sustainability into a restaurant’s operations. • Jennifer Breckner (Director of Programs and Special Projects, CIA; Napa, CA) • Sayat Ozyilmaz ‘15 (Chef-Owner, Dalida SF; San Francisc

Seminar B-1: Sustainable Opportunities in Baking: Better for the Planet and the Bottom Line While pastries and baked goods might not be the first place an operator looks to make their menu plant-forward and planet friendly, these indulgent items can be a creative and overlooked place to engage consumers around issues of sustainability. Join CIA baking and pastry faculty to learn how small, strategic choices in the creation of baked goods can make a big environmental impact while offering cost savings. These demos will look at key ingredients such as highly nutritious and flavor building grains and flours and opportunities to support a local economy using seasonal fillings and glazes for vegan donuts and other baked goods. • Abby Fammartino, MBA, MSFS (Director of Health and Sustainability Programs, Strategic Initiatives Group, CIA; Portland, OR) • Rachel Wyman ‘05 (Lecturing Instructor—Baking and Pastry Arts, CIA; Hyde Park, NY) • Genevieve Meli ‘07 (Associate Professor—Baking and Past

Seminar A-1: Attracting the Next Generation to Your Menu: Dynamic Global Flavors and Dishes with Sustainability in Mind In a world where younger generations are seeking out increasingly diverse flavors, techniques, and cuisines, as well as foodservice operations that commit to sustainable practices, it is important to have a broad arsenal of knowledge and techniques to apply to menuing. In this session, these acclaimed chefs will show how to skillfully build complex and enticing flavors in vegetable-forward dishes that are influenced by global traditions—as well as how food can be plant-forward, dynamic, bold, exciting, and sustainable, appealing to a wide variety of consumers and attracting the next generation to your menu. • Brandon Collins ‘01 (Corporate Executive Chef, Unilever Food Solutions North America; Englewood Cliffs, NJ) • Rupa Bhattacharya (Executive Director, Strategic Initiatives Group, CIA; New York City) • Paul Smith ’02 (Chef-Owner, 1010 Bridge; Charleston, WV) • Andr

General Session VII: The Importance of Advocacy: How to Make the Case for Sustainability and Plant-Forward Inclusion on the Menu, While Changing the Industry for the Better Why is it important for foodservice professionals at all levels to know how to advocate for change? These experts from business, higher education, producer relations, and culinary entrepreneurship will discuss why advocacy is crucial to a more delicious, healthy, equitable, and sustainable food system and industry. They’ll also address strategies for cultivating one’s voice to speak up about issues of passion and importance, refining messaging and building relationships to engage a variety of groups from governmental agencies, decision makers in the executive suite, and customers, and how to find inspiration and the energy to stay committed when change is slow to come. • Pearson Croney-Clark (Public Affairs Manager, Oatly; Washington, DC) • Larissa Zimberoff (Independent Journalist and Author; San Francisco, CA) • D

General Session VI: The Importance of Puerto Rican Cuisine Made from Puerto Rican Ingredients Bacoa Finca + Fogón, a farmstead restaurant in Juncos, Puerto Rico, has been described as “possibly the best restaurant in America.” Created as a nod to cocinaos, a rural tradition of casual cookouts, this restaurant’s approachable, sustainable menu embodies Puerto Rico’s rich culinary heritage. Situated on a 3.4 acre farm with a greenhouse, vegetable garden, and chicken coop, Chef Raúl Correa and his two partners, Xavier Pacheco and René Marichal, are at the center of a vibrant movement to make local food production possible in partnership with island farmers and food producers and to create Puerto Rican food with Puerto Rican ingredients—currently the island imports 80% of its food from the mainland U.S. due to government policies that favor mainland vendors. Chef Correa will demonstrate how grilling is central to their menu—cooking “al fogón”–and used to create innovative dishes across the

General Session V: Creativity and Experimentation as Key to Successful Plant-Forward Menu Development Chef Phil Saneski is an advocate for the process of culinary R&D and has used his insatiable curiosity and enthusiasm for vegetables and sustainability to drive recipe development, including in his popular vegetable-based popup tasting menus for dinners that he has hosted across the Bay Area. In this session, he will demo recipes that showcase his innovative plant-forward culinary strategy, while talking about his process of R&D—what inspires him, how he comes up with new ideas, the process of taking a dish from concept to completion, and how one maintains one’s excitement and interest, even when failure sets in. • Giselle Kennedy Lord (Digital Storyteller and Author; Portland, OR) • Phil Saneski (Executive Chef, Good Eating Company; Alameda, CA) ————————————————————————————————————————————————————— CIA: CIA for Enthusiasts: CIA at Copia: CIA ProChef: Founded in 1946, the Culinary Inst

General Session IV: What Role Does Meat Play in a Plant-Forward Future? Market research confirms that more consumers are shifting their eating habits to limit meat consumption due to concerns for personal and planetary health—Millennials and Gen Z, especially, but surprisingly Boomers too—so does meat still have a place on the menu? What do operators need to know about livestock production and its impact on our climate? CIA alum and Chicago butcher Rob Levitt and Michele Thorne, a nonprofit executive director and small livestock producer, will discuss the meat supply chain, focusing on ways it can be environmentally responsible and what role they think it will play on future American menus. Then Chef Levitt will demonstrate culinary strategies for reducing meat in dishes that still impart big flavor showing operators how to engage the growing environmentally conscious, flexitarian consumer base. • Jennifer Breckner (Director of Programs and Special Projects, Strategic Initiatives Group

General Session III: Vegan Cuisine: Delicious, Innovative, and an Unstoppable Force Vegan cooking is no longer a niche culinary category; it is now mainstream. The two acclaimed chefs in this session—Priyanka Naik and Kate Lasky—have drawn attention for their innovative, flavor-first approach to vegan menus, from significant followers on social media and appearances on television, to nods from The New York Times, and The James Beard Foundation, showing that vegan cooking is an influential culinary force. Chef Priyanka Naik will demonstrate her skill at utilizing global flavors with an Indian twist and Chef Kate Lasky will share her farm-to-table approach to central and eastern European cuisine. • Abby Fammartino, MBA, MSFS (Director of Health and Sustainability Programs, Strategic Initiatives Group, CIA; Portland, OR) • Priyanka Naik (Vegan Chef, Author, and Host; New York City) • Kate Lasky (Co-Owner and Co-Chef, Apteka; Pittsburgh, PA) ————————————————————————————————————————————————