Friday, November 16, 2012

Chef Kevin Mitchell Attends World of Flavor Conference at CIA


Chefs Kyle Connaughton, Max Bilet,
Mourad Lahlou, and Gunnar Gislasson.

The Culinary Institute of America held its 15th World of Flavors Conference & Festival at its Greystone campus in the Napa Valley. The conference brought together over 700 industry people and chefs for a three day exploration of  the "Arc of Flavor" which spanned through the Mediterranean and the Middle East to Asia. Seminars, demonstrations, and panel discussions familiarized the attendees with the importance spices have on the  cuisines of today. The 2012 Conference & Festival represented more than twenty cultures and cuisines, including Israel, Lebanon, Turkey, Spain, Morocco, and Indonesia. Each day was capped off by a Marketplace dinner where attendees were able to taste the food from the visiting chefs. 

Seminars that Chef Mitchell attended included Destructing Curry: Mapping Flavors and Spice Mixtures for American Menus; From Mekong To The Markets of South India: Mastering Aromatics in the Asian Kitchen; and Savory and Sweet: Layering Flavors in the Indian Spice Kitchen. Some of the presenters that he heard were John T. Edge, Southern Food Scholar and Author, Director of Southern Foodways Alliance, Oxford, MS; Maxime Bilet, Modernist Cuisine Co-author, Director of Culinary Arts and Sciences, The Cooking Lab/Intellectual Ventures, Seattle, WA; Jehangir Metha chef/owner of Graffiti and Mehtaphor in New York and Next Iron Chef contestant; and Mourad Lahlou, Chef-Owner, Aziza; San Francisco, CA. http://www.worldsofflavor.com/

No comments: