Presenter Biographies

Presenters and biographies are subject to change.

Haouari Abderrazak is the chef/owner of Haouari Restaurant on the Island of Djerba, Tunisia. Classically trained in Brussels, he worked at several prestigious restaurants and hotels in France and Belgium before returning to his native Tunisia. Known as a Tunisian Culinary Ambassador, Chef Haouari has been a Master Chef instructor since 1982.  (Island of Djerba, Tunisia)

Kajsa Alger is the executive chef at Susan Feniger’s STREET in Los Angeles. As a teenager, Kajsa (pronounced “Sasha”) snuck into the kitchen of CITY restaurant to begin an informal apprenticeship with two of the most respected women chefs in the world, Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken. She made herself indispensable and was soon hired at CITY. In 1990 she joined the team at Border Grill in Santa Monica. Kajsa later moved on to work at Zuni Café in San Francisco, then to Restaurant Sent Sovi and Carlyle Restaurant & Bar in Portland, Oregon. She eventually returned to Los Angeles to head up kitchen operations as corporate chef for Mary Sue and Susan’s five restaurants. In March 2009 she and Susan opened the highly acclaimed STREET. A fervent traveler, she considers her cooking a storytelling skill where she reflects in her food a sense of the memories, richness, and diversity of flavors she has sampled throughout the world. (Los Angeles, CA)

Jorge Alvarez is a chef and magazine publisher. He received his gastronomic training at the Centro Culinario Ambrosia where he fell in love with the traditional Mexican kitchen and decided to become a professional chef. In 2004 he opened his own company, JM Editorial. Today he publishes magazines that focus on Mexican cuisine, including regional Mexican cuisine, traditional Mexican cuisine, and Mexican pastries. His company also publishes Sabor a México, a bi-monthly publication that features the most influential chefs from Mexico. Recently his company published a book about Mexican antojitos with Larousse Editorial. He is now working on launching a new magazine focused on chocolate, and featuring the best Mexican pastry chefs. Jorge has participated as a judge in several national and international competitions and lectured extensively at international conferences. (Mexico City)

Albert Asin is the chef of the legendary El Pinotxo Bar at the La Boqueria market in Barcelona. (Barcelona, Spain)

Paul Bartolotta is the chef of Bartolotta, Ristorante di Mare at the Wynn Las Vegas, which showcases some of the Mediterranean’s best seafood. Each week, the restaurant imports 1.5 tons of seafood from cities that lie along the coast of the Mediterranean. Bartolotta, Ristorante di Mare was nominated for the 2006 James Beard Foundation Best New Restaurant Award. Chef Bartolotta is one of just a few chefs outside of Italy who is recognized as an "authentic ambassador" of Italian cuisine. In 1997, he earned the prestigious Insegna del Ristorante Italiano del Mondo, an award that was personally presented to him by Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro. Chef Bartolotta developed his culinary style in some of Europe's most distinguished restaurants. Previously, he was chef and managing partner at Chicago's Spiaggia where, under his direction from 1991 to 2000, the restaurant earned every major national fine dining award, including four-star ratings from both the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Magazine. This was the first time an Italian chef was awarded four stars in any major U.S. market. With his brother, Joe, Paul also co-founded the Bartolotta Restaurants in their hometown of Milwaukee: Bacchus-a Bartolotta Restaurant, Ristorante Bartolotta, Bartolotta’s Lake Park Bistro, and Mr. B’s-A Bartolotta Steakhouse. In 1994, Bartolotta became the first Italian chef to win the coveted James Beard Award for Best Chef, Midwest, and in 2009 he received a second James Beard Award for Best Chef, Southwest. (Las Vegas, NV)

Zulkifli Bin Packeer Bawa is a Singapore food hawker whose specialty is roti prata and its variation, murtabak. He comes from a family that has been running a food business since his late grandfather’s days. He has been in the roti prata business for more than 40 years, starting his Singapore hawker career by cooking satay and roti prata at age 12. His late grandfather started a hawker food stall at the famed Rex Theatre in Singapore. His father, Packeer Bawa Bin Abu Bakar, took over the stall and moved to Tekka Market, a famous wet market in Singapore that now specializes in roti prata and murtabak. Zulkifli is the vice chairman of the Tekka Market Stallholder’s Association and the assistant secretary of MAEC (Malay Activities Executive Committee) at Feng Shan Community Club at Bedok North, Singapore. (Singapore)

Rick Bayless is chef/owner of Frontera Grill & Topolobampo in Chicago, IL. Well known for his highly rated PBS series, Mexico—One Plate at a Time, Chef Bayless is the author of six cookbooks. Chef Bayless has received numerous James Beard awards, including National Chef of the Year. His latest book Mexican Everyday was nominated for a 2007 James Beard Award. Chef Bayless is the chair of the CIA’s Latin Cuisines Advisory Council. (Chicago, IL)

