Looking to the Past
to Ensure a Sustainable Future
October 3-5, 2010 | Boston, MA
89 South Street, Lower Level Boston, MA 02111 p: 617-236-5200 f: 617-236-5272 e: chefscollaborative@chefscollaborative.org www.chefscollaborative.org
Dear Friends and Fellow Attendees:
On behalf of the national Chefs Collaborative board, our local staff and the summit host committee, Welcome to Boston! It has been an eventful year since we met at the Chicago Summit last September, from the tragedy and ecological devastation wrought from the Gulf oil spill, to the promise and excitement of helping revitalize our nation’s school lunches. Through resilience and leadership, we as chefs continue to play a vital role in this nation’s food system.
This year we’ve chosen to gather in Boston, a city celebrated for its deep culinary traditions as well as its rich and important cultural history. We’ve planned an exciting, engaging and thought-provoking program this year, taking into account the diverse interests of the attendees and the knowledge and abilities of the human and natural resources available to us here in New England. We’ll look at how the essential “ingredients” in our food system – chefs, farmers, fishers, ranchers, and producers —assimilate critical information from the past to inform and affect change moving forward.
The opening plenary session, “Redefining our Culinary Traditions,” will set the theme for this year, with summit breakout sessions providing opportunities to concentrate on the challenges and considerations we make daily through our work in the kitchen. The esteemed panelists at the summit’s final session will examine the current and future state of American regional foods. For your dining pleasure, we’ve included a unique evening awards barbeque at Allandale Farm, and a concluding lunch sure to whet your appetite for next year’s get-together in New Orleans. I hope you’ll make the most of your time here in Boston by talking with the many colleagues gathered here, sharing your passion, experience and ideas. Thank you for being part of Chefs Collaborative and for helping others understand that the food choices we make affect both our environment and our community. Sincerely,
Bruce Sherman National Board Chair chef/partner, North Pond restaurant Chefs Collaborative National Summit 2010 | Page 1
Chefs Collaborative works with chefs and the greater food community to celebrate local foods and foster a more sustainable food supply. The Collaborative inspires action by translating information about our food into tools for making sustainable purchasing decisions. Through these actions, our members embrace seasonality, preserve diversity and traditional practices, and support local economies. Chefs Collaborative Board of Overseers
John Ash Amy Bodiker Seth Caswell Michael Leviton, clerk Joe McGarry, treasurer
Advisory Board
Rick Bayless Rebecca Goldberg Joan Dye Gussow Fred Kirschenmann Michel Nischan
Chad Pawlak
Staff
Bob Perry
Melissa Kogut, executive director
Tom Philpott
Leigh Belanger, program director
Andrea Reusing
Alida Cantor, program manager
Robin Schempp, vice-chair
Jen Ede, development and marketing associate
Bruce Sherman, chair Jen Small Eric Stenberg, immediate past chair Stephen Stryjewski Sylvia Tawse Megan Westmeyer
Statement of Principles:
Food is fundamental to life, nourishing us in body and soul. The preparation of food strengthens our connection to nature. And the sharing of food immeasurably enriches our sense of community. Good food begins with unpolluted air, land, and water, environmentally sustainable farming and fishing, and humane animal husbandry.
Food choices that emphasize delicious, locally grown, seasonally fresh, and whole or minimally processed ingredients are good for us, for local farming communities, and for the planet.
Cultural and biological diversity are essential for the health of the earth and its inhabitants. Preserving and revitalizing sustainable food, fishing and agricultural traditions strengthen that diversity. By continually educating themselves about sustainable choices, chefs can serve as models to the culinary community and the general public through their purchases of seasonal, sustainable ingredients and their transformation of these ingredients into delicious food.
The greater culinary community can be a catalyst for positive change by creating a market for good food and helping preserve local farming and fishing communities. Vision
As a result of our work, sustainability is second nature in the greater culinary community.
Summit Information Attendees Welcome to Boston! We hope you have a great time in our hometown. Please wear your name badge throughout the Summit to allow easy access to workshops, meals, and events.
Hotel Marlowe
25 Edwin H. Land Boulevard Cambridge, MA 02141
Panels and Workshops
Due to limited space, we’ve asked attendees to pre-register for panels and workshops. If you decide to change your selection, please use standing-room-only space until pre-registered participants have been seated.
Event Locations
Sunday, October 3
Monday, October 4
12:00-3:30 pm
7:30 am-4:30 pm
Open house and early registration Rendezvous restaurant 502 Mass Ave Cambridge, MA 01239
5:30-9:00 pm
(Field trips departing from Rendezvous between 2-3pm, unless otherwise noted) 8:00-10:00 pm
Evening welcome reception Russell House Tavern 14 JFK Street Cambridge, MA 02138
Bunker Hill Community College 250 Rutherford Avenue Charlestown, MA 02129 Allandale Farm 259 Allandale Street Boston, MA 02467
Tuesday, October 5 7:30am-12:30 pm
Bunker Hill Community College 250 Rutherford Avenue Charlestown, MA 02129 1:00-3:30 pm
Museum of Science 1 Science Park Boston, MA 02114
Design: J Sherman Studio LLC
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Hotel
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FREE SHUTTLE BETWEEN SUMMIT EVENTS Monday, October 4 7:20-8:00 am Hotel Marlowe to Bunker Hill Community College 4:30 pm Bunker Hill Community College to Allandale Farm 8:30-9:15 pm Allandale Farm to Hotel Marlowe (with stop at Eastern Standard Kitchen & Drinks)
Tuesday, October 5 7:20-7:50 am Hotel Marlowe to Bunker Hill Community College 12:15-12:45 pm Bunker Hill Community College to Museum of Science
Summit schedule condensed
conference agenda Speakers: Sam Hayward, chef/partner, Fore St. restaurant,
Sunday, October 3 12:00-3:30 pm: Open house and early registration at Rendezvous restaurant 8:00-10:00 pm: Evening welcome reception at Russell House Tavern
Monday, October 4th
Tuesday, October 5th
Bunker Hill Community College
7:30 am: Registration and breakfast
8:15 am: Welcome
9:00-10:30 am: Breakout sessions
7:30 am: Registration and breakfast 8:30 am: General session
8:00am: Welcome
10:45 am-12:15 pm: Plenary session
10:00 am: Break
10:15-11:45 am: Breakout sessions 12:00-1:00 pm: Lunch
1:15-2:45 pm: Breakout sessions
1:00-3:30 pm: Lunch and closing session at
Museum of Science 3:30 pm: Farewell!
3:00 pm: General session
4:30 pm: Depart for Allandale Farm 5:30 pm: Farm tour
6:30 pm: Awards barbeque dinner
10:00 pm: Reception at Eastern Standard
Kitchen & Drinks
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Portland, ME; Ana Sortun, chef/owner, Oleana restaurant, Sofra Bakery and Café, Cambridge, MA; Jasper White, chef/owner, The Summer Shack , culinary co-director, Towne Stove and Spirits, Boston, MA
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Monday, October 4 Bunker Hill Community College 7:30 am: Registration and breakfast 8:15 am: Welcome Speakers: Bruce Sherman, national board chair, Chefs
Collaborative, chef/partner, North Pond restaurant, Chicago, IL; George Kelley, assistant professor of culinary arts, Bunker Hill Community College, Boston, MA 8:30 am: Plenary session
Redefining our Culinary Traditions: Looking to the Past to Ensure a Sustainable Future New England’s agricultural and maritime heritage is the backbone for a distinct regional culinary identity reflected in the food and cooking of these New England chefs: Sam Hayward, Ana Sortun, and Jasper White. Each will discuss how their work has been shaped by iconic New England food and the people who grow, catch, and gather it—and how the support of food systems rooted in regional and traditional practices can help guide us toward a more sustainable future. Moderator: Corby Kummer, author; senior editor, The Atlantic;
restaurant critic, Boston Magazine, Boston, MA
10:00 am: Break 10:15-11:45 am: Breakout sessions
Rare Breeds and Pastured Animals: Success Stories Before industrial-scale ranching became the norm, many breeds of pasture-raised livestock, all suited to regional cultures and cuisines, provided our country with most of its meat supply. Today, heightened awareness of the ecological and public health risks associated with industrially-raised animals is putting rare breeds and pasture-based animal husbandry in the spotlight. How can chefs find and maintain sources for this type of meat? And how can producers and chefs work together to ensure consistent quality and supply for the restaurant? Further, does meat have to be local in order to be sustainable? What is the cost of supporting good animal husbandry taking place across the country—or across the ocean? A panel of chefs, producers, and advocates will discuss the challenges and successes of working with rare breeds and pasture-raised animals. Moderator: Michael Leviton, chef/owner, Lumiere restaurant,
Newton, MA Speakers: Jeanette Beranger, research and technical program
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manager, American Livestock Breed Conservancy, Pittsboro, NC; Dr. Patricia Whisnant, DVM, president, American Grassfed Association; owner, American Grassfed Beef, Doniphan, MO; Peter Pahk, former executive chef, Silverado Resort, Napa, CA The Gulf Oil Disaster: What Will Become of our Domestic Seafood Supply? On the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, the U.S.’s largest environmental disaster began to unfold as the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform exploded and oil began to leak into the Gulf of Mexico. For the following 87 days the nation was riveted as the scale of the disaster increased and efforts to stop the flow of oil failed. This catastrophe brings to mind one of the Chefs Collaborative principles: Good food begins with unpolluted air, land and water.
During this session our experts will address multiple facets of how the BP oil spill has affected our food supply and what the future may hold. Representatives from the seafood industry, the scientific community, the restaurant industry, and the seafood trade press will answer questions from the audience on seafood pricing and availability, ecosystem health, the fishing community, food safety and the impacts on restaurants. Inevitably, the BP oil spill will affect the ecosystem, culture and community in the Gulf region for decades to come. Join us and learn how the greater culinary community can be a catalyst for positive change in the Gulf by creating a market for good food while preserving fishing communities.
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Moderator: Megan Westmeyer, sustainable seafood coordinator,
South Carolina Aquarium, Charleston, SC Speakers: Jon Bell, professor, Louisiana State University, consultant, Louisiana Seafood Marketing and Promotion Board, New Orleans, LA; Margaret Curole, North American co-coordinator, World Forum of Fishharvesters and Fishworkers, Galliano, LA; Steve Hedlund, editor, seafoodsource.com, Portland, ME; Stephen Stryjewski, chef/partner, Cochon restaurant, New Orleans, LA
FOUR FISH: A Conversation with Paul Greenberg In FOUR FISH: The Future of the Last Wild Food, Paul Greenberg, author and contributor to The New York Times Magazine, The New York Times Op Ed Page, GQ, Vogue, and The Boston Globe Sunday Ideas Section, examines our delicate relationship with our last truly wild food source. As large-scale commercial fishing, extensive fish farming, and questionable environmental standards have severely distressed water ecosystems, many wild fish populations are on the brink of extinction. It’s possible that future generations may never eat wild fish.
FOUR FISH explores our relationship with the oceans, honing in on the four varieties of fish that humankind has chosen as our staples—salmon, bass, cod, and tuna. As fish consumption worldwide continues to increase, these varieties are consistently available at markets the world over, even when they aren’t indigenous to nearby waters. Greenberg travels from wild salmon runs in Alaska to the massive fish farms in Vietnam and from the Long Island Sound to the fjords of Norway to explore the history of these four species and how their futures look at this moment in
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time. Greenberg’s FOUR FISH is a deeply researched yet utterly charming love letter to the fish he has hunted, studied and eaten throughout his life. Moderator: Barry Estabrook, journalist, politicsoftheplate.com,
Vergennes, VT Becoming the True Green Restaurant: Which Shade is Right for You? If you want to improve the level of sustainability in your operation, it can be hard to know where to begin—whether you’re new to the field or a veteran. Which changes will have the most impact? If there’s a financial benefit to going green, how is it quantified? And how do you best let your customers know what you’re doing? A panel of chefs who have applied these ideals in their workplaces share ideas for building sustainability into both food and systems operations, creating and enforcing purchasing guidelines, avoiding greenwashing, and more—one step at a time.
and farm-to-table. How chefs define and use these terms can help us understand the level of change this community can make to the food system. How do we factor in food miles, links in the supply chain, labor issues, and farmer-chef relationships? Does “local” need a mileage cutoff? Does sustainable need an ecolabel? If so, what are key factors to consider? A panel of farm-to-table practitioners will discuss these ideas and what they really mean in the day-to-day business of the restaurant industry. Moderator: Barbara Fairchild, editor-in-chief, Bon Appétit magazine, Los Angeles, CA
Speakers: Frank McClelland, chef/partner, L’Espalier and Sel de la Terre, Boston, MA; owner, Apple Street Farm, Essex, MA; Michel Nischan, owner/founder, The Dressing Room: A Homegrown Restaurant; president, Wholesome Wave Foundation, Westport, CT; Andrea Reusing, chef/owner, Lantern restaurant, Chapel Hill, NC
Speakers: Will Gilson, chef, Garden at the Cellar, Cambridge, MA; Chris Koetke, dean of the College of Culinary Arts, Kendall College, Chicago, IL; Joe McGarry, executive chef, Bon Appetit Management Company, Portland, OR
12:00-1:00 pm: Lunch The lunch hour will feature a number of tables where Chefs Collaborative partners and friends will host informal conversations on a number of topics ranging from seafood sustainability to biodynamic wine. Check the insert in your program for a list of roundtables and table numbers and feel free to join any discussion that interests you.
Defining Farm-to-Table
Meet the Butcher: A Demo
As the local food movement picks up steam, so does the dialogue around how to define local, sustainable,
For chefs interested in sourcing meat from local farms, buying whole animals is often the only option.
Moderator: Sylvia R. Tawse, president, Fresh Ideas Group, Boulder, CO and former restaurant owner
1:15-2:45 pm: Breakout sessions
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Working with whole animals can be a satisfying and practical way to develop culinary skills and technique while bringing butchery skills back to the professional kitchen. Master butcher Gregg Rentfrow of the University of Kentucky will demonstrate his techniques for breaking down a half-steer. He and host Bob Perry will offer ideas and advice for working with sustainable livestock farms, employing nose-to-tail principles, and turning a profit from one’s extra labor.
which many chefs and fishermen feel passionate. The sweet spot is when local and sustainable converge— and contrary to popular belief, we have some real success stories here in New England to share.
Is Local Sustainable? A Look at New England Fisheries
The Cheese Course: Bringing Terroir to the Table
Host: Bob Perry, coordinator & chef, Food Systems Initiative, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
When it comes to seafood, what is your decisionmaking process? How do you frame sustainability? Do you look at environmental issues, economic factors and social considerations as you evaluate your priorities? Following aquarium lists sometimes means sending dollars outside of your community and overnighting product from far away, but often supports family fishermen and well-managed fish populations around the globe. Buying close to home means investing in the regional economy and ensuring continued access to a local product, but might also mean choosing a “red-listed” species and having to ask more questions about how the fish was caught.
One thing is certain, there are no simple answers and the issues are nuanced. Our experts from all along the seafood supply chain engage in a discussion about
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Moderator: Peter Baker, New England fisheries campaign manager, Pew Environment Group, Harwich, MA
Speakers: Eric Hesse, fisherman and board member, Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen’s Association, West Barnstable, MA; Michael Leviton, chef/owner, Lumiere restaurant, Newton, MA; Glen Libby, fisherman, member, New England Fishery Management Council, chairman, Midcoast Maine Fishermen’s Association, Port Clyde, ME
The current rise of small-scale and artisan cheesemaking in New England is renewing a regional culinary tradition and introducing innovative mechanisms for ripening, distribution, and marketing of artisan and farmhouse cheeses. It’s an exciting time to be both a cheesemaker and a cheese eater in New England. This panel will discuss the reestablishment of regional food and agricultural identity though cheese; explore the principles and practices of establishing a terroir-based cheese program; and look at plating and pairing practices from traditional to trendy. Moderator: Robin Schempp, culinary and beverage consultant,
Right Stuff Enterprises, Waterbury, VT Speakers: Matt Jennings, chef and cheesemonger, Farmstead,
Inc, La Laiterie, Providence, RI; Bob Reese, principal and founder, Vermont Butter & Cheese Creamery, Websterville, VT; Willow Smart, farmer and cheesemaker, Willow Hill Farm, Milton, VT
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Cooking Sustainably, the Immigrant Way Sourcing food locally isn’t a new idea. Immigrants for a long time have enriched American culinary cultures by tending backyard gardens and foraging in forests and fields. Their activity has often been looked down upon as eccentric or old-fashioned, but immigrants from all corners of the globe can teach us a lot about growing and eating locally. The speakers on this panel will discuss various ways to bring sustainably-grown food into restaurant kitchens, based on the immigrant experience. These are people whose connection to the land has not been lost as they continue their tradition of growing, procuring and eating locally. By considering the immigrant contribution to the American table, this panel will help chefs find ways to seek out new varieties of produce and other ingredients, and to diversify their menus, while helping young immigrant farmers who hope to continue an agrarian way of life.
Vaqueros, Marfax, and Good Mother Stallard: Cooking with Heirloom Beans There’s a universe of heirloom beans out there, the diversity reflected in their names alone. But modern cooks in the United States have only started to scratch the surface. Heirloom beans can help protect agricultural productivity, decrease fossil fuel use, and promote biodiversity and food security. What’s more, they are beautiful, tasty, and inexpensive. This panel of farmers, chefs, and heirloom bean experts will discuss the virtues of this diverse, healthy and sustainable protein source, including how to source, pair with other foods, and incorporate into uniquely flavorful dishes.
Moderator: John Ash, chef, educator, and author, Santa Rosa, CA Speakers:
Peter Davis, executive chef, Henrietta’s Table, Cambridge, MA; Mike Holleman, director of culinary development, Indian Harvest, Bemidji, MN; Matt Linehan, farmer, Sparrow Arc Farm, Unity, ME; Steve Sando, owner, Rancho Gordo, Napa, CA
Moderator: Darra Goldstein, editor-in-chief, Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture; professor of Russian, Williams College, Williamstown, MA
3:00-4:30 pm: Plenary session
Speakers: Lynne Christy Anderson, author, Breaking Bread: Recipes
The Future of Food Media
and Stories from Immigrant Kitchens, Jamaica Plain, MA; Suvir Saran, chef, Dévi, New York, NY, and proprietor, American Masala Farm, Salem, NY; and Frank Mangan, extension associate professor of plant sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
Once upon a time, a handful of food writers and media outlets had extensive influence over the landscape of food and restaurants. And then print media began shrinking, and web 2.0 ushered in an explosive and exciting time for the food writing world, as bloggers and amateur critics found their platform and traditional ways of understanding and evaluating the culinary profession were toppled.
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Goodbye, Gourmet magazine. Hello, Yelp. Food criticism has been democratized, the web offers chefs and restaurants more visibility than ever before, but navigating this ever-shifting world can be a job in its own for many busy chefs and restaurateurs. A panel of food journalists will discuss shifts in the media landscape and roles for chefs in this new media stew.
distribution, artisanal products, and more. Representatives from each breakout will then report to the full group.
Speakers: Jane Black, food writer, The Washington Post; Corie Brown, co-founder, general manager, Zester Daily; Corby Kummer, author, senior editor, The Atlantic, restaurant critic, Boston Magazine; Francis Lam, senior writer, salon.com
Supporting local agriculture keeps communities healthy, preserves natural resources, and maintains vibrant local economies. Livestock producers play a critical role in this picture, yet meat processing is often the weak link in a supply chain to support sustainable meat producers—and a strong supply chain is critical for these producers to remain viable. What are the practical realities of building a regional meat supply chain? This panel will trace the impact of each step of the meat supply chain on local communities, the natural environment, human health, and culinary practices. The panel will emphasize how chefs who are buying whole animals and practicing nose-to-tail cooking can play an important role in reinvigorating regional supply chains for sustainable meat.
Moderator: Tom Philpott, food editor, grist.org
4:30 PM: Depart for Allandale Farm in Boston for a farm tour and awards barbeque
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Tuesday, October 5
Bunker Hill Community College 7:30 am: Registration and breakfast
8:15 am: Welcome and group discussion about the sustainable food landscape, moderated by john ash During this session, participants will be seated by areas of expertise and participate in conversations about what is new and exciting in the area of sustainable food sourcing, cooking, local food
9:00-10:30 am: Breakout sessions
Building Regional Supply Chains for Sustainable Meat: Why and How?
Moderator: Jen Small, co-owner, Flying Pigs Farm, Shushan, NY Speakers: Annie Farrell, farm manager, Millstone Farm, Wilton, CT;
Judith LaBelle, president, Glynwood, Cold Spring, NY; Tony Maws, chef/proprietor, Craigie on Main, Cambridge, MA Eating Oysters, Tasting Place Of all the foods available to chefs and diners, oysters are among the most exciting. With the ability to
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truly reflect a taste of place, eating oysters tethers us to geography in a way few foods can replicate. This panel will discuss why. Experts from the Gulf of Mexico and the East and West Coasts will discuss how climate, habitat and other factors combine to concentrate unique place-based flavors within the oyster’s shells. A side-by-side tasting of East Coast and West Coast oysters will conclude this session.
Moderator: Rowan Jacobsen, author, A Geography of Oysters and
American Terroir Speakers: Skip Bennett, founder and owner, Island Creek Oysters, Duxbury, MA; Jon Rowley, consultant, Taylor Shellfish Farms, Shelton, WA; Poppy Tooker, food personality, culinary teacher, author, New Orleans, LA
Season Extension and Food Preservation: Fresh Ways Forward Putting up: whether pickling, canning, curing, or drying, for chefs, food preservation is a way to extend the season for local food, develop culinary technique, and add dimension to dishes. For farms, season extension might take the shape of winter greenhouses, root cellars, and value-added products—and chefs are key outlets for these efforts. This panel will discuss how working together, farms and chefs can build markets and infrastructures for more robust local food systems, year-round, and how preserving foods and extending the season is an important part of those efforts.
Moderator: Amy Bodiker, food systems consultant, Columbus, OH
Speakers: Stephen Stryjewski, chef/partner, Cochon restaurant, New Orleans, LA; Adam Welly, farmer, Wayward Seed Farm, Marysville, OH; Sherri Brooks Vinton, author, Put ‘Em Up! Westport, CT
Raising the Bar: From Traditional Brews to BadAss Cocktails Early settlers to New England used what was at hand to make ciders, meads, brews, and other alcohol; Prohibition ushered in an era of creative cocktails; and now, we’re in the thick of a new era where modern mixologists pay heed to tradition without sacrificing creativity. With renewed attention to craft cocktails, beers and old-world beverages like cider and mead, the quality and diversity of bar drinks is broader and more fascinating than ever. Encouraged by this interest, small producers are joining the game and micro-distilleries are joining micro-breweries to capture the interest of drinkers and diners. Part history lesson, part trends forecast, this panel will explore the ebbs and flows of our brews and booze, and discuss ways to incorporate everything from artisanal spirits to basic brews in your own bar stews. Moderator: Robin Schempp, culinary and beverage consultant, Right Stuff Enterprises, Waterbury, VT Speakers: Jackson Cannon, bar manager, Eastern Standard Kitchen and Drinks, Boston, MA; Gable Erenzo, distiller and brand ambassador, Tuthilltown Spirits, Gardiner, NY; Jeff Horner, head brewer, Cisco Brewers, Nantucket, MA; Ben Watson, senior editor, Chelsea Green Publishing, author, Cider Hard +Sweet, Francestown, NH
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Chefs’ Roles in Renewing Heirloom and Heritage Foods What is the difference between a Red Wattle and a Large Black hog? Why would you go out of your way to find an Ozette potato? And who was Jimmy Nardello and what’s so special about his sweet peppers? The Renewing America’s Food Traditions (RAFT) project documents, restores, and celebrates rare food species at risk of extinction due to industrialization, regulations, and damaged ecosystems. Joining the efforts to save these at-risk species, chefs around the country are adopting the mantra of “Eat it to Save it!” This panel features chefs who are working to restore foods at risk of extinction not only by featuring the unusual and delicious ingredients on their menus, but by also getting involved in their local food communities. Moderator: John Forti, curator of historic gardens and
landscapes, Strawbery Banke Museum, Portsmouth, NH Speakers: Seth Caswell, chef/owner, emmer&rye restaurant,
Seattle, WA; Evan Mallet, chef/owner, Black Trumpet Bistro, Portsmouth, NH; Andrea Reusing, chef/owner, Lantern restaurant, Chapel Hill, NC 10:30 am: Break 10:45 am: Plenary session 10:45-11 am: Guest speaker, Robert P. Martin, Senior Officer, Pew Environmental Group Martin will discuss work by The Pew Commission to address the problems created by industrial farm
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animal production in the areas of public health, the environment, animal welfare, and rural communities. 11:00 am: Meet-the-Authors panel: Join Lynne Christy Anderson, author of Breaking Bread: Recipes and Stories from Immigrant Kitchens; Paul Greenberg, author of FOUR FISH: The Future of the Last Wild Food; Rowan Jacobsen, author of American Terroir: Savoring the Flavors of our Woods, Waters, and Fields; and Sherri Brooks Vinton, author of Put ‘Em Up! as they discuss and sign their books. Moderated by Boston-based journalist Louisa Kasdon.
Thank You to all the people who worked so hard on the Summit! Summit Steering Committee
John Ash, Peter Hoffman, Bob Perry Summit Program Committee
John Ash, Michael Leviton, Bob Perry, Robin Schempp, Stephen Stryjewski, Megan Westmeyer Host committee
Ilene Bezahler, Jason Bond, Nancy Civetta, Peter Davis, Ed Doyle, Toni Elka, John Forti, Will Gilson, Michael Leviton, Evan Mallett, Tony Maws, Casey Riley, John Stowell
12:15 pm: Depart for the Museum of Science 12:45-3:30 pm: Closing session and lunch prepared by top New England chefs
Return to the Regional: Supporting a Strong and Sustainable Taste of Place Peter Hoffman, chef and owner of Savoy and Back Forty restaurants in Manhattan and former Chefs Collaborative board chair, will lead a conversation about the past, present and future of American regional foods. He will be joined on the podium by Betty Fussell, Rowan Jacobsen, and Poppy Tooker, all authors and experts in distinct regional cuisines. 3:30 pm: Farewell!
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Special Thanks! zz Allandale Farm for offering their beautiful fields for our Summit.
zz Future Chefs students and staff for all their great work at the Summit.
zz Bunker Hill Community College staff and students for their enthusiasm and support.
zz JJ Gonson for coordinating a celebratory closing lunch at the Museum of Science.
zz C3 for all their logistics and event planning expertise! zz Garrett Harker and his hospitable team at Eastern Standard Kitchen & Drinks for hosting our late night industry party. zz Ed Doyle for organizing a delicious barbeque at Allandale Farm.
zz Steve Johnson for opening the doors of Rendezvous and sharing his hospitality. zz Museum of Science and Wolfgang Puck Catering for hosting our closing lunch. zz The entire team at Russell House Tavern for offering our summit participants a gracious welcome to Boston.
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Thank you to all of the talented chefs who so
generously cooked during the Summit, including: zz Jason Bond, Beacon Hill Hotel and Bistro, Boston, and Bondir, Somerville
zz Peter Davis, Henrietta’s Table, Cambridge zz Jose Duarte, Taranta, Boston zz Greg Griffie, 606 Congress, Boston zz Matt Jennings, La Laiterie, Providence, RI zz Maura Kilpatrick, Oleana and Sofra, Cambridge zz Michael Leviton, Lumiere, Newton zz Wyeth Lynch, Soul Fire BBQ, Allston
Dolan Vineyards, Peak Organic Beer, Pretty Things Beer and Ale Project, Shy Brothers Farm, Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery.
Thank you to our generous sponsors
Platinum zz Compass Group and Eurest
Gold zz Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute zz Anolon Champion zz Cervena Venison
zz Barry Maiden, Hungry Mother, Cambridge
zz Intelligentsia Coffee and Tea
zz Evan Mallett, Black Trumpet Bistro, Portsmouth, NH
zz Muir Glen
zz Matt Maue, Tastings Wine Bar and Bistro, Foxborough, MA
zz Peterson Party Center
zz Tony Maws, Craigie on Main, Cambridge zz Rahul Moolgaonkar, Wolfgang Puck Catering at The Museum of Science, Boston zz Ana Sortun, Oleana and Sofra, Cambridge zz Derek Wagner, Nick’s on Broadway, Providence RI zz Jasper White, Summer Shack, Towne Stove and Spirits, Boston
Thank you for the many donations of local ingredients, food, and drink, which include:
zz AquaHealth, Australis Barramundi, Best Damn Granola Company, Brambly Farms, Cabot Cheese, Chive Sustainable Event Design and Catering, Cleanfish, Costa Fruit and Produce, Dole and Bailey, Eva’s Garden, Farnum Hill Ciders, Flour Bakery + Cafe, Hi-Rise Bread Company, Iggy’s Breads of the World, Intelligentsia Coffee and Tea, Naragansett Creamery, Muir Glen, Paul
Steward zz AquaHealth zz Fresh Ideas Group zz Paul Dolan Vineyards Leader zz Australis Barramundi zz Cabot Cheese zz Costa Fruit and Produce zz Frontier Natural Products Co-op zz Indian Harvest zz Kendall College zz Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery zz Zester Daily
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participant biographies Lynne Christy Anderson author, Breaking Bread: Recipes and Stories from Immigrant Kitchens, Boston, MA
Lynne Christy Anderson is a writer, teacher, and cook living in Boston. For years she worked in award-winning restaurants until turning to a career in teaching, first working with immigrant adults learning English as a Second Language in the Boston Public Schools. Her students—mothers and fathers from places like Guatemala, Pakistan, and Vietnam, grandparents from Haiti, Cape Verde, and Brazil—shared the triumph and loss that marked their coming to America and the way that food lessened the struggle by serving as both a link to the past and a bridge into the future. These stories led Lynne to consider the powerful relationship between food and cultural well-being and were the inspiration for her book, Breaking Bread: Stories and Recipes from Immigrant Kitchens. Lynne has also taught cross-cultural cooking classes to children around New England. In 2008, she was the recipient of a Bread Loaf Rona Jaffe Foundation scholarship in non-fiction. Currently, she teaches at Boston College and Bunker Hill Community College in Massachusetts.
John Ash
chef, educator, and author, Santa Rosa, CA
John first came to national prominence when he was selected by Food & Wine magazine as one of America’s “Hot New Chefs.” He founded his restaurant, John Ash & Co, in Northern California’s wine country in 1980. Thirty years later, it continues to be critically acclaimed. John served for many years as the culinary
director for Fetzer and Bonterra Vineyards. He is on the faculty of the Professional Wine Studies Program at the CIA Greystone and also the chair of a program there for home cooks called The Sophisticated Palate. John has written three books. His latest, John Ash Cooking One-on-One: Private Lessons in Simple, Contemporary Food from a Master Teacher, was published spring 2004 by Clarkson Potter. It won a 2005 James Beard award. He has authored two other books: From the Earth to the Table: John Ash’s Wine Country Cuisine and American Game Cooking. The former was awarded the IACP award for Best American Cookbook and the Julia Child Cookbook of the Year. Chronicle Books released a completely revised and updated version of From the Earth to the Table in 2007. In April of 2008 John was voted “Cooking School Teacher of the Year” by the International Association of Culinary Professionals at their annual gathering in New Orleans.
Peter Baker
New England fisheries campaign manager, Pew Environment Group, Harwich, MA
Peter works closely with the fishermen whose livelihoods depend on sustainable fish populations. He has been working on New England fisheries policy for eight years and was responsible for helping create the first community-based cooperative in New England, the Georges Bank Hook Sector in 2004. He has crewed on commercial lobster boats and groundfish longline vessels.
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Jon Bell professor, Louisiana State University, consultant, Louisiana Seafood Marketing and Promotion Board, New Orleans, LA
Dr. Bell is currently a professor with the food science department in the LSU AgCenter. Jon is directing the program development and outreach activities for a Quality Certification Program for Wild Louisiana Shrimp for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries. Jon was recently hired after working as Director of Quality Assurance for Chicken of the Sea International. Prior to this industry executive position, Jon was the director of the seafood technology program in the LSU AgCenter department of food science, focusing on a variety of seafood safety and quality projects. Jon has had multiple experiences in the seafood industry and academia linking seafood quality research and assurance programs with marketing programs and purchasing initiatives.
