Healthy Cuisine Takes the Global Stage

John Lawn

For the working culinary cognoscenti in the college and university market, there’s no conference quite like the Annual Tastes of the World Chef’s Culinary Conference held each year at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. A brainchild of UMass Director of Dining and Retail Foodservices Ken Toong, the gathering has gained momentum and sophistication over the 12 years of its existence. Today it figures as a unique event attracting some of the best college culinary talent in the country and offering a content mix that is unmatched for this very demanding audience.

From the latest research into the dietary impact of Omega-3 oils to the personal culinary techniques of chefs like Jaques Pepin, John Ash and Ana Sortun; from the hands-on baking and production workshops managed by top chefs from Johnson & Wales University to the ACFsanctioned culinary competition that capped this year’s five-day event, attendees were kept focused and engaged from morning to night.

This year’s theme—“Healthy Food and Flavor”—provided a useful focus for the recipes and culinary demonstrations offered by speakers. The sessions were operationally practical as well as culinarily interesting. Chartwells President Steve Sweeney offered a pragmatic view of the significant business challenges—and social responsibility challenges—facing those whose goal is to upgrade the healthfulness of menus and eating habits for those in the educational sessions. And chefs like John Ash, Deborah Madison, Ana Sortun and Segundo Torres provided hands-on advice for making food more healthful and more flavorful in order to satisfy those needs.

For those interested in food merchandising and promotion, Canadian fresh produce entrepreneur Pete Luckett shared the philosophy that has made his Pete’s Frootique fresh markets renowned throughout Canada. And a design panel featuring Envision Strategies’ Claudia Scotty, Mesher-Shing’s Bob Mesher and chefs Jean Michel Boulot and Eric Leonard explored the relationship between food, ambience and production flow at the award-winning University of Washington foodservice operations.

Far from a “sit-down” event, attendees spent many hours in the UMass kitchens in production workshops to prepare for the ACF competition on Friday (see photos).

Toong gives his own department staff, consultant Paul Fairbrook and Johnson & Wales Director of Culinary Events Valeria Molinelli much of the credit for organizing the conference events and curricula and to Johnson & Wales Certified German Master Chef Rainer Hienerwadel and Instructor Chef Frank Terranova for their contributions in overseeing the production workshops and competitions.

To learn more about the program, go to www.umass.edu/chefconference

PHOTOGRAPHY: JOHN LAWN