Focusing on Trust,
Transparency, and Trajectory within the Food and Tech Communities
St. Helena, CA – The second annual reThink Food conference—a joint project of The Culinary Institute of America and the MIT Media Lab taking place November 6–8 at the CIA’s Napa Valley campus—tackles the
complex landscape that food and technology shares, from generating trust with
consumers and funding tomorrow’s changemakers to transparency
in supply chains and the future of healthcare’s impact on food and agriculture.
The conference will also foster networks of action among attendees.
The three-day event welcomes 300 food industry leaders;
academics and innovators in R&D, technology, consumer package goods;
marketers and others in related fields who come to learn about cutting-edge
research; business-friendly solutions for the food-related imperatives that
face us; and issues at the epicenters of innovation, entrepreneurship, supply
chain re-invention, and design thinking. Sessions will examine the need to
develop an open dialog between technologists, food professionals and industry
leaders, and the public; the decisions that investors make when looking at
innovative start-ups to support; and the impact that digital healthcare will
likely have on our food choices. Presenters will provide everything from a
glimpse into the foods of tomorrow to the role of technology in the kitchen. Ideation
sessions and culinary demos are also on the schedule.
Speakers and moderators include Nicholas Negroponte, co-founder
of the MIT Media Lab and author of The
New York Times bestseller, Being
Digital; restaurant designer Mark Stech-Novak;
Lynda Deakin, a partner at IDEO and leader of IDEO’s Food
Studio; Jeff Dunn, president and CEO of Bolthouse Farms;
and Stephanie Strom of The New York Times. There will also be presentations by the Institute for the Future, the Food
Business School, Compass, Technomic, and many more.
The complete list of presenters and their bios are available on the reThink Food website.
“The world is composed of a large number of interconnected
systems, with food at the very core,” says Media Lab Director Joi Ito. “Understanding and tackling the problems and
opportunities that face the food system—and its complex relationship with
health, the environment, and the economy—requires building a trusted network of
critical thinkers from a host of diverse fields, including scientists,
engineers, producers, retailers, culinary experts, entrepreneurs, and consumer
insight specialists, all of whom will convene at this event.”
“What’s at stake is not merely the acceptance (or rejection)
of new technology by chefs, growers, and food companies,” says Greg Drescher, the CIA’s
vice president of industry leadership of the overall initiative, “but the
opportunity to entirely re-envision what’s possible at the juncture of food,
technology, innovation, and the consumer. We’ve designed reThink Food to push
us to consider robotics in the same breath with locally sourced, hand-crafted
flavors, and global food supply challenges in the same conversation with
strategies to delight consumers around singular food experiences.”
Anyone can follow the general sessions—from the role of
robots in the kitchen of the future to the impact of healthcare on
foodservice—through a live stream on re-ThinkFood.org. Visit the website,
as well, for additional information, the program schedule, and registration details.
Photo Captions and Hi-Res Images:
Photo 1 (top photo): Attendees
at reThink Food in 2014 were treated to tastes of an engineered meat jerky from
the CEO of Modern Meadow, Andras Forgacs (center, with microphone), who created the product. (Photo credit: CIA/Kristen Loken)
View hi-res image >
Photo 2: Journalist
and author Tom Standage was the keynote speaker at
reThink Food last year. This year, the conference will feature Nicholas
Negroponte, co-founder of the MIT Media Lab and author of The New York Times’ bestseller, Being
Digital. (Photo credit: CIA/Kristen Loken)
View hi-res image >
Photo 3: The program
schedule for reThink Food includes a conversation
with Randy Komisar, a partner in Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
who focuses on sustainability practices. He’ll address what it takes to
be an
entrepreneur, what brands learn from artisanal companies, and a lot
more. If
you can’t join the conference in the Napa Valley, join the webcast
online at
re-ThinkFood.org. (Photo credit: Courtesy Randy Komisar)
View hi-res image >
Media Contact:
Jan Smyth
Marketing Manager
845-451-1457
j_smyth@culinary.edu
About The Culinary Institute of America:
Founded in 1946, The Culinary Institute of America is the world’s premier
culinary college. Dedicated to driving leadership development for the
foodservice and hospitality industry, the independent, not-for-profit CIA
offers associate degrees in culinary arts and baking and pastry arts;
bachelor’s degree majors in management, culinary science, and applied food
studies; and executive education through its Food Business School. Its
conferences and consulting services have made the CIA the think tank of the
food industry in the areas of health & wellness, sustainability, world
cuisines & cultures, and professional excellence & innovation. The
college also offers certificate programs and courses for professionals and
enthusiasts. Its worldwide network of 48,000 alumni includes leaders in every
area of foodservice and hospitality. The CIA has campuses in New York,
California, Texas, and Singapore.
About the MIT Media Lab:
Actively promoting a unique, antidisciplinary culture, the MIT Media Lab goes beyond known boundaries and disciplines,
encouraging the most unconventional mixing and matching of seemingly disparate
research areas. It creates disruptive technologies that happen at the edges,
pioneering such areas as wearable computing, tangible interfaces, and affective
computing. Today, faculty members, research staff, and students at the Lab work
in more than 25 research groups on more than 350 projects, from digital
approaches for treating neurological disorders, to a stackable, electric car
for sustainable cities, to advanced imaging technologies that can “see around a
corner.” The Lab is committed to looking beyond the obvious to ask the
questions not yet asked whose answers could radically improve the way people
live, learn, express themselves, work, and play. For more information, visit http://media.mit.edu.
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