Jesús Bernad is a faculty member with The Wine Academy of Spain. (Madrid, Spain)

Jim Botsacos is founding chef and current chef/partner of Molyvos, which opened in New York City to great acclaim in 1997. He is also chef/partner at Abboccato, which opened in October 2004. Chef Botsacos is known for constantly pushing the envelope of what guests consider to be typical Greek food while never straying from the authentic Greek culinary experience for which Molyvos is known. His classical training combined with the Mediterranean ideal of simplicity and fresh ingredients figure prominently in his creative interpretations of Hellenic specialties such as Molyvos's signature Lamb Youvetsi, Cretan Bread Salad, and Ouzo-Cured Salmon. In addition to the media attention Chef Botsacos has garnered for Molyvos—three stars from The New York Times, and features in New York, Esquire, Bon Appétit, and Gourmet, among others—he appears frequently on television shows such as The Martha Stewart Show, The Early Show, and PBS’s The Holiday Table, as well as on the Food Network. His first cookbook, The New Greek Cuisine, was published in 2006. (New York, NY)

Bobby Chinn is the owner and chef of the highly acclaimed Restaurant Bobby Chinn in Hanoi, Vietnam. Bobby is a French-trained, New Zealand-born, former San Francisco-based chef of Egyptian and Chinese heritage who brings a world of influences to his kitchen. During his first visit to Vietnam a decade ago, Chinn saw the un-mined potential for culinary growth in a country where tourism was still in its infancy. The French insistence of using only the highest quality ingredients is revealed in Chinn's reinvention of traditional Vietnamese dishes. His menus are always market-driven, inspired by the freshest seasonally available ingredients and exclusively organic produce. Restaurant Bobby Chinn remains the only establishment to receive the coveted Five Star Diamond Award in Vietnam. Chinn now has two cooking shows on Discovery Travel & Living, and he is the author of the best selling cook book Wild, Wild East: Recipes & Stories from Vietnam. (Hanoi, Vietnam)

Roy Choi is the chef-owner of Kogi BBQ, which operates a catering business and Korean barbecue taco truck in LA. Roy was born in Seoul, Korea, and raised in LA. After graduating from The Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park, Roy started his career working at Le Bernardin and Aureole.  He then worked for the Hilton group for eight years, rising to corporate executive chef for the Embassy Suites Hotel brand where helped develop a new breakfast program for the 200-unit hotel chain. Roy finished his stint with the Hilton group as executive chef at The Beverly Hilton. He left The Beverly Hilton to help open Rock Sugar Pan Asian Kitchen with David Overton and Mohan Ismail. Once Rock Sugar opened Roy took some time off to develop Kogi BBQ with Mark Manguera and Caroline Shin-Manguera and a team of hooligans. Today Kogi BBQ has more than 35,000 Twitter followers, eager to find Roy and the Kogi taco truck on the streets of LA. (Los Angeles, CA)

Cat Cora is the first female American Iron Chef, a CIA graduate, author of two cookbooks, founder and president of Chefs for Humanity, and the executive chef for Bon Appetit magazine. Her first cookbook, Cat Cora's Kitchen, was inspired by her Greek and Southern heritage and contains many of her family’s favorite recipes. With her recently launched second book, Cooking From The Hip: Fast, Easy, Phenomenal Meals (Houghton Mifflin), Chef Cora elevates at-home cooking to new levels. The book applies her "go-with-what-you've got" philosophy to creating simple yet sensational meals. Chef Cora made her TV debut in 1999 as co-host of Food Network's, Melting Pot with Rocco DiSpirito. She went on to host My Country My Kitchen: Greece, and Date Plate, and was one of the featured hosts on Fine Living's Simplify Your Life. A documentary, Cat's In The Kitchen, was also made about her first James Beard dinner in April 2002. (San Francisco Bay Area, CA)

John Csukor is the President and CEO of KOR Food Innovation. (Ashland, VA)

Almir Da Fonseca is a chef-instructor at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. Chef Da Fonseca, a native of Brazil, studied culinary arts at the Senace Trade School in Rio. Chef Da Fonseca’s culinary training includes an apprenticeship under the strict classical French teachings of Chef Jaques Arpi from Choron in the Southern French Region of France. He also studied Italian cuisine under the teachings of Chefs Enzo Barbetti and Gisella Isidori of Sienna and Umbria Regions of Italy. After moving to Northern California he went on to gain experience as Executive Chef at Lucas Wharf Restaurant while also wroting a food column for a local newspaper. Chef Da Fonseca also owned and operated his own restaurant as well as Flavor Source Sauces and Catering Services, which he still owns. After selling his restaurant, Chef Da Fonseca became the Corporate Executive Chef for Marconi Conference Center, a Corporate Chef and Manager for Compass Group USA, and the Corporate Chef and Manager for Delaware North Companies. After 20 years in the industry, he began his teaching career at the California Culinary Academy in 2003. Chef Da Fonseca joined the CIA in 2007 where he has taught, participated in consulting projects, presented at CIA conferences and retreats, and spoken at graduation ceremonies multiple times. (Napa Valley, CA)

