Wagyu Beef for Everyone—
I have been to many a World of Flavor conference- Eight to be exact—and most of them have focused on one particular type of cuisine or a category, like Mediterranean or Asian, or my favorite – Spain! This year was different- this year the Culinary Institute of America World of Flavors Conference focused on creativity and techniques that all chefs are using across the board all over the world—The World of Flavors “Kitchen’s Connected” brought together chefs from some of the worlds top kitchens and they showed us their creative process, their research and innovative techniques.
Some of my favorite highlights so far have included:
- Nathan Myhrvold’s opening speech on creativity and innovation in the kitchen
- Australian Chef Matt Wilkinson’s creamy savory tomato filled puff
The Australian Chef with savory tomato cream puffs
- Kentucky chef Ed Lee’s chicken and waffles
- Wixon Seasoning Green Apple Greek Yogurt Pushup pops
- Nonstop all you can eat Wagyu beef slices being passed out like London broil by MAFF (Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fishery Gov. of Japan) (they told me it cost $90/lb and the cows are massaged daily and fed lots of beer… lucky cows!)
- Torani’s Bourbon Milk Punch (which lead to my falling asleep for a few minutes during the general session…)
sleepy time
This is the first time that the CIA has really brought together both chefs and scientists to demonstrate how the creative culinary and food science combine and can be used to create amazing and fun dishes that are delicious to eat and to look at and play with. It was almost like a big gigantic Research Chef Association Conference but with more restaurant chefs!
What was fascinating is how these chefs manage to bring together scientific techniques but yet still maintain farm to table-ness in their restaurant. It was unique combination of culinary creativity allowing chefs to create natural artistic results.
This year you didn’t even have to be present to watch the World of Flavor general sessions live- it was broadcasted via a live web feed through the website. After the show you can probably find links to all general session videos here: http://www.worldsofflavor.com
So far its been an amazing two days and for the first time I really feel like the CIA is calling out to my very own industry of Culinology- the art of science and food! More photos and coverage in the next few days or you can follow my twitter feed @culinologist
