Welcome!

The University of Massachusetts, Amherst, will be proud to host the 14th annual Tastes of the World Chef Culinary Conference, on June 16-20, 2008.

With the theme Small Plate, Big Flavor, we will be focusing on how we can offer smaller portions and bolder flavors to our customers. With the three hot-button topics of campus dining: Flavor, Wellness and Sustainability continuing to draw major attention, we will continue to explore how we as culinarians/operators can deliver delicious but smaller portions by leveraging the world of healthy flavors in the most sustainable manner. We want the vegetables, fruits, and grains to become the center of the plate and reduce the size of meat protein – quality and variety, and not quantity. We will continue to advance the cause of great tasting and healthier food choices for the campus food service segment.

In relation to the theme, we will cover several cuisines (listed alphabetically) including, but not limited to: American, Californian, Caribbean, Mexican, Persian, Peruvian, Southeast Asian Street Food (Indonesia and Malaysia), Thai, and Tuscan.

As always, we will be expecting an impressive entourage of experts, as well as some of the finest members of Johnson and Wales University and The Culinary Institute of America, who will share their knowledge and oversee many workshop sessions and demonstrations. Additionally, in this election year, we’ve even invited former White House Executive Chef Walter Scheib, who has proven loyalty to both parties and will gladly share how the “small plate, big flavor” concept worked in Washington. He will do a demonstration, plus conduct two small hands-on sessions.

Please visit this site often as it will be updated weekly. Plan to register early as many of the events were sold out last year.

Come and join us and we will help you to deliver the small plate and big flavor concept to your customers.

New this year, to practice what we preach in sustainability, we will eliminate a hard-copy brochure and provide the information online. Handouts will be available during sessions.

Sincerely,

Ken Toong
Executive Director and Chair
ktoong@mail.aux.umass.edu