Skip Bennett
founder and owner, Island Creek Oysters, Duxbury, MA
Skip Bennett is an artisan. He looks at oyster farming as both aquaculture and art. On the farm, folks equate him to a winemaker, planting and caring for his oysters as a viticulturalist would with grapes. For over 15 years, Island Creek Oysters have consistently emerged from the water to overwhelming acclaim from chefs, media, and epicureans nationwide. Bennett has spent his entire life in Duxbury (he grew up catching fish and bullfrogs in Island Creek). A passionate clam and mussel harvester, Skip graduated from Merrimack College with a finance degree but quickly realized that he would never feel at home
behind a desk. Instead, he went back to the water and tried growing quahog clams in Duxbury Bay. When that didn’t work, he decided to give oysters a try.
Skip now oversees the largest producing farm and crew at Island Creek and is the owner of Island Creek, Inc. He has two daughters who share his passion for the water and he’s thinking of branching out the farm: he purchased 2 pigs and 6 chickens earlier this spring.
Jeannette Beranger
research and technical program manager, American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, Pittsboro, NC
Jeannette joined the ALBC team with over 20 years experience working with animals in the non-profit sector. Beginning her career as a veterinary technician, Jeannette progressed to become a head zookeeper at the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Rhode Island. Her responsibilities included managing a wide variety of species, and in particular the animals within the rare breeds farm of the zoo. Through her work for the American Association of Zookeepers, Inc., she developed international outreach programs and workshops. After retiring from the zoo field, she was recruited to join ALBC. Her experience facilitating research, organizing workshops and conferences, applying technology to improve animal husbandry, combined with her skills in outreach and networking enable her to research, plan, develop and implement important breed conservation programs for ALBC. Outside of her work with ALBC, she and her family operate a rare breeds farm and breed heritage chickens and Marsh Tacky horses.
Jane Black
food writer, The Washington Post, Washington D.C.
Jane Black is a food writer at The Washington Post where she covers food politics, trends and
sustainability issues. Her reporting has taken her from Immokalee, Florida, where she wrote about tomato pickers’ struggle for better working conditions to Monterey Bay, where she attended a “secret meeting” of the Sardinistas, a group of environmentalists who advocate culinary joys of small, sustainable fish. Jane started off her career as a business and political reporter. In 2003, she switched directions and attended culinary school in London. Before moving to Washington, she served as food editor at Boston Magazine. Jane’s writing has received many awards including two James Beards for The Washington Post food section. Her work has also been featured in the collections of Best Food Writing in 2008 and 2009.
Amy Bodiker
food systems consultant, Columbus, OH
Amy is on a mission to improve our food supply. She was trained as a chef and has spent the past ten years with nonprofit organizations that promote the connection between good food and improved personal, environmental and community health. She was the founding director of Chefs Collaborative and served as development director at Stone Barns Center from 2006-2009. Today, she consults with food and farming organizations around the country, helping them to increase their fundraising potential and build capacity. She is an avid gardener, enthusiastic cooking teacher, and occasional wedding cake maker.
Corie Brown
co-founder & general manager, Zester Daily, Los Angeles, CA
Corie Brown is the co-founder and general manager of Zester Daily. A former editor and writer with the Los Angeles Times, she received the 2008 University of Missouri Lifestyle Award for her article about climate change and wine, A Scorching Future, and currently is writing a book on that subject. In 2006, she won both
first and second prize for news reporting from the Association of Food Journalists. Corie recently was awarded a fellowship by the Foreign Press Center of Japan and worked in Japan this June. Previously, Corie was West Coast entertainment correspondent with Newsweek and a columnist for Premiere Magazine. On staff with Business Week in Boston and other McGraw-Hill publications in New York City and Washington, D.C., she has written about energy, the environment and healthcare.
Jackson Cannon
bar manager, Eastern Standard Kitchen & Drinks, Boston, MA
Jackson Cannon has always lived to exacting standards. Son and brother of renowned award- winning journalists Lou and Carl Cannon, Jackson grew up immersed in a world of travel, politics and literature. In his twenties Jackson dedicated himself to a career in music, and a stint booking music acts at the Lizard Lounge in Cambridge, Massachusetts provided the fortuitous introduction to the craft of bartending and Cannon seized the stage. Settling in Boston, Jackson found mixology to be the perfect profession for his diverse interests. Cannon has since single-handedly elevated the craft of bartending in Boston.
As opening Bar Manager at Eastern Standard his cocktail program, offering more than 60 classic and new creations, has received national attention. USA Today named Eastern Standard one of the country’s Top 10 Hotel Bars and Boston magazine awarded it “Best Restaurant Bar” in 2006 and Esquire magazine included it in its 2008 list of “Best Bars in America.”
The wanderlust of youth has led Jackson to travel in furthering his first-hand knowledge to Turin, Italy in the study of vermouth, London, to explore the world of Plymouth Gin and Fe Camp, France in search of the monks of Benedictine. When he’s not traveling, Jackson can be found behind the bar at Eastern Standard, molding the next generation of
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bartenders and inspiring the next devotee to the rich tradition of hand-crafted cocktails.
Seth Caswell
chef/owner, emmer&rye restaurant, Seattle, WA
Focusing on locally-derived, seasonally-inspired cuisine has been Chef Caswell’s hallmark for more than a decade and a half. He began cooking professionally in 1994 and quickly worked his way from baking and pastry work to hot and savory cooking in restaurants in Taos, Seattle and New York City, where he learned the importance of technique, high-quality ingredients and simplicity. His work helped earn Nick & Toni’s restaurant of East Hampton, NY a three star review from The New York Times. Caswell returned to the Northwest where he made his mark as executive chef at Stumbling Goat Bistro. In 2010, Caswell opened emmer&rye in a restored Victorian house on the top of Queen Anne Hill, Seattle to further his vision of “locally derived, seasonally inspired” cuisine. Here, Caswell creates dishes that showcase the best ingredients the Pacific Northwest has to offer.
Margaret Curole
North American co-coordinator, World Forum of Fishharvesters and Fishworkers, Galliano, LA
Margeret Curole is an executive board member, Commercial Fisherman of America, and the North American cocoordinator, World Forum of Fishharvesters and Fishworkers, an NGO that works for the rights of traditional fishing communities worldwide. She and her husband were commercial shrimp fishermen until 2006, when she took on the role of international fisheries activist and he became a tug boat captain. Margaret has been in over 23 countries in the past six years helping develop healthy sustainable food practices and laws.
Margaret is also the executive chef of Commercial Fishermen of America and a guest chef to the Dept. of Commerce (NOAA) Fish Fry in D.C. six years in a row. She does cooking demonstrations in farmers markets and trade shows as well as festivals and events, explaining the importance of cooking fresh locally obtained seafood, as well as adapting menus for what is in season.
Peter Davis
executive chef, Henrietta’s Table, Cambridge, MA
In 1996, Chef Peter Davis opened Henrietta’s Table at The Charles Hotel with the philosophy of “fresh and honest” cuisine. Chef Davis is committed to supporting local farmers and promoting sustainable agriculture methods. Under Chef Davis’ leadership, Henrietta’s Table was named the “Best Farm to Table” restaurant by Gourmet, honored for its “Excellence in Sustainable Cuisine” by Santé in 2008, and Davis recognized by the MSPA for his extraordinary contribution to local farming and incredible hotel-wide buying power, including all banquet menus. He was also named one of the “Best Hotel Chefs in America” by the James Beard Foundation.
Davis and The Charles Hotel annually host the “Big Pig Gig,” a fundraising event for a local sustainable-farming school, raising up to $260,000 per year. In the fall of 2008, Chef Davis launched Fresh & Honest, his cookbook summarizing years of passionate advocacy for local sustainable agriculture at Henrietta’s Table.
Gable Erenzo
distiller and brand ambassador, Tuthilltown Spirits, Gardiner, NY
As distiller and brand ambassador, Gable divides his time between production and the national rollout of Tuthilltown Spirits. With over 15 years in production and national event management, an associate’s degree
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from CU, and a BS in Business Management from SUNY New Paltz, he brings considerable business knowledge and experience to the company. Gable’s prior position as head distiller and production manager at the distillery educated him about all aspects of the Tuthilltown Spirits production process, preparing him for his current role as brand ambassador. A rock climber and outdoor enthusiast from the very start, Gable has been climbing in the “Gunks” for over 20 years. He is happy to be working at something he loves, surrounded by friends and family.
Barry Estabrook journalist, Vergennes, VT
A James-Beard-Awardwinning journalist, Estabrook was a contributing editor at Gourmet magazine until its closure in 2009. In addition to editing and writing regular features on food politics, he helped compile three anthologies of articles from the magazine for Random House/ Modern Library and originated and developed the editorial plan for The Gourmet Cookbook. He was the founding editor of Eating Well magazine, co-founder of Chapters Publishing and was publisher at Houghton Mifflin Company, where he managed that company’s cookbook and field guide lines. His work has also appeared in the New York Times “Dining” section and the New York Times Magazine, Men’s Health, Saveur, Gastronomica, and many other national magazines, and he is the author of two crime novels published by St. Martin’s Press. He has been anthologized in The Best American Food Writing 2005, 2007, and 2008. He was co-writer of Jacques Pépin’s bestselling memoir The Apprentice.
Barbara Fairchild
editor-in-chief, Bon Appétit magazine, Los Angeles, CA
Barbara Fairchild joined Bon Appétit in 1978 as an editorial assistant, and after rising through the
ranks, was promoted to editor-in-chief in June 2000.
A prominent leader in the epicurean world, Ms. Fairchild was inducted into the James Beard Foundation’s “Who’s Who in American Food and Beverage” in May 2000. Frequent television appearances include NBC’s Today Show, CBS’s The Early Show, NBC’s Dateline, CNN, Food Network’s Iron Chef America, 2 Seasons of The Next Food Network Star, and America’s Top Restaurant and Fox’s Kitchen Nightmares and Hell’s Kitchen.
During Ms. Fairchild’s tenure as editor-inchief, Bon Appétit has been honored with three James Beard Awards, numerous awards from the Society of Publication Designers and multiple ASME nominations, including General Excellence.
She has also authored the successful The Bon Appétit Cookbook, released in the fall of 2006, (named one of the top books of the year by Publishers Weekly and Amazon.com.) and the popular Fast Easy Fresh, released in 2008. A third cookbook, Bon Appétit Desserts is due out in November 2010. Barbara Fairchild divides her time between the Bon Appétit offices in New York and Los Angeles, where the magazine’s editorial staff is based.
Annie Farrell
farm manager, Millstone Farm, Wilton, CT
Annie Farrell was born and raised in New York City. She spent summers in Northern Westchester County, where she fell in love with the farms that still operated there. After working in different roles in the food and agricultural industries, she was invited back to Westchester to create a model of sustainable agriculture on a 225-acre farm in Mt Kisco, NY: Cabbage Hill Farm, where she spent 10 years and built an example of local diverse, agriculture in Westchester County. With years of working to strengthen local farming, she has been most recently working with Betsy and Jesse Fink to recreate Millstone Farm in Wilton, which is a model of a small,
diversified, organic family owned farm. Along the way, there have been many other projects, all dedicated to rebuilding community, preserving farmland and the skills that are needed to use that land wisely. She sits on the Westchester County Agriculture and Farmland Protection Board, the Muscoot Farm Friends Board, the Watershed Agricultural Council, and is involved in many other land preservation groups.
John Forti
curator of historic gardens and landscapes, Strawbery Banke Museum, Portsmouth, NH
John Forti is a nationally recognized garden historian, ethnobotanist and herbalist. He aspires to plant the seeds of history and encourage a more sustainable future to bloom. He is the curator of historic gardens and landscapes at Strawbery Banke Museum in Portsmouth, NH and previously served as the horticulturist at Plimoth Plantation Museum. John is also co-founder of Slow Food Seacoast and the recent recipient of the 2010 Award for Civic Improvement by the Garden Club of America for his work with heirloom and native plants, community based agriculture and Slow Food.
Betty Fussell author, New York, NY
Betty Fussell is the author of eleven books, ranging from biography to cookbooks, food history and memoir. Over the last 50 years, her essays on food, travel and the arts have appeared in scholarly journals, popular magazines and newspapers as varied as The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Los Angeles Times, Saveur, Vogue, Food & Wine, Metropolitan Home and Gastronomica. Her memoir, My Kitchen Wars, was performed in Hollywood and New York as a one-woman show by actress Dorothy Lyman. Her most recent book is Raising Steaks: the Life and Times of American Beef, and she is now working on How to Cook a Coyote: A Manual of Survival in NYC.
Will Gilson chef, Garden at the Cellar, Cambridge, MA
Will Gilson is the chef of Garden at the Cellar in Cambridge, Massachusetts and the consulting chef at The Herb Lyceum in Groton, Massachusetts. Both restaurants are very different in nature, but collectively they share the same vision: Local, sustainable, fresh and seasonal food, cuisine and ingredients. While Garden at the Cellar is new, energetic, lively, and neighborhood oriented, The Herb Lyceum is a culinary destination and prides itself on the seasonal multi-course dinners that are served in a farm oriented country environment.
Will is a 2005 graduate of Johnson & Wales University in Providence, RI with degrees in Food Service Management and Culinary Arts. Will believes that through collaborative efforts between local chefs and producers, the network and core of Boston’s food scene will become stronger and healthier.
Darra Goldstein
editor, Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture; professor of Russian, Williams College, Williamstown, MA
Darra Goldstein is Francis Christopher Oakley Third Century professor of Russian at Williams College and founding editor of Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture. She has published numerous books and articles on culture, art, and cuisine and organized exhibitions including Feeding Desire: Design and the Tools of the Table, at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. She is the author of four cookbooks: A Taste of Russia, The Georgian Feast (1994 IACP Julia Child Cookbook of the Year), The Winter Vegetarian, and Baking Boot Camp at the CIA. Goldstein has consulted for the Council of Europe on the use of food as a means to promote tolerance and diversity, and under her editorship Culinary Cultures of Europe: Identity, Diversity and Dialogue was published in 2005. She has also consulted for the Russian Tea Room and Firebird restaurants in New
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York and served on the Board of Directors of the IACP. She is currently Food Editor of Russian Life magazine and series editor of California Studies in Food and Culture (University of California Press).
Paul Greenberg author, New York, ny
Paul Greenberg’s writing on seafood and the ocean has appeared regularly in the New York Times Magazine, Book Review, and Opinion Page, as well as National Geographic. A National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellow as well as a W. K. Kellogg Foundation Food and Society Policy Fellow, he lives and works in New York City and Lake Placid, New York.
Paul Greenberg’s most recent book is the highly acclaimed FOUR FISH: The Future of the Last Wild Food. In FOUR FISH, Greenberg explores our relationship with the ocean, which he argues is undergoing a profound transformation. The book explores the history of salmon, sea bass, cod, and tuna, examining the forces that bring these fish to our dinner tables. Through his investigation, he shows how we can start to heal the oceans and fight for a world where healthy and sustainable seafood is the rule rather than the exception. Greenberg lives in Manhattan, New York, speaks Russian and French, and most recently went fishing off the Connecticut coast with his daughter this summer.
Sam Hayward
chef/partner, Fore St. restaurant, Portland, ME
Sam Hayward is a chef and partner at the award winning Fore Street restaurant in Portland, ME. Hayward, who won the James Beard award as the Northeast’s best chef in 2004, describes his cooking style as “…unembellishment.”
and the table. He founds his menu upon the very best raw materials from a community of Maine farmers, fishermen, foragers, and cheesemakers, who are also friends and neighbors. Hayward says he’s often skeptical about new cooking innovations. “But I’m never skeptical about a beautiful artisanal cheese or a perfect head of Maine lettuce.” He works hard to support Maine producers as exclusively as he can.
Steve Hedlund
editor, seafoodsource.com, Portland, ME
Steven Hedlund is editor of seafoodsource.com, the global seafood industry’s most trusted online source for objective news and insightful opinion. Steve has 10-plus years of seafood journalism experience, beginning with SeaFood Business magazine and gofish.com. Hired by Diversified Business Communications of Portland, Maine, as online writer for gofish.com in 1999, Steve was promoted to senior writer of SeaFood Business in 2001 and associate editor of SeaFood Business in 2004. During his nineyear tenure at SeaFood Business, he wrote in-depth feature stories about a plethora of seafood-related topics, from the politics of international trade to the intricacies of the global shrimp trade. As editor of seafoodsource. com since January 2009, he is responsible for contributing news stories and commentaries to the website and managing a team of one staff editor and nine contributing editors scattered across the globe. A 1998 graduate of the University of Maine, Steve’s background is in journalism. Prior to Diversified, he worked for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and The Landmark newspapers, both in Central Massachusetts. Steve lives in Poland, Maine, with his wife Stephanie.
Hayward believes that good food travels the shortest possible distance between the farm
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Eric Hesse fisherman, West Barnstable, MA
Eric is a lifelong fisherman based in West Barnstable, Massachusetts. He is a founding member and board member of the Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen’s Association, which has been in operation since 2004. He uses hook and line gear and targets groundfish such as cod, haddock and flounder. Eric earned a bachelor’s degree in physics at Bates College and went on to obtain a master’s in environmental engineering while pursuing his career in commercial fishing. He offers a big picture view of how commercial fishing and protecting the marine ecosystem can coexist.
Peter Hoffman
chef/owner, Savoy and Back Forty restaurants, New York, NY
Peter Hoffman is the chef/ owner of Savoy Restaurant (est.1990) and of Back Forty, a casual tavern, which opened in Oct ober, 2007. Both restaurants work with a simple premise - to create delicious and memorable meals by sourcing the very best seasonal ingredients from local farmers. Savoy received a rave two star review, “A Locavore Before the Word Existed,” from Frank Bruni of the New York Times in June 2009 toasting Hoffman’s pioneering efforts and long commitment to seasonal cooking. Hoffman served on the board of Chefs Collaborative from 1997 until 2010 and acted as its national chair from 2000-2006. He was featured in the summer 2004 as Chef of the Times in a four part New York Times series, and penned two OpEd pieces for the Times. National coverage of the restaurant and Hoffman’s cooking has appeared in Gourmet appeared in Gourmet (top 50 restaurants of 2007) Met Home, The New Yorker, Saveur and the PBS series Chefs A’Field.
Mike Holleman director of culinary development, Indian Harvest, Bemidji, MN
Michael Holleman is director of culinary development at Minnesotabased Indian Harvest, a niche supplier of top-quality exotic and heirloom rice, grains and legumes to the foodservice industry. Holleman began his culinary career in independent restaurants where his interest in specialty and heirloom varieties was born. In the supply side of the business, Holleman is free to indulge his passion as he seeks unusual varieties of grains and rice the world over, and hand-selects seeds for experimental cultivation. A member of the American Culinary Federation and Research Chefs Association, Holleman is a director of the Whole Grains Council. He often gives presentations on heirloom cultivation, sustainability in foodservice and whole-grain nutrition issues and trends.
Jeff Horner
head brewer, Cisco Brewers, Nantucket, MA
Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Jeffrey Horner developed a passion for fresh local food and drink before moving east to study physics at University of Maryland. He worked as a chef in D.C. after choosing to not adopt a career in geo-physics, instead exploring the culinary world by studying food and wine at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. While there he served as an educator running ALES (Ale and Lager Education Society) a program to share cooking techniques and appreciation of world class beer with aspiring chefs. He has been the brewer at Cisco Brewers on Nantucket for four years, creating a wide range of award winning beers.
Rowan Jacobsen author, East Calais, VT
Rowan Jacobsen writes about food, the environment, and the connections between the two. Whether visiting endangered oystermen in Louisiana or cacaogathering tribes in the Bolivian Amazon, his subject is how to maintain a sense of place in a world of increasing placelessness. He has written for Harper’s, the New York Times, Newsweek, Eating Well, Outside, and others. He is the multiple–James Beard award-winning author of A Geography of Oysters, Fruitless Fall, The Living Shore, and American Terroir. He lives in rural Vermont with his wife and son and speaks frequently on the subjects of food, wine, and sustainability.
Jennings to bring new and interesting, locally sourced food and artisan libations to his New England customer base.
Louisa Kasdon journalist, Boston, MA
Louisa Kasdon is a Bostonbased food and health journalist with over 500 published articles and books in a range of regional, national, and international publications. She is the food editor at large for Phoenix Media & Communications Group and Stuff magazine, and the 2008 winner of the M.F.K. Fisher Prize for Excellence in Culinary Writing. Louisa is also the creator of the Let’s Talk About Food Initiative at the Museum of Science.
Chris Koetke
Matt Jennings
executive chef, cheesemonger, co-owner, La Laiterie and Farmstead, Inc, Providence, RI
Matt Jennings is the executive chef, master cheesemonger and coowner of La Laiterie and Farmstead, Inc. in Providence, Rhode Island. Since 2002, Farmstead has been offering New England’s best selection of domestic and imported artisan cheeses and accompaniments. La Laiterie, which offers honest, seasonal, handmade food, was born in May 2006, created by chefs Matt and Kate Jennings. They serve seasonal bistro-style cuisine in an intimate yet contemporary atmosphere inspired by their travels overseas and the cafes, trattorias, enotecas, bodegas & wine bars they have discovered in these travels.
