ABOUT
Tomorrow Tastes Mediterranean is an industry leadership conference organized by the Torribera Mediterranean Center (TMC), a joint project of the University of Barcelona and The Culinary Institute of America.
Tomorrow Tastes Mediterranean aims to help the restaurant, foodservice industry and affiliated sectors better understand and transfer the healthful, sustainable, and cultural principles of the Mediterranean Diet into menus and products suited to the demands of 21st century consumers.
The Mediterranean Diet is unquestionably one of the world’s healthiest, not to mention delicious, ways to eat. Its benefits to our physical and mental health are settled science, as leading researchers from all over the globe, from Harvard to the University of Barcelona, have been proving for decades.
TORRIBERA MEDITERRANEAN CENTER
About The Torribera Mediterranean Center (TMC): The Torribera Mediterranean Center is a joint project of the University of Barcelona and The Culinary Institute of America, located at the UB’s Food and Nutrition Torribera Campus in Santa Coloma de Gramenet.
It is the first center in the world to take the Mediterranean Diet as starting point to connect leading-edge food and nutrition research with culinary, agricultural, and business innovation.
TMC is open to Mediterranean, European, and other international partners.
PROGRAM
On November 16, we celebrated the 10th anniversary of the designation by UNESCO of the Mediterranean Diet as an Intangible Cultural Heritage with a virtual conference featuring presentations and roundtables with members of the Torribera Mediterranean Center advisory councils.
We also released a digital magazine featuring articles, case studies, and recipes that focus on and highlight successful examples related to the mission of the Torribera Mediterranean Center.
Tomorrow Tastes Mediterranean aims to help the restaurant, foodservice and affiliated sectors better understand and transfer the healthful, sustainable, and cultural principles of the Mediterranean Diet into menus and products suited to the demands of 21st century consumers. Along with members of the TMC advisory councils who represent some of the world’s foremost scholars, chefs, and other experts within and beyond the Mediterranean region, we will help translate theory into practice, to inspire new foods and menus that are healthier for people, planet, and profits.
It’s one thing to know that the traditional Mediterranean Diet is healthful and sustainable—and of great cultural significance. It’s another to understand how to operationalize this dietary pattern into strategies for menus that reflect customer preferences and companies’ abilities to support those menus with ingredients and product solutions. Scientists who study the Mediterranean Diet rarely know much about the realities of the professional kitchen—whether that kitchen is in an independent restaurant, cruise ship, office cafeteria, hotel banquet department, school or hospital, or in the research and development department of a food manufacturer. Likewise, chefs rarely have much time to sort through the latest nutrition research studies or environmental analyses and understand how these further shape our understanding of chronic disease patterns and trends, or global sustainability imperatives. Tomorrow Tastes Mediterranean provides the needed bridge between two types of knowledge creation: scientific and culinary.
In practice, this means that the 2020 virtual conference and the 2020-2021 digital magazine specifically focused on translation—the culinary and business operationalization—of the Mediterranean Diet, from dishes and menus to financial models and marketing campaigns. In a time of uncertainty, when food professionals need to worry not just about food safety but the safety of their customers more generally, and when public health imperatives are ever greater because of COVID-19 concerns, when our industry has been decimated by closures and limited business models, and when supply chain strains are so acute, providing healthy, sustainable, and delicious menus has taken on a new urgency. Throughout the magazine and recording, acclaimed chefs, culinary experts, business owners, and foodservice operators share the innovative strategies they have used in their kitchens to advance plant-forward Mediterranean cooking with clear takeaways to ensure you’ll be able to develop similar, successful paths in your own companies and organizations.
The traditional Mediterranean Diet received the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage designation in 2010. Even if it has been formally codified only for 60 or so years, it is one of the world’s oldest ways of eating, reflecting a region rich in customs and abundant in health-promoting ingredients and preparation methods. How do we, how do you make this relevant for today’s diners? How do we connect the Mediterranean Diet to other global food trends—and other models of healthy, sustainable, culturally-based cooking? How do chefs and manufacturers expand the kind of foods customers think about when they hear “Mediterranean Diet” or “Mediterranean-inspired dietary patterns”? How do chefs and manufacturers leverage the Mediterranean Diet to engage their customers and nudge them towards healthier, more sustainable food choices? Tomorrow Tastes Mediterranean 2020 will take on these questions and more, to help attendees identify and develop the craveable, healthy, and sustainable foods of, yes, tomorrow.