Musa Dagdeviren is the chef-owner of Ciya Sofrasi and Ciya Kebab restaurants in Istanbul. Born into a family of master bakers, Chef Dagdeviren started his culinary career at an early age when he began working at his family’s bakery and learning the skill of wood-fired baking. Chef Dagdeviren’s cooking takes you on a culinary journey, as you taste dishes from ancient Mesopotamia to the Balkans and from the Caucasus to the Arabian Peninsula. In Turkey, he is well known for the Anatolian recipes he brings to life, which are often forgotten in the fast food craze. Chef Dagdeviren travels extensively to remote villages where he cooks and exchanges recipes with local families. He has been featured in The New York Times, Saveur, and Food & Wine. In 2005, he started a magazine in Istanbul called Yemek ve Kultur (Food and Culture), which focuses on Anatolian cuisine. (Istanbul, Turkey)

Vincenzo D’Ambrosio is recognized as being one of the foremost master bakers from the renowned bread-making town of Altamura, Italy. His bakery, Il Panettiere di Dambrosio, which has been in operation since the 1970s, is regarded as the best producer of sweet and savory baked goods, made from the best semolina flours from wheat grown in Puglia. (Altamura, Italy)

Robert Danhi, C.C.E., C.H.E., C.C.P. is an expert in the cuisines of Southeast Asia. Chef Danhi specializes in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. He is currently authoring a book entitled The Flavors of Southeast Asia scheduled for release in October 2008. Chef Danhi graduated from the CIA, and returned as a Chef Instructor. An educator at heart, Chef Danhi held the position of Executive Chef of the CSCA, and continues teaching at the CIA and other schools around the world.  Two decades in restaurants from Hawaii to New York, and the executive chef of Two Chefs on a Roll, a custom food manufacturer; Robert now leads Chef Danhi & Co., a consulting business that works with educational organizations, food manufacturers, and restaurant chains. Their principle partners include Sunkist, Wing Hing Foods, Lee Kum Kee, PF Chang’s, 7 Paths, and The Produce Marketing Association. (Los Angeles, CA)

Gerry Dawes is a New York-based writer/photographer specializing in Spain. He has lived or traveled there for 35 years, has made nearly 70 food and wine trips since 1995, and leads customized insider tours (Commonwealth Club and others). Mr. Dawes lectures often in the U.S. and Spain on Spanish gastronomy, wine, and culture, using his photographs in colorful presentations, including five that he gave at the 2006 Worlds of Flavor Spain Conference. He has published hundreds of articles and photographs on Spain for numerous publications (including Food Arts, Wine News, Santé, Spain Gourmetour, and Decanter), writes for the CIA at Greystone’s dedicated Spain Web site, and maintains his own blog, Gerry Dawes’s Spain: An Insider’s Guide to Spanish Food, Wine, Culture and Travel (gerrydawesspain.blogspot.com). He and José Andrés are the Spain correspondents for Food Arts magazine, which declared, “Gerry Dawes is known for good reasons in wine and periodical circles as ‘Mr. Spain’." (New York, NY)

Iliana de la Vega is a Latin cuisines specialist at The Culinary Institute of America, San Antonio and a member of the CIA’s Latin Cuisines Advisory Council. Prior to joining the CIA in 2007, Chef de la Vega won worldwide acclaim for her reinterpretation of Oaxacan moles at her restaurant, El Naranjo in Oaxaca. Born and raised in Mexico City, she has been featured in top U.S. publications including The New York Times, Bon Appétit, and Condé Nast Traveler. Today Chef de la Vega teaches continuing education classes at the CIA, San Antonio; presents at CIA conferences in San Antonio and the Napa Valley; and conducts culinary research throughout Latin America by traveling to interview chefs, home cooks, culinary historians, growers, and producers. She and her team document detailed information about the ingredients, recipes, culinary techniques, and cultural influences that are shaping cuisine within the 27 countries of Latin America. (Austin, TX)

Antonio De Rosa is the executive chef at the Hotel Villa Romanazzi Carducci in Bari, Italy. He is also a lecturer at the catering college in Bari, and at the Istituto Superiore di Arte Culinaria L’Etoilein Venice. Chef De Rosa began his career at the catering college in Bari, where he discovered a strong interest in understanding different cultures and travel. His many experiences throughout Europe and Japan have shaped his way of interpreting culinary trends, and he has since developed his own original style. Always eager to put his creativity into practice, Chef De Rosa has remained faithful to his home territory, Puglia, by including its traditions in his work. He has published two books, La Puglia in 100 Ricette (Apulia in 100 Recipes) and Pensieri di Cucina Mediterranea (Thoughts about Mediterranean Cooking). (Bari, Italy)

Corrado De Virgilio is a lecturer at the catering college in Molfetta (Bari), Italy and at the Istituto di Arti Culinarie L’Etoile in Venice. Chef De Virgilio started his career working in restaurants and hotels throughout Italy.  Following three years working in Monte Carlo, he returned to Puglia as the chef-owner of the Golf Hotel Riva dei Tessali, in Taranto, Italy, where he became renowned for his creative and innovative cuisine based on local traditions. Between 1997 and 2000 he was a member of the Italian culinary team, taking part in both national and international culinary events. He has co-written two books, Il Buffet Secondo L’Etoile and Tapas Istituto Superiore Arti Culinarie—Etoile. (Bari, Italy)

Carmen Degollado is the chef/owner of El Bajío Restaurants, a group of six highly acclaimed restaurants in Mexico City, of which the first opened in 1972.  A native of Veracruz, Carmen has been invited to cook throughout Mexico, the United States, and Europe with chefs like Larry Forgione, Rick Bayless, and Bradley Ogden. She is the author of Alquimias y Atmosferas de Sabor and has been called “The Matriarch of Mexican Flavor” by The New York Times. (Mexico City, Mexico)

Greg Drescher is executive director of strategic initiatives at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA), and creator of the college’s influential Worlds of Flavor International Conference & Festival, the annual Worlds of Healthy Flavors Leadership Retreat presented in partnership with the Harvard School of Public Health, as well as other CIA “think tank” initiatives. In 2005, Mr. Drescher was inducted into the James Beard Foundation’s Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America, in 2006 was honored with Food Arts magazine’s Silver Spoon Award, and in 2007 shared a second James Beard Award for his work in developing the CIA’s “Savoring the Best of World Flavors” DVD and Web cast series. Previously, before joining the CIA at Greystone as its director of education in 1995, he jointly spearheaded a collaboration of some of the world’s leading health experts and organizations—including the Harvard School of Public Health and the World Health Organization—in researching and authoring the “The Traditional, Healthy Mediterranean Diet Pyramid.” (Napa Valley, CA)

Naomi Duguid is a cook, writer, photographer, and traveler.  She is the co-author, with her husband Jeffrey Alford, of  cookbooks that present food in a cultural context: Flatbreads and Flavors; Seductions of Rice; Hot Sour Salty Sweet: A Culinary Journey Through Southeast Asia; Home Baking: The Artful Mix of Flour and Tradition Around the World; and Mangoes & Curry Leave: Culinary Travels Through the Great Subcontinent.  Their forthcoming book Beyond the Great Wall: Recipes and Stories from the Other China, will be published next May. (Toronto, Canada)

John T. Edge is director of the Southern Foodways Alliance at the University of Mississippi. He is at contributing editor at Gourmet and a contributing writer at the Oxford American. He writes the monthly column, United Tastes, for The New York Times. Edge has written six books and edited five more. He is at work on a cookbook, for Workman, that documents modern American truck food. (Oxford, MS)

Endinho (Edson) Engel is the chef-owner of two restaurants in Brazil. Amado Restaurant at Salvador-Bahia is a contemporary Brazilian food restaurant. Chef Engel and Amado Restaurant have received many awards, including one star on the 4Rodas Guide; Best Restaurant (2007) for the Vejinha-Salvador; Best Chef (2007 and 2008); and for the Gula Magazine, Best Chef (2006, 2007, 2008), Best Wine List (2007, 2008) and Best Contemporary food (2006, 2007, 2008). His 20 year-old restaurant The Manacá, a seafood restaurant in the middle of The Atlantic Rain Forest at Camburi Beach on the North Coast of São Paulo, has been named Best Restaurant for many years by Vejinha Salvador. Chef Engel is quiet chef who is passionate about researching and preserving Brazilian food. (São Paulo, Brazil)

Burak Epir is the chef-owner of Pilita Grill in San Carlos, CA, a restaurant that features dishes that capture the freshness and vibrancy of Turkish cuisine, where vegetables, whole grains, and yogurt are the stars and meats serve as condiments. Prior to opening his restaurant in late 2007, Chef Epir was a chef at Stanford University, where he was named Chef of the Year for his culinary excellence in preparing and presenting exceptional meals for special events on campus. After earning a degree in hotel and restaurant management from the University of North Texas, Chef Epir worked his way up the culinary ladder at the Doubletree Hotel at Lincoln Center in Dallas, TX. Today he travels extensively through Turkey, rediscovering the rich food culture of his native land and developing new menu concepts for his restaurant. (Santa Clara, CA)