Jennings believes in a diligently sourced, well constructed menu with comfort, warmth and a mosaic of flavors. He also knows that great food starts with great ingredients, and La Laiterie prides itself on the freshness and quality of the ingredients, of which as many as possible are purchased locally from sustainable farms and food producers throughout the seasons. The menu at La Laiterie is constantly evolving, allowing
dean of the College of Culinary Art, Kendall College, Chicago, IL
Christopher Koetke has been a culinary instructor at the School of Culinary Arts at Kendall College since January 1998. He was appointed Dean of the School of Culinary Arts in 2005. Christopher began cooking professionally in 1982, starting at local restaurants in his hometown, Valparaiso, Indiana. He soon moved to Chicago and on to France to further his culinary education. There, he worked in some of the country’s finest kitchens: Pavillion Elysees, Pierre Gagnaire, Taillevent and Pierre Orsi. In 1992, Christopher became executive chef at Les Nomades in Chicago. He has a B.A. in French Literature from Valparaiso University and a Certificat de la Langue from the Sorbonne in Paris. He is currently pursuing an MBA.
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Corby Kummer
author; senior editor, The Atlantic; restaurant critic, Boston Magazine, Boston, MA.
Corby Kummer’s work in The Atlantic has established him as one of the most
widely read, authoritative, and creative food writers in the United States. The San Francisco Examiner pronounced him “a dean among food writers in America.” Julia Child once said, “I think he’s a very good food writer. He really does his homework. As a reporter and a writer he takes his work very seriously.” His book, The Joy of Coffee, based on his Atlantic series, was heralded by The New York Times as “the most definitive and engagingly written book on the subject to date.” The Pleasures of Slow Food celebrates local artisans who raise and prepare the foods of their regions with the love and expertise that come only with generations of practice. Kummer was restaurant critic of New York Magazine in 1995 and 1996 and since 1997 has served as restaurant critic for Boston Magazine. He is also a frequent food commentator on television and radio. He is the recipient of five James Beard Journalism Awards, including the MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award.
Judith LaBelle
president, Glynwood, Cold Spring, New York
Judith LaBelle became the founding president of Glynwood, a nonprofit organization helping communities in the Northeast save farming, in 1995. Since that time, she has guided the organization to become a recognized leader in the field of sustainable agriculture. The foundation of Glynwood’s work has been its community engagement: leading communities to uncover and implement their best strategy for local support of agriculture. Through this community-based work, Glynwood identifies needs at the regional level – recently a focus of this work has been farmers’ need for processing infrastructure. A recent accomplishment on this front, through Judith’s creation and oversight of a Regional Slaughterhouse Task Force, was to establish the first modular, mobile slaughterhouse unit licensed by the USDA in the Northeast. An attorney by trade, Judith has over 25 years’ experience with environmental issues, land conservation, real estate and tax-exempt organizations.
Francis Lam senior writer, salon.com, New York City
When he finally did it, Francis decided he would get three tattoos, one for each of the things most important in the world: food, art, and love. “But what about politics? What about justice?” he later fretted. His friend said, “My politics all come out of love.” And so he stuck to the three tattoo plan. Before he was telling you about his tattoos, Francis worked with nonprofit organizations and taught writing and literature to students in the woods. He is currently a senior writer at salon.com, and provides what might be called color commentary for the Cooking Channel show Food(ography). He was a contributing editor at Gourmet magazine (RIP), a frequent contributor to the Financial Times, and was honored to be nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award and several International Association of Culinary Professionals awards, winning one. He is a member of the James Beard Foundation Journalism Awards Committee, and his work has also appeared in the 2006 - 2009 editions of Best Food Writing. He believes that, in professional football that would count as a dynasty; in ancient China, not so much. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the Culinary Institute of America, and makes the meanest ratatouille.
Michael Leviton
chef/owner, Lumiere restaurant, Newton, MA
Michael Leviton has worked with some of the country’s top chefs, including Joyce Goldstein at Square One, Gilbert Le Coze, Francois Payard and Eric Ripert at Le Bernadin, and Daniel Boulud at Le Cirque. In February 1999, he opened Lumière in his hometown of Newton, MA. Lumiere serves simple, seasonal dishes created from locally and sustainably raised and harvested ingredients. Michael has been recognized with numerous awards including Best New Chefs in America
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for 2000, Food & Wine; Best New Restaurant to open in 1999, Bon Appetit; Best New Restaurant and Best New Chef, Boston Magazine, 1999; Gourmet magazine’s Best Restaurant in America, 2002; the Saveur 100, 2002; a mention in Alan Richman’s Perfect Meal column in GQ, 2002; Distinguished Restaurants of North America (DiRoNA) Awards in 2005, 2006 and 2007; Best of Boston Awards from Boston Magazine in 1998, 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2006; and, James Beard Award nominations in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. Michael serves on the Chefs Collaborative Board of Overseers.
Glen Libby
fisherman, Port Clyde, ME
Glen Libby is a fisherman, a member of the New England Fishery Management Council, and chairman of the Midcoast (Maine) Fishermen’s Association in Port Clyde, Maine. Glen is a lifelong, secondgeneration fisherman who uses an otter trawl to target groundfish. He currently serves as the President of the Midcoast Fishermen’s Cooperative, which launched the nation’s first community-supported fishery (CSF) through Port Clyde Fresh Catch. He is a voting member of the regional governing body for New England fisheries, an appointment he received from the Secretary of Commerce. His group of small boat fishermen has conducted extensive gear research to minimize their impact on habitat, juvenile fish and bycatch.
Matt Linehan
farmer, Sparrow Arc Farm, Unity, ME
Matt Linehan is the owner of Sparrow Arc Farm in Unity, Maine. Sparrow Arc is a family farm growing 30 acres of vegetables annually, along with eight acres of tree fruit. Sparrow Arc Farm specializes in growing artisan and heirloom fruits and vegetables primarily for restaurants. With a particular focus on American and French heirloom varieties, Sparrow Arc hopes to bring food
more connected to region, history, and art to its customers.
Evan Mallet
chef/owner, Black Trumpet Bistro, Portsmouth, NH
Black Trumpet chef Evan Mallett entered the restaurant business in 1989 under the tutelage of Chef Jeff Tunks, then at Washington, DC’s River Club. In the early nineties, Evan took a break from restaurants to pursue his other passion, writing. In 1998, after serving as a restaurant critic, food writer and freelance writer for numerous Boston-area magazines and news journals, Evan moved—with his wife, Denise— to Portsmouth.
One meal at Lindbergh’s Crossing convinced Evan to apply for a job there as a line cook. When Lindbergh’s opened a Spanish-themed sister restaurant, Ciento, in 1999, Evan was named executive sous chef. While hiking with his family in the summer of 2006, Evan—an avid mushroom forager—happened on a meadow filled with black trumpet mushrooms. The name Black Trumpet, which at once evokes sleek lines, a wild edible mushroom and jazz, was an epiphany for the chef. Evan and Denise bought the restaurant in March of 2007. They live in southern Maine with Eleanor (8), Cormac (5), Evan’s dad, one dog, one cat and several chickens on a mushroom-rich woodland parcel.
Frank Mangan
extension associate professor, UMass Amherst, Amherst, MA
Frank Mangan is an extension associate professor in the Department of Plant, Soil, and Insect Sciences at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. The focus of his program is to work with commercial growers to enhance their ability to produce and market fresh vegetable crops. A focus of his program in recent year has been to identify crops that are popular among the large and growing
immigrant population in the state and region. His project has taken the lead in collaborative projects researching crops used by Latino, Portuguese-speaking, and Asian populations in Massachusetts and the region that can be grown and marketed successfully by growers in this state.
Robert P. Martin
senior officer, Pew Environment Group, Washington, D.C.
Bob Martin is a senior officer at the Pew Environment Group and was previously the Executive Director of the Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production, a two-year study funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts by a grant to Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. The charge to the Commission was to recommend solutions to the problems caused by concentrated animal feeding operations in the areas of public health, the environment, rural communities, and animal welfare. The Commission’s final report, Putting Meat on the Table: Industrial Farm Animal Production in America, was released on April 28, 2008. Martin, a native of Kansas, grew up in South Dakota and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of South Dakota. After graduation, he worked as a general assignment newspaper reporter in Pennsylvania and for the Kansas Farmers Union. He has more than 30 years experience in public policy and politics at both the federal and state levels. He worked for South Dakota Senators George McGovern, Jim Abourezk, Tom Daschle, and current Senator Tim Johnson. In addition, he worked for Kansas Congressman Dan Glickman and members of the Kansas Senate Democratic Caucus. Martin is married and he and his wife have a daughter in college.
Tony Maws chef/proprietor, Craigie on Main, Cambridge, MA
Tony Maws is a nontraditional chef who believes that local, seasonal and sustainably sourced ingredients are intrinsically better, and that these ingredients form the most significant part of what makes great food great. His resolute commitment to these tenets may have made Tony something of a pioneer in the locavore movement, but Tony admits that “these are ideas that are shared by about 90% of the world’s grandmothers.” At Craigie on Main, Tony’s earthy side and his mad-scientist side combine to create a menu best described as “refined rusticity.” This restaurant, opened in November 2008, is a more spacious incarnation of Craigie Street Bistrot, Tony’s first labor-of-love located a couple miles down Mass Ave., which opened in 2002. Tony takes pride in the fact that the spirit of his tiny bistrot remains alive and well in his new space. He works practically every night as a line cook, and is one of the few chefs who is also his own wine director. Tony grew up just across the river in Newton, and now lives in Cambridge with his wife Karolyn and their baby son Charlie. His career highlight to date was cooking for his favorite band, Wilco, last year. His interests include the Red Sox, reading cookbooks for pleasure (he has a collection of more than 200), skiing, eating Chinese food, and traveling — particularly to France.
Frank McClelland
chef/partner, L’Espalier and Sel de la Terre, Boston, MA; owner, Apple Street Farm, Essex, MA
Frank McClelland’s L’Espalier has been a perennial “best” of America’s restaurants for three decades, earning top accolades from Zagat, Forbes, Food & Wine, Bon Appétit, Frommer’s and Condé Nast Traveler as well as nods in international media. L’Espalier is New England’s most decorated
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independent restaurant with 12 consecutive AAA Five Diamond Awards (the only one in Boston) and twelve consecutive Forbes (Mobil) Four-Star awards. At the heart of Chef McClelland’s menus of New England flavors with French interpretation is Apple Street Farm, his organic farm in Essex, Massachusetts that is the primary source of heirloom produce and proteins for L’Espalier and his trio of casual Sel de la Terre bistros. The James Beard chef and cookbook author (Wine Mondays) views his life as a farmer-restaurateur as being on-trend in that patrons are discerning about the source and stories behind their foods. Chef Frank McClelland is a New England cooking institution and his restaurants are known for developing the Northeast’s next generation of exciting culinary talent.
Joe McGarry
executive chef, Bon Appetit Management Company, Portland, OR
Joe McGarry has been an executive chef for the Bon Appetit Management Company in Portland, Oregon for the last eight years. He is currently the regional chef for Bon Appetit’s cafes which provide meals for 18,000 employees on the Intel campuses in Oregon, Washington, and Utah. He works with Bon Appetit’s chefs to establish a connection between their customers and local sustainable farms by featuring seasonal goods grown within 150 miles of their kitchens, using Bon Appetit’s large volume of purchasing to create demand for local and sustainable fruits and vegetables. After ten years as a resident of Portland, Joe now considers himself an Oregonian even though he was raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Joe enjoys the large Northwest bounty, and returning to the simple and healthy preparation of recently harvested local goods has become the cornerstone of Joe’s menus.