2020 TOMORROW TASTES MEDITERRANEAN: A VIRTUAL CONFERENTE
All times CET (- 6 for EST, -9 for PST)
17h-17h15
Welcome Remarks + Torribera Mediterranean Center Update
Anne E. McBride (Deputy Director, TMC), Greg Drescher (Vice President for Industry Leadership and Strategic Initiatives, The Culinary Institute of America), Marius Rubiralta (Executive Director, TMC, Professor, School of Pharmacy and Food Science, University of Barcelona), Ramon Estruch (Associate Professor, School of Medicine, University of Barcelona and Chair, TMC Scientific and Technical Advisory Council), Santi Mas de Xaxàs (Executive Manager for External Relations and Strategic Partnerships, TMC)
17h15-17h20
Barcelona, Sustainability City 2021
Alvaro Porro Gonzàlez (Barcelona City Council Commissioner for Social Economy, Local Development and Food Policy)
17h20-17h25
What Sustainable Education Looks Like for Chefs:
The Feed The Planet/TMC Sustainable Nutrition Module
Rochelle Schaetzl (Head of Marketing for Europe and Africa, Custom Culinary®)
17h25-17h30
A Deliciously Creative Sustainable Menu: A Case Study
Xavier Pellicer (Chef-Owner, Xavier Pellicer, Barcelona)
17h30-17h55
Sustainability at the Intersection of Health and Flavor:
A Roundtable + Audience Q&A
Rochelle Schaetzl, Xavier Pellicer, Octavi Quintana (Director, PRIMA Foundation)
17h55-18h05
Coffee and the Mediterranean Diet: A Look at the Research
Jean-Xavier Guinard (Professor of sensory science, Co-director of the Coffee Center, University of California, Davis)
18h05-18h15
Using Olive Oil in High-Volume Operations: A Case Study of Nutrition and Satiety
Teresa Pérez (General Manager, Olive Oils from Spain)
18h15-18h20
Plant-Forward Training for Chefs: Developing Internal Thought Leaders
Angelo Bonamici (Regional Director Operations EMEA, Compass Group at Google)
18h20-18h50
The Future of the Mediterranean Diet:
Perspectives on the Next 10 Years — A Roundtable + Audience Q&A
Ramon Estruch, Jean-Xavier Guinard, Teresa Pérez, Angelo Bonamici, Maria Loi (Chef-Owner of Loi Estiatorio)
Final Thoughts and What’s to Come in 2021
Michael Sperling (Vice President of Academic Affairs, The Culinary Institute of America), Marius Rubiralta, Ramon Estruch
19h-19h30
Optional Additional Discussion
Greg Drescher, Ramon Estruch, Santi Mas de Xaxàs, Anne E. McBride
PRESENTERS
ALVARO PORRO GONZALEZ
Barcelona City Council Commissioner for Social Economy, Local Development and Food Policy
ANGELO BONAMICI
ANNE E. MCBRIDE
PhD Deputy Director Torribera Mediterranean Center Barcelona, Spain
GREG DRESCHER
Vice President of strategic initiatives and industry leadership at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA)
JEAN-XAVIER GUINARD
Professor of sensory science and co-director of the Coffee Center at the University of California, Davis
MARIA LOI
Chef and Owner. Loi Estiatorio restaurant. New York.
MARIUS RUBIRALTA
Prof. of Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Barcelona and Rector of the same 2005 – 2008.
MICHAEL SPERLING
Vice President of Academic Affairs The Culinary Institute of America Hyde Park, NY USA.
OCTAVI QUINTANA
Medical Doctor, specialized in Intensive Medicine, MPH Univ Columbia.
RAMON ESTRUCH
MD, PHD, Professor, University of Barcelona | Barcelona, Spain.
ROCHELLE SCHÄL
Director of the South African Chef’s Association.
TERESA PÉREZ MILLÁN
Sustainable Restaurant ConsultancyManager Interprofessional Aceite de Oliva Madrid, Spain.
XAVIER PELLICER
Chef and Owner. Xavier Pellicer Restaurant Barcelona.
SPONSORS
SILVER
COLLABORATOR
AFFILIATED MEMBER ORGANIZATION
Tomorrow Tastes Mediterranean is made possible in large part by the generous support from our sponsors. If your organization is interested in supporting the 2020 digital magazine and online sessions through sponsorship, please contact Santi Mas de Xaxàs Faus (santi.mdx@tmcmediterranean.org) at the Torribera Mediterranean Center.
Check back soon for the list of our generous sponsor organizations.