Mark Erickson, CMC, MBA, is dean of education and vice president of continuing education for The Culinary Institute of America. He oversees curriculum development as well as continuing education programs for all three U.S. campuses. He also oversees intellectual property development and industry consulting services. Chef Erickson is one of only 62 Certified Master Chefs in the country. He has been instrumental in the development of the CIA’s programs on nutrition and healthy cooking, as well as the college’s innovative www.ciaprochef.com Internet initiative. (Napa Valley, CA, San Antonio, TX and Hyde Park, NY)

Susan Feniger is the chef-owner of Susan Feniger’s Street in Los Angeles, a highly acclaimed restaurant that features street foods from around the world. Susan and her business partner Mary Sue Milliken are chef/owners of the Border Grill in Santa Monica, the Border Grill at Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas, and Ciudad Restaurant in Los Angeles. Their television shows, Too Hot Tamales and Tamales World Tour, were shown on the Food Network, and they were also featured with Julia Child on her PBS series, Cooking with Master Chefs. They have authored five cookbooks: City Cuisine, Mesa Mexicana, Cantina, Cooking with the Too Hot Tamales, and Mexican Cooking for Dummies. A 1976 graduate of the CIA, Chef Feniger met Chef Milliken at Le Perroquet in Chicago, where they were the first women to break into that prestigious all-male kitchen. (Los Angeles, CA)

Doug Frost is a Kansas City author who is one of only three people in the world to have achieved the remarkable distinctions of Master Sommelier and Master of Wine. He has written three books: Uncorking Wine (1996), On Wine (2001), and the Far From Ordinary Spanish Wine Buying Guide (2005; second edition, 2008). Mr. Frost is the wine and spirits consultant for United Airlines; writes about wine and spirits for many national and international publications, including Hemispheres, Santé, and Cheers magazine; and is the beverage columnist for the James Beard Award-winning Kansas City Star food section. He is also the director of the Jefferson Cup Invitational Wine Competition, and is a founding partner of Beverage Alcohol Resource, a new educational and consulting company whose other partners are Dale DeGroff, Steve Olson, Paul Pacult, and David Wondrich. (Kansas City, MO)

Mark Furstenberg is a baker who teaches bread-making, consults to other companies, and writes about breads and traditional foods. In July 1990 he introduced high-quality traditional breads to Washington, D.C. when he opened his first bakery, Marvelous Market.  His breads were so novel and attractive to customers that they stood in long lines to buy the two loaves to which they were limited. In 1995, Furstenberg developed the bread program for the CIA at Greystone. In 1996, Furstenberg sold Marvelous Market and in 1997 opened The Bread Line, a restaurant that makes traditional bread-based foods from many cultures.  In 2002 Furstenberg began to consult with Thomas Keller and helped him open his Bouchon bakeries in the Napa Valley, New York City, and Las Vegas.  Furstenberg was a 2005 and 2006 James Beard nominee for best chef in the Mid-Atlantic. He is currently writing a book about one of his passions: breakfast, a meal that is seemingly disappearing in America. Mark is also working on opening a restaurant in Washington, D.C., G Street Food, that will feature streets foods of many cultures from around the world. (Washington, D.C.)

Jonathan Gold is the LA Weekly restaurant critic and the author of Counter Intelligence: Where to Eat in the Real Los Angeles. He has been restaurant critic for California, the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles magazine and Gourmet, where he was the first food writer to be nominated for the ASME award in criticism, and he has won James Beard Foundation Awards for both magazine and newspaper restaurant reviews. Gold also wrote frequently about music and popular culture for Spin, Rolling Stone, Details and Vanity Fair, and contributes to the radio shows Good Food and This American Life. In 2007 he became the first food writer to win a Pulitzer Prize for criticism. (Los Angeles, CA)

Joyce Goldstein is a chef, author, and a consultant to the restaurant and food industries. For 12 years she was chef/owner of the ground-breaking Mediterranean restaurant, SQUARE ONE, in San Francisco, which received numerous prestigious industry awards for food, wine and service. Prior to SQUARE ONE, Joyce was chef of the café at Chez Panisse and a visiting executive chef at the Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant at the CIA in the Napa Valley. Joyce received the James Beard Award for Best Chef in California for 1993. Joyce is a very prolific cookbook author. Her books include The Mediterranean Kitchen, Back to Square One: Old World Food in a New World Kitchen, winner of both the Julia Child and James Beard Awards for Best General Cookbook of 1992, and Kitchen Conversations, an IACP book award nominee in 1997. Her most recent books include Cucina Ebraica: Flavors of the Italian Jewish Kitchen, Sephardic Flavors: Jewish Cooking of the Mediterranean, Enoteca: Simple, Delicious Food from Italian Wine Bars, Saffron Shores, Jewish Cooking of the Southern Mediterranean, Solo Suppers, Savoring Spain and Portugal, the 2008 James Beard award nominated Mediterranean Fresh, and the recently released Tapas. (San Francisco, California)

Jessica Harris is the author of ten critically acclaimed cookbooks documenting the foods and foodways of the African Diaspora including Iron Pots and Wooden Spoons: Africa’s Gifts to New World Cooking, Sky Juice and Flying Fish Traditional Caribbean Cooking, Tasting Brazil: Regional Recipes and Reminiscences, The Welcome Table: African American Heritage Cooking, The Africa Cookbook: Tastes of a Continent, and Beyond Gumbo: Creole Fusion Food from the Atlantic Rim. She is currently working on High on the Hog, a narrative history of African Americans and food.

A culinary historian, Harris has lectured on African-American foodways at numerous institutions and colleges throughout the United States and abroad and has written extensively about the culture of Africa in the Americas, particularly the foodways. An award-winning journalist, Harris has written for numerous publications ranging from Essence to Saveur to German Vogue. Dr. Harris holds degrees from Bryn Mawr College, Queens College, The Université de Nancy, France, and New York University. Dr. Harris is the inaugural scholar in residence in the Ray Charles Chair in African-American Material Culture at Dillard University in New Orleans where she has established an Institute for the Study of Culinary Cultures. Dr. Harris is currently a professor at Queens College, C.U.N.Y. and Director of the Institute. (New York, NY)

Anissa Helou is a writer, journalist, broadcaster, and cooking instructor. Born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon, she knows the Mediterranean as only a well-traveled native can. Ms. Helou is the author of numerous award-winning cookbooks including The Fifth Quarter, An Offal Cookbook; Modern Mezze; Savory Baking from the Mediterranean; Mediterranean Street Food; Café Morocco; and Lebanese Cuisine, which was a finalist for the prestigious Andre Simon awards and chosen as one of the Los Angeles Times’s favorite books in 1998. The Fifth Quarter, An Offal Cookbook; Modern Mezze; and Mediterranean Street Food have received Gourmand World Cookbook awards. Her latest book, Savory Baking from the Mediterranean, was chosen by NPR, The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, and Food & Wine as one of the best cookbooks for 2007. An accomplished photographer and intrepid traveler who owns a cooking school in London and runs culinary tours to Syria and other Mediterranean countries, Ms. Helou is fluent in French, Arabic, and English. (London, England)

Charles Henning, CHA, is Managing Director of The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. He is a graduate of the Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne and IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland. He served as a faculty member and was Director of the Consulting Office at the Centre International de Glion in Glion, Switzerland. Mr. Henning relocated to the United States in 1981 and has since been vice-president or general manager in various hospitality organizations, including Radisson Hotels, the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel, Swissotel (Boston, MA and Tianjin, China), the Boca Raton Resort & Club, the Walt Disney Company (Paris, France, and Orlando, FL), the Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa (Sonoma, CA), and the Hotel DuPont (Wilmington, DE). (Napa Valley, CA)

Andrew Hunter is a research and development chef with 20 years experience in culinary development and product innovation. As former vice president of culinary development for Wolfgang Puck, Chef Andrew was responsible for translating Wolfgang’s signature fine dining vision into profitable fast casual menu concepts for 90+ Express and Bistro restaurants throughout United States, Canada and Japan. Chef Andrew currently develops retail and consumer food products for several brands. Prior to establishing his own company, Andrew managed the culinary operations for Darden Restaurants’ 525-unit Olive Garden chain, developed the prepared foods program for Webvan, an internet grocer, and was chef de cuisine of Barbara Tropp’s China Moon Café. Andrew is the chef author, with cardiologist Dr. Steven Schnur, of The Reality Diet, published by Penguin in 2006. He has written numerous articles in culinary magazines including Santé, QSR, Food Product Design and Culinology. (Los Angeles, CA)

Mohan Ismail is the chef at Rock Sugar Pan Asian Kitchen in Los Angeles. (Los Angeles, CA)

Necdet Kaygin is a Turkish chef who specializes in seafood. He has been working with Chef Musa Dagdeviren since 2003. Chef Kaygin was born and raised in Izmir, a city located on the western coast of Turkey. He studied cinematography before entering the culinary world. He has contributed to six cookbooks as a food photographer. Chef Kaygin has developed his expertise in seafood cookery by collecting traditional recipes and traveling to the small on the Aegean coast to cook with the villagers. By doing this he is able to preserve and promote the traditional seafood cooking techniques of these villages. (Istanbul, Turkey)

Diane Kochilas is a chef, consultant, cooking school owner, and the author of 13 books on Greek and Mediterranean cooking, including the IACP award-winning The Glorious Foods of Greece. She is the weekly food columnist for Ta Nea, Greece’s largest circulation daily, and she contributes frequently to major American newspaper food sections and magazines. Chef Kochilas is chef-consultant at Pylos, a popular and highly rated Greek restaurant in New York City’s East Village. She runs the Glorious Greek Cooking School on the island of Ikaria. As a consultant, she helped create and now edits the Greek Gourmetraveler, published by the Hellenic Foreign Trade Board. Additionally, Chef Kochilas is co-owner—with her husband, photographer Vassilis Stenos—of DV Food Arts, a culinary consulting and publishing company. Among other projects, together they produce an online Greek cooking series: www.youtube.com/greekfoodtv. (Athens, Ikaria and New York, NY)

Aglaia Kremezi is a journalist, food historian, and author whose books include The Cooking of the Greek Islands; The Foods of Greece, which won a Julia Child award;and Mediterranean Hot & Spicy, which will be published in the spring of 2009 by Broadway Books. With her husband and some friends, she created www.Keartisanal.com, a company that leads small groups on trips of Island Cooking and Culture in Kea. (Kea, Greece)

Mourad Lahlou is the chef-owner of Aziza, a Moroccan restaurant that opened in 2001 and has since been named one of the top 100 restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area. Chef Lahlou, a native of Marrakech, is known for modernizing Moroccan cuisine and adapting it to a fine-dining setting in unprecedented ways. A self-taught chef with a natural aptitude for producing striking flavor combinations, he creates beautifully plated dishes with the heart of home-styled food and the art of professionally prepared fare. Prior to opening Aziza, Chef Lahlou was chef-owner of Kasbah in San Rafael, CA, where in 1998 he was named a “Rising Star Chef” by theSan Francisco Chronicle. In 2002 Aziza received three stars from The San Francisco Chronicle, and in 2008 Chef Lahlou was selected as one of the nation’s “Rising Star Chefs” by Star Chefs magazine. (San Francisco, CA)

Robert Lam is the chef-owner of Butterfly in San Francisco. The Vietnam-born model-student-turned-chef calls what he does "Asian within Asian," pulling from culinary traditions from Vietnam, Thailand, China, Japan, and Korea. Robert’s cooking is influenced by his mother, who opened a Vietnamese restaurant just outside Los Angeles when the family landed in Southern California after the fall of Saigon. A graduate of the University of San Francisco and The Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park, Robert moved back to California after graduation where he received high praise at Brannan’s Grill in Calistoga. When Butterfly came up for sale Lam decided to "swim in the big pond," and buy the waterfront restaurant on Pier 33. In 2009 Robert dove into an even deeper pond by purchasing a second restaurant, Eastside West, a lounge and restaurant located in the heart of San Francisco’s Marina district. Robert has been named a “Rising Star Chef” by the San Francisco Chronicle.  His future plans include bringing his mother’s restaurant, Vien Dong, to San Francisco. (San Francisco, CA)

Donald Link is executive chef and owner of Herbsaint, Cochon, Butcher, and Calcasieu in New Orleans, Louisana. Inspired by the Cajun and southern cooking of his grandparents, Donald began his professional cooking career at 15 years old. Recognized as one of New Orleans’ preeminent chefs, Chef Link has peppered the streets of the Warehouse District of New Orleans with several restaurants over the course of 10 years: Herbsaint Link’s contemporary take on the French-American “bistro”; Cochon where Link offers true Cajun and southern cooking featuring the foods and cooking techniques he grew up preparing and eating; Cochon Butcher a tribute to old world butcher and charcuterie shops; and Calcasieu, a private event facility that takes its name from one of the parishes in the Acadiana region of southwest Louisiana. Link’s flagship restaurant Herbsaint earned him a James Beard award in 2007 for Best Chef South. Gourmet Magazine has listed Herbsaint as one of the top 50 restaurants in America, and this year Herbsaint was inducted into the Nations Restaurant News Hall of Fame. Cochon was nominated in 2009 for Best New Restaurant in America by the James Beard Foundation; and was also listed in The New York Times as "one of the top 3 restaurants that count." In April 2009 Chef Link released his first cookbook, Real Cajun: Rustic Home Cooking from Donald Link’s Louisiana. (New Orleans, LA)