Joe spends time with local high school students through the Oregon Mentors and the Oregon Restaurant Education Foundation’s Pro Start hospitality education program, planting
the seed of sustainability in the minds of the next generation of Northwest chefs. He is truly honored to be a member of the Chefs Collaborative Board and looks forward to contributing to the process of finding solutions to the challenges of renewable food sources.
Michel Nischan
owner/founder, Dressing Room: A Homegrown Restaurant; president, Wholesome Wave Foundation, Westport, CT
As a leader in the sustainable food movement and chef with over 30 years of experience working with local producers and farmers, two-time James Beard Foundation award winner Michel Nischan wears many hats. Nischan is the owner/founder of Dressing Room: A Homegrown Restaurant, located at Westport (CT) Country Playhouse, as well as President/CEO of Wholesome Wave Foundation. The nonprofit organization’s mission is to overhaul the nation’s food system by increasing access to healthy, fresh and affordable locally grown food. Wholesome Wave and Dressing Room work in tandem to create grassroots initiatives that celebrate local food systems and heritage recipes. A son of displaced farmers, Nischan grew up with a deep appreciation for sustainable agriculture and those who work the land. In his professional life, he has built on those childhood values and become a catalyst for change in local and regional food systems. Wholesome Wave was founded in 2007 with
funding from Newman’s Own Foundation and the Betsy and Jesse Fink Foundation, and supported in part by funding from Grow for Good, a philanthropic initiative of FOOD & WINE Magazine. Nischan serves on the boards of the Amazon Conservation Team, the James Beard Foundation and Harvard’s Center for Health and the Global Environment. He lives in Fairfield, Connecticut with his wife, Lori and their five children.
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Peter Pahk Former executive chef, Silverado Resort, Napa CA
An Oahu, Hawaii native, Chef Pahk began his career as an apprentice in Waikiki. He attended Syracuse University and at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, New York. Upon graduating from the CIA, Chef Pahk embarked upon his career with the Ritz Carlton Hotel Company in 1983.While there, he established an impressive following for his Asianinfluenced California cuisine as Executive Chef at the Ritz Carlton – Atlanta and Marina Del Rey. He traveled extensively abroad to Hong Kong, Bali, Singapore, Korea, Australia and Mexico as a member of The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company’s opening team. Domestically, he helped open hotels in Hawaii, Laguna Niguel, Pasadena, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Aspen, Kansas City, and New Orleans. In 1997, after 15 years of service with The Ritz Carlton Hotel Company, Chef Pahk joined the Silverado Resort in Napa Valley as the Executive Chef. Chef Pahk is a member of the American Culinary Federation, the James Beard Foundation, Chefs Collaborative, Slow Foods Napa Valley, Board Member of the Resort Food Executive Committee founded by Herman Rusch (an elite membership of 35 nationwide independent resort Executive Chefs), Board Member of the Mustard Festival, Napa Valley, Chairperson for Share Our Strength Napa Valley, Charter Member of the Local First, a division of BALLE, devoted to supporting local businesses, and a professional member and spokesperson for Common Vision, an organization devoted to making sustainable oceans a reality through The Seafood Watch Program and The Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Bob Perry
coordinator and chef, Food Systems Initiative, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
Bob Perry is the Special Projects Manager for the Sustainable Agriculture and
Food Systems Working Group in the College of Agriculture at the University of Kentucky and serves as the hub of the sustainable food and farm diversification network in Kentucky. His task is to promote the development of new food enterprises, markets and products by connecting university expertise with Kentucky entrepreneurs, farmers and chefs.
Bob has been a professional chef for over twenty-five years in such operations as private yachts, steamboats, high-speed ferries, trains and restaurants that don’t move including his own French Provencal Bistro “The Farmers Hall”. In 2004, while Director of Foodservice for the KY State Park system, he initiated a local produce purchasing program for the systems twenty-one restaurants. In 2005 he fostered a regulatory change that allowed the restaurants to purchase fresh meat and dairy items directly from small farmers.
Tom Philpott
food editor, grist.org, Banner Elk, NC
Tom Philpott is food editor at grist.org, where he writes the Victual Realities column, the only regular food-politics column in the national media. He also blogs regularly on food and agriculture for gristmill, Grist’s group blog. Philpott is a co-founder and core-group member at Maverick Farms, a center for sustainable food education in Valle Crucis, North Carolina. Before moving to the farm in 2004, Philpott worked as a financial journalist in Mexico City and New York City, most recently holding the title of equity research editor for Reuters, where he wrote daily dispatches on the stock market. His work on food politics has appeared in Gastronomica, The Guardian, Mother Earth News, New Farm, and Sojourners. Maverick Farms has been featured in Gourmet and The New York Times, and in September 2008, Food & Wine named Philpott one of “ten innovators” who “will continue to shape the culinary consciousness of our country for the next 30 years.”
Bob Reese
Jon Rowley
principal and founder, Vermont Butter & Cheese Creamery, Websterville, VT
seafood consultant, Taylor Bay Shellfish, Shelton, WA
Bob Reese is a principal and founder of Vermont Butter & Cheese Creamery. Prior to starting the company with Allison Hooper, he was Director of Marketing with the Vermont Agency of Agriculture in Montpelier, VT. Mr. Reese has broad experience in the international arena working with farmers, cheese makers and economic development agencies in Bosnia, Bulgaria, Israel, Palestine, Macedonia and the Republic of Uzbekistan.
Bob’s interests in building community-based agribusinesses in Vermont earned him and his partner, Allison Hooper, the U.S. SBA Small Business of the Year in 1996 and the University of Vermont Agricultural College’s 2007 Alumni of the Year. Bob and his wife Sandy live in South Hero, with their three sons, Brendan, Matthew and Nathan.
Dr. Gregg Rentfrow
professor of meat science, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
Dr. Gregg Rentfrow is an assistant extension professor of Meat Science from the University of Kentucky. Dr. Rentfrow earned his B.S. and M.S. in Animal Science with a Meat Science option from the University of Illinois, and a Ph.D. in Meat Science and Muscle Biology from the University of Missouri. Gregg began his meat career in 1987 as a retail meat cutter and held the positions of head meat cutter, assistant meat market manager, meat market manager, and zone meat market manager for four different grocery store chains. The University of Kentucky Meat Cutters School and the Food Systems Innovation Center are two of his major extension programs at UK. Dr. Rentfrow’s research focuses on how livestock diets affect meat quality, country hams, bacon quality, and food security. He resides in Lexington with his wife and two-year old daughter.
Whether oysters, salmon, peaches, strawberries, wild foods, heirloom apples or even a two year quest to develop the quintessential American apple pie, Jon Rowley’s career has been a series of passionate quests for peak flavor experiences, a fascinating life-long exploration of what makes food taste good. To Jon, how food is produced and where it comes from is always a matter of taste. He has taught Julia Child, Sheila Lukins and Ruth Reichl how to select the best fish. Julia Child called Jon “the fish missionary”. When it was all going into cans, he brought the first fresh Copper River king salmon to market.
With a particular passion for oysters, Jon has produced many events celebrating them and developed numerous restaurant oyster programs during his 25 year relationship with Taylor Shellfish Farms. He produces the Pacific Coast Oyster Wine Competition, an annual dating service for West coast wines and oysters. Recognition includes James Beard Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America, SAVEUR Top 100, Seattle Weekly Pellegrini Award, Shaw’s Crab House Oyster Hall of Fame and lifetime achievement recognition from the Copper River fishing fleet. He serves as contributing editor to Saveur magazine and is featured in Rowan Jacobson’s American Terroir and Georgia Pellegrini’s Food Heroes.
Andrea Reusing
chef/owner, Lantern restaurant, Chapel Hill, NC
Chef Andrea Reusing collaborates with nearby family farms in her marriage of North Carolina ingredients and Asian flavors at her Chapel Hill, NC restaurant, Lantern. Since opening in 2002, it has been named one of “America’s Top 50 Restaurants” and “best farm-to-table
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restaurants” by Gourmet, as one of “America’s 50 Most Amazing Wine Experiences” by Food & Wine and as “Restaurant of the Year” in 2009 by The News & Observer. A 2010 James Beard Nominee, Reusing’s book Cooking in the Moment: a Year of Seasonal Recipes will be published by Clarkson Potter in April, 2011. She lives with her husband and their children in Chapel Hill.
Steve Sando
founder and owner, Rancho Gordo, Napa, CA
In a few short years, Steve Sando has taken the lowly bean from a neglected legume to superstar-status ingredient. Sando’s company, Rancho Gordo, grows, imports, and promotes heirloom and heritage varieties while working directly with consumers and chefs like Thomas Keller, Deborah Madison, Paula Wolfert, and David Kinch. Sando’s seed saving, bean production, and marketing efforts provide professional and home chefs with heirloom beans that would otherwise have been lost to history. The beans have become key ingredients in the new American food revolution centered in Sando’s native San Francisco Bay Area. Sando and Rancho Gordo were named number two on Saveur magazine’s “The Saveur 100 list for 2008.” Bon Appetit magazine declared Sando one of the Hot 10 in the food world of 2009.
Steve Sando came to agriculture not from the 4H club but from the grocery store. Although beans are an indigenous product of the Americas, the only beans available commercially to most home cooks were pintos, navys, and kidneys. Discovering heirloom beans to be as rich and varied as heirloom tomatoes, Sando almost singlehandedly created the market for these legumes. He now grows more than 25 varieties in California and works with small indigenous farmers in Mexico to import their heirloom beans for the U.S. market. He lives in Napa and travels frequently throughout the Americas collecting beans, friends, and adventures.
Suvir Saran chef and cookbook author, Salem, NY
“In the kitchen, I found the answers to all my curiosities,” says New Delhiborn chef Suvir Saran. Saran was lured by the fascinating rituals of the kitchen—both the culinary and spiritual center where he cultivated his passion for the traditional flavors of Indian cooking. Saran is at once faithful to the authentic homemade dishes of his youth, and also a champion of the great diversity that India has to offer and the continual evolution of these myriad flavors. Saran received wide acclaim for his accessible approach to Indian flavors and techniques in his cookbook, Indian Home Cooking: A Fresh Introduction to Indian Food, with More Than 150 Recipes (Clarkson Potter/Publishers, September 2004), with Stephanie Lyness. In his recently published American Masala: 125 New Classics from My Home Kitchen (Clarkson Potter/Publishers, October 2007), with Raquel Pelzel, he combines the best that both Indian and American cooking have to offer.
