Summit Overview

2020 GLOBAL PLANT-FORWARD CULINARY SUMMIT MOVES ONLINE

Given the ongoing government public health guidance around the COVID-19 pandemic, we have decided to cancel the in-person Global Plant-Forward Culinary Summit, originally scheduled for April 29-May 1 in Napa, CA. Recognizing the continued relevance of the Global Plant-Forward agenda to the recovery and future resilience of our industry, we are working to bring a somewhat reshaped, serialized program to the online world beginning in mid-May.  

The topics addressed by the new virtual series of the Global Plant-Forward Culinary Summit will be critically important as operators look to rebuild our industry, address the challenges of the pandemic, bring our customers back, and design a future more focused on health and sustainability.

We will be in touch shortly with more specific details on programming and how to reserve your spot, and you can also subscribe to our mailing list for updates. In collaboration with summit sponsors, we are making this GPF Virtual Summit available tuition-free to foodservice operators on a space available basis.

If you have any questions regarding registration transfer and refund options in the meantime, please email us at si@culinary.edu.

Summit Overview

The Global Plant-Forward Culinary Summit is a CIA strategic leadership conference inspired by the college’s long-running Worlds of Flavor International Conference & Festival as well as Menus of Change, a joint initiative of the CIA and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Department of Nutrition. The summit will be wall-to-wall cooking, tastings, and culinary strategy discussion—all based on the evidence-based framework of optimal innovation embodied in the 24 Principles of Healthy, Sustainable Menus of the CIA-Harvard Chan School Menus of Change Initiative. It will also be underpinned by such related resources as the 2019 Menus of Change Annual Report and the Menus of Change Protein Flip.

The summit will feature innovative chefs and masters of traditional cuisines from the Mediterranean and Asia, and from across the United States, plus sector experts from full-service restaurants to contract foodservice. Featured chefs will include those whose work is highlighted in the Plant-Forward Global 50, a joint initiative of the CIA and the EAT Foundation, summarized by The Washington Post with its headline, “The World’s 50 Best Places to Eat Your Vegetables.”

A strong focus on innovation will build on the CIA’s targeted development and incubation of The Blend (blended meat-mushroom burgers) and more recent Pulses of Change initiative (elevating legumes as plant protein), and will ask: what other iconic, transformational menu items and menu categories are waiting to be developed and brought to market?

It will take many paths to get us to a health-promoting, environmentally sustainable food system for the planet in the coming years; accordingly, the summit will invite dialogues between chefs, tech innovators, and manufacturers as well.