Emily Luchetti is recognized around the world for her award-winning sweet creations. She is currently the executive pastry chef at Farallon and Waterbar Restaurants in San Francisco, Previous to this, Luchetti was the pastry chef at Jeremiah Tower’s Stars Restaurant. Luchetti has written five cookbooks: Stars Desserts (HarperCollins, 1991); Four Star Desserts (HarperCollins, 1995); A Passion for Desserts (Chronicle Books, 2003); A Passion for Ice Cream (Chronicle Books, 2006); and Classic Stars Desserts (Chronicle Books, 2007). She created the dessert recipes for The Farallon Cookbook (Chronicle Books, 2000). She is the co-host of the PBS television program “The Holiday Table.” Luchetti is the recipient of many awards. In 2004 she received The James Beard Foundation Pastry Chef of the Year Award, in 2001 the Women Chefs & Restaurateurs Golden Whisk Award, and in 2003 she received the Food Arts Magazine Silver Spoon Award. (San Francisco, CA)

Karen MacNeil is a writer, consultant, and educator whose articles on wine and food have been published in more than 50 U.S. magazines and newspapers. She is the author of the award-winning book, The Wine Bible, and host of the Emmy-award winning Wine, Food & Friends with Karen MacNeil, the first television series on wine in the United States. Ms. MacNeil is the creator and chairman of the Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. She conducts wine seminars nationwide for individuals and corporations including Oracle, American Express, Lexus, Merrill Lynch, General Electric, Time Inc., NBC, Viking, and J. P. Morgan.  She is also a wine consultant for Singapore Airlines and Sunset magazine. In 2008, the International Wine and Spirits Competition awarded Ms. MacNeil the “Oscar” of wine: Communicator of the Year. In a profile featured in Time magazine, she was named America’s “Missionary of the Vine.” (Napa Valley, CA)

Marilú Madueño is the executive chef at Restaurant Huaca Pucllana in Lima, Peru. A graduate from Le Cordon Bleu- Paris, she complimented her studies by working in renowned restaurants in Lima and abroad. At Huaca Pucllana she works with native ingredients creating and re interpreting traditional and contemporary Peruvian dishes. In her quest to promote Peruvian cuisine she has participated in food festivals in several countries, including the United States, Mexico, and Spain. In 2007 she presented at the CIA’s Worlds of Flavor conference focused on Spanish cuisine, and in 2008 she presented at the CIA, San Antonio’s Latin Flavors, American Kitchens leadership retreat where Peru was a featured country. (Lima, Peru)

Domenico Maggi is recognized as an ambassador for Apulian cooking. He is a lecturer at the catering college in Bari and with his wife Carole owns Truddhi, a holiday complex created by restoring the family farm. This is where he first learned, from his mother, the traditions of Apulian cooking. Mr. Maggi has been working in the catering industry for more than 40 years and in that time has traveled all over the world promoting Italian food. Between 1997 and 2000, he was captain of the Italian culinary team and led Italy to the Culinary Olympics. He is also a judge for the World Association of Chefs (WACS) and a member of the culinary committee representing Southern Europe. Mr. Maggi was also a regular on Italian TV, has appeared with Rick Stein on the BBC, and has co-written two books, Il Buffet Secondo L’Etoile and Tapas Istituto Superiore Arti Culinarie Etoile. (Bari, Italy)

Christine Manfield is a highly regarded Australian restaurateur, chef, author, food writer, food manufacturer, presenter, teacher, and gastronomic traveler whose culinary work draws on the exciting tastes and flavors of many cultures. Christine’s passion and skills are world renowned. She is a perfectionist inspired by strong flavors, a creative spirit whose generosity and skills have inspired young chefs, and a prolific writer whose successful books have spiced up the lives of keen cooks from Melbourne to Mumbai and Manhattan.

In 2007, she opened Universal Restaurant in Sydney to instant critical acclaim, was awarded 2 stars in Australian food guides and awarded one of the World's 10 best new restaurants for 2008 in Food & Wine magazine. To date she has published five award-winning books with Penguin Books Australia, inspired by her global culinary adventures. She is currently researching and writing her sixth book. A love of spices and an understanding of the home cook's need for authentically flavored simple sustaining food led Christine to develop the Spice Collection, a range of Asian and Mediterranean style pastes and condiments now marketed in Australia and abroad. Christine also hosts regular 'Spice' gastronomic luxury travel adventures to exotic destinations including Morocco, Tunisia, India, South East Asia, Spain and Turkey. These and other diverse culinary projects all focus on the uncompromising belief in the complementary and sustaining nature of good food, wine, people, pleasure, and learning. (Sydney, Australia)

Andrea Massaro is the pastry chef at Restaurant Huaca Pucllana. She studied pastry at