Saran and tandoor master Hemant Mathur are the co-executive chefs of Dévi in New York City, the highly touted 75-seat upscale restaurant opened in 2004, offering the authentic flavors of Indian home cooking as well as dishes inspired by Saran’s cookbooks. When he is not on the road teaching and learning, Saran enjoys his 68-acre working farm in upstate New York and sharing it with his partner Charlie, their two dogs, cat, sheep, ducks, geese, alpacas, chickens, guinea hens, goats and all wild creatures big and small.
Robin Schempp
culinary and beverage consultant, Right Stuff Enterprises, Waterbury, VT
Robin is founder and president of Right Stuff Enterprises, Inc. (est. 1992), which specializes in creative culinary concepts, products, menu and business development
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for food and beverage clients. Robin has co-created a number of related businesses including Chef Stuff, ChefExpress and The Mist Grill Café, all of which have supported her passion for regional, sustainable, seasonal, artisan and wholesome foods. Robin is Vice President of Chefs Collaborative and President Emeritus of the Vermont Fresh Network, both of which strive to connect chefs with a more sustainable food supply. She is also active with the Research Chefs Association, Slow Food and The International Association of Culinary Professionals. Robin has always had a proclivity for exploring and enjoying the many expressions of the table and multi-tasks at every opportunity by eating and drinking well.
Jen Small
co-owner, Flying Pigs Farm, Shushan, NY
Jen Small and her husband Michael Yezzi own and operate Flying Pigs Farm in upstate New York, where they raise about 650 rare breed pigs, 1,500 laying hens, and 3,000 meat chickens outside on their fields and in their woods. They purchased their farm in 1996 and started Flying Pigs Farm in 2000. Their products are sold at Greenmarkets in NYC, online across the country, and to leading restaurants such as Savoy, Gramercy Tavern, Telepan, Marlow & Sons, Jean-Georges, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Mas, and Il Buco. The high quality of their pork has been recognized in Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Oprah’s “O” magazine, The New York Times, GQ, Gourmet, New York Magazine, Business Week, the Wall Street Journal and other publications. Jen manages the farm’s external relations and works off-the-farm for American Farmland Trust.
In 2009, they started Farm Camp, an intensive 2-day program for professionals in food service, food media, and food activism on the realities of small-farm food production and distribution. Each session combines lectures on farm policy with tours of local farms and discussions with farmers, including a hands-on chicken slaughtering session and a tour of a USDA slaughterhouse. Jen has a Masters in
Public Health and serves as a volunteer EMT for the local rescue squad.
Ana Sortun
chef/owner, Oleana restaurant, Sofra Bakery and Café, Cambridge, MA
Chef Ana Sortun opened the acclaimed Oleana restaurant in 2001. A longtime champion of local, sustainable foods, Ana was one of the founders of the original Boston chapter of Chefs Collaborative. Ana won the coveted James Beard Best Chef Award in 2005 and authored the best-selling cookbook SPICE: Flavors of the Eastern Mediterranean in 2006. Her bakery, Sofra, opened in August 2008. She is married to Chris Kurth, the owner of Siena Farms, which provides the restaurant with most of its fresh, organic produce. The farm is named after the couple’s daughter.
Willow Smart
farmer, cheesemaker, Milton, VT
Willow Hill Farm was established in 1991 by Willow Smart and her husband, David Phinney. After raising organic fruits and vegetables for a number of years, they changed direction and began to raise sheep and cows for cheese making. She apprenticed at Vermont Shepherd and made cheese for 3 seasons while developing her own unique styles of cheese on her own farm. The second year in production she was awarded second place in the Farmstead category at the American Cheese Society-that was 1999. Several years later and more than 30 national and international cheese awards she created two more international award-winners: an Alpine style and a Spanish inspired Blue cheese- this, ‘Vaquero Blue,’ was awarded its first time entered in Spain in Oct 2009!
Stephen Stryjewski chef/partner, Cochon restaurant, New Orleans, LA
Chef Stephen Stryjewski was born in Kansas to a military family and traveled extensively as a child. Born to a Polish father and an Irish mother meant that meat, potatoes and gravy were the mainstays of his culinary life. However, the military lifestyle exposed him to multitudes of different cuisines. At fourteen he began working as a dishwasher at a New Jersey country club and moved up to prep cook and line cook, which set the stage for what would become a life-long passion.
After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY, he moved to Europe to work, then back to the States where he eventually made his way to New Orleans to help Emanual Loubier open Dante’s Kitchen. He then joined Herbsaint Restaurant, and during the next four years he established a great working relationship with Herbsaint’s owner and chef, Donald Link. Together they conceived Cochon, a Cajun style southern restaurant in New Orleans’ Warehouse District that features regional cuisine, local ingredients and homemade products in a small plate format.
Sylvia Tawse
president, Fresh Ideas Group, Boulder, CO
Sylvia keeps her feet grounded in two worlds: organic agriculture and public relations for the natural products industry. Both are meant to benefit the environment while encouraging pleasure at the table. She founded The Fresh Ideas Group in 1995; the communications agency specializes in organic and specialty foods, as well as healthy living. She and her husband, Lyle Davis, own Pastures of Plenty Farm, an organic 35-acre working cut flower and vegetable farm and Big Bang Catering company.
addition to providing senior level counsel to numerous brands on communication through major crises. She has conducted new product launches for dozens of national brands, based on educating the public on food issues that matter to today’s consumer. She is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals, Public Relations Society of America, Chefs Collaborative, Les Dames Escoffier and Slow Food International. Oh, and Sylvia is a mother of four.
Poppy Tooker
food personality, cooking teacher, author, New Orleans, LA
Food personality, culinary teacher and author, Poppy Tooker is passionate about food and the people who bring it to the table. Poppy brings all of these elements to the table in her weekly radio show, Louisiana Eats which airs on WWNO-FM, the New Orleans NPR affiliate. Poppy’s on-camera flair has made her a sought after guest on the Food Network and the History Channel. She provides restaurant commentary on the PBS show, Steppin’ Out, airing weekly on WYES. Her book, The Crescent City Farmers Market Cookbook received a Tabasco cookbook award and was named Cookbook of the Year by New Orleans Magazine.
For over 25 years Poppy’s classes have centered on history and tradition as well as the food science reasons of why and how while remaining eminently entertaining. With her motto, “Eat It To Save It”, Poppy has been instrumental in reviving many endangered foods and food traditions and served for over a decade on Slow Food USA’s Ark of Taste committee.
Sylvia has an extensive background in retaillevel natural foods marketing and PR, in
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Sherri Brooks Vinton author, Put ‘Em Up! Westport, CT
You might expect a food epiphany to strike in the kitchen, at the table, maybe in the market.
For Sherri Brooks Vinton her ‘aha’ moment came on the back of a motorcycle. A crosscountry tour brought her face-to-face with the negative impacts of industrial agriculture and compelled her to trade in her career as a dot .com executive to begin a quest for food raised with integrity.
Sherri’s books, lectures, workshops, and newsletter give fellow eaters practical information they can use to support local agriculture with their food choices. Sherri’s discussions and workshops on “how to reclaim the food chain” have been offered at a variety of venues across the country including Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture and the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Market.
Sherri’s first book, The Real Food Revival: Aisle by Aisle, Morsel by Morsel, offers practical tips for eaters who, like herself, want a more delicious, sustainable future. Sherri is currently touring with her latest book, Put ‘Em Up! –an eater’s guide to preserving the harvest. Sherri is a former Governor of Slow Food USA and is a member of Women Chefs and Restaurateurs, the Northeast Organic Farmers Association, International Association of Culinary Professionals, and Chefs Collaborative.
Ben Watson
senior editor, Chelsea Green Publishing, author, Cider Hard +Sweet, Francestown, NH
Ben Watson is a book editor, writer, and activist specializing in food and agriculture. He is the longtime senior editor for Chelsea Green Publishing and the author of several books, including Cider, Hard and Sweet. He currently serves as Co-Chair of Slow Food USA’s Biodiversity Committee, and is a member of Slow Food’s International Ark Commission and a director of the Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity. He operates Monadnock Heritage Nursery in southwest New Hampshire and is involved with the Forgotten Fruits initiative for RAFT (Renewing America’s Food Traditions).
Adam Welly farmer, Wayward Seed Farm, Maryville, OH
Adam Welly, 29, is cofounder and co-owner of Wayward Seed Farm and a tenacious learner, doggedly dedicating himself to any task set before him. With an innate passion for food and cooking, Adam found his way to farming through food. As a buyer for a local specialty cheese shop, Adam noticed a real need in the market for fresh, high quality, lesser known vegetable varieties. He soon set out to start a small farm, focused on providing heirloom and Ohio heritage vegetables to local chefs. In just four years, this self-taught and self-trained farmer not only farms 30 acres of land and leads a CSA program with more than 350 members, but produces more than 60 vegetable varieties, many otherwise unknown to Central Ohio. Adam is not only passionate about returning rare vegetables to the table, but also returning the fertility to the soil he farms. He is currently in the process of perfecting Wayward Seed’s soil-building program.
Megan Westmeyer
sustainable seafood coordinator, South Carolina Aquarium, Charleston, SC
Megan Westmeyer has led the South Carolina Aquarium’s Sustainable Seafood Initiative since 2004. The Sustainable Seafood Initiative is an educational program for culinary professionals. By fostering wise choices in sustainable seafood at high-end restaurants the Initiative influences the culinary seafood market as a whole, leading to the conservation of fishery resources. Westmeyer helps chefs learn about sustainable seafood by translating technical fishery information to a concise format usable by the culinary industry.
Westmeyer has a M.S. in Oceanography and Coastal Sciences from Louisiana State University. Prior to graduate school Westmeyer worked as a shrimp bycatch observer in the Gulf of Mexico and at the South Atlantic
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Fishery Management Council. Westmeyer also earned a B.S. in Marine Science from the University of South Carolina.
Westmeyer currently serves on the Board of Overseers for Chefs Collaborative, Board of Directors of the South Carolina Seafood Alliance, and is a member of the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council Shrimp Advisory Panel.
Dr. Patricia Whisnant DVM, president, American Grassfed Association; owner, American Grassfed Beef, Doniphan, MO
Dr. Whisnant is a veterinarian who operates with her family Raincrow Ranch, a certified organic grassfed farm in Missouri. She is President of the American Grassfed Association which is a multi species national organization aimed at promoting true grassfed agriculture through education both to the consumer and producer. She also owns and operates Fruitland American Meat, a certified organic and certified high animal welfare processing plant in Jackson, MO specializing in grassfed, organic and private label custom processing.
Jasper White
chef/owner, The Summer Shack, Boston, MA; culinary director, Towne Stove and Spirits, Boston, MA
James Beard Award winning chef and restaurateur Jasper White is regarded as a pioneer in building Boston as a culinary destination. Jasper’s extensive research into the historical and cultural aspects of New England foodways, as well as his more than 30 years of cooking experience, have made him a trusted authority on New England foods, especially seafood. He owns the Summer Shack, a local restaurant chain focused on fresh and local seafood, and is the co-culinary director, with longtime friend Lydia Shire, of Towne Stove and Spirits in Boston’s Back Bay.
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