The Culinary Institute of America and the UC Davis Olive Center
in collaboration with
National Association for the Specialty Food Trade present
A one-day seminar for category managers, buyers, chefs, and other professionals
in the retail, foodservice, production, and distribution sectors
Thursday, January 12, 2012
The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone
Napa Valley, California
$295
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Most of what you think that you know about olive oil quality, flavor and value is probably wrong. In an era when retail and foodservice customers are increasingly asking where their food comes from, do you know where the olive oil that you are purchasing comes from? Do you know how it was produced? How can you tell if your olive oil is delivering on your company's promise of quality to your customers?
In this groundbreaking educational seminar just prior to the NASFT's 2012 Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco, The Culinary Institute of America and the UC Davis Olive Center are teaming up to educate retail, foodservice, production and distribution professionals on state-of-the-art understanding of what constitutes quality in the olive oil sector.
This one-day course will feature an impressive roster of top experts from the United States, the Mediterranean region, and Australia to present insights on how to separate the good from the bad in this growing retail and foodservice market category. You will:
- Learn why much of what is sold in the United States as "extra virgin olive oil" is actually a lower grade—and in some cases, not even olive oil.
- Understand how to protect yourself & your customers from defective oil flooding the market, & ensure that your company secures the "real thing."
- Acquire the methods that are boosting sales of this high-value product in supermarkets, specialty retail and restaurants.
Discover modern production methods that achieve olive oil excellence akin to what revolutionized the wine market more than 30 years ago.
- Taste what "fresh" means in the olive oil market, and why good olive oil is more perishable than you have been led to believe.
- Discover with leading chefs how to pair the very best oils from California, Spain, Italy, Greece and Australia with a variety of foods to creatememorable culinary experiences.
There is a global movement underway to upgrade the middle- and high-end of the olive oil market. Producers large and small are driving astonishing innovation in this sector—and writers, sensory scientists, chefs, and consumer advocates are upending old notions about olive oil quality. Bland, generic and defective oils are giving way to variety-specific and estate-specific oils with more personality and appealing flavors, as more and more producers up their game on critical control points of quality, delivering better oil at a competitive price.
Please join us at The Culinary Institute of America's beautiful Greystone campus in the Napa Valley for this immersion into the exciting new world of olive quality. The day includes memorable culinary demonstrations, olive oil and food tastings, refreshment breaks, lunch, and a tasting reception. Category managers, product managers, and buyers from the grocery and specialty food trade; importers; distributors; chefs and other foodservice professionals; and food processors are welcome. This event is limited to 130 participants – proof of trade affiliation required at registration.
Topics
- How Olive Oil is Made and How Things Can Go Wrong
- Understanding Olive Oil Grades, and What is Really in the Bottle
- The World Olive Oil Trade, and How It Affects Buyers Everywhere
- Super-Premium Olive Oil: Producing Excellence and Safeguarding Quality
- Boosting the Customer Experience, In the Kitchen and at the Table
- Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil
- Olive Oil Excellence, Media and Consumers: New Models for Communication
- Trust But Verify: How Retailers and Food Professionals Can Protect Themselves
- New Approaches toIncrease Sales
- Growing the Market for Flavor and Excellence
 Confirmed Speakers
- Paul Bartolotta, Owner, Bartolotta, Wynn Casino Resort (Las Vegas, NV)
- Mike Bradley, President, Veronica Foods (Oakland, CA)
- Bill Briwa, Chef-Instructor, The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone
- Curtis Cord, Publisher, Olive Oil Times (Newport, RI)
- Darrell Corti, Owner, Corti Brothers (Sacramento, CA)
- Alexandra Devarenne, Olive Oil Educator and Consultant
- Greg Drescher, Vice President—Strategic Initiatives & Industry Leadership, The Culinary Institute of America
- Dan Flynn, Executive Director, UC Davis Olive Center
- Mike Forbes, Vice President: Marketing, California Olive Ranch (Oakland, CA)
- Jean-Xavier Guinard, Professor and Sensory Scientist, UC Davis
- Nancy Harmon Jenkins, Food writer, author of the Essential Mediterranean, and contributor to The New York Times (Maine and Italy)
- Aris Kefalogiannis, Owner, Gaea (Athens, Greece)
- Gregg Kelley, President and CEO, California Olive Ranch (Chico, CA)
- Paul Miller, President, Australian Olive Association (Melbourne, Australia)
- Tom Mueller, Investigative journalist & contributor to The New Yorker, and author of Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil (Genoa, Italy)
- Dick Neilsen, Manager, McEvoy Ranch (Petaluma, CA)
- Paolo Pasquali, Owner, Villa Campestri (Florence, Italy)
- Claudio Peri, Founder, Association 3E (Milan, Italy)
- Deborah Reynolds, Director – Foods, Daymon Worldwide (Stamford, CT)
- Liz Tagami, President, Tagami International
- Rosa and Francisco Vañó, Owners, Castillo de Canena (Madrid, Spain)
- Paul Vossen, University of California Olive Oil Sensory and Processing Expert
Schedule
View the final program schedule here.
Sponsorship
For more information about sponsorship opportunities, please contact:
Shara Orem, associate director of strategic initiatives, The Culinary Institute of America s_orem@culinary.edu
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 The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) is an independent, not-for-profit college offering bachelor and associate degrees in
the culinary, baking and pastry arts. A network of more than 43,000 alumni in foodservice and hospitality have helped
the CIA earn its reputation as the world's premier culinary college. Courses for foodservice and retail professionals are
offered at the CIA's three campuses in the United States, as well as at its campus in Singapore. The CIA is recognized
around the world as a leader in making the world's cuisines and flavors, including the olive oil-based cuisines of the
Mediterranean, more accessible for foodservice professionals and the media.
www.ciachef.edu and www.ciaprochef.com
 The UC Davis Olive Center is the only academic center of its kind in North America. Built upon a century-long partnership between the university and olive producers, the center's goal is to "do for olives what UC Davis did for wine." In 2010 and 2011, the center made international news when it released two extensive reports that analyzed the quality of olive oil sold at retail in California, finding that most of the olive oil sold as "extra virgin" did not meet international standards for the grade. www.olivecenter.ucdavis.edu
 The National Association for the Specialty Food Trade is the preeminent not-for-profit business trade association established in 1952 to foster trade, commerce and interest in the $70 billion specialty food industry. The NASFT is an international organization composed of domestic and foreign manufacturers, importers, distributors, brokers, retailers, restaurateurs, caterers and others in the specialty foods business. The organization has more than 2,900 current member companies throughout the U.S. and overseas. www.specialtyfood.com/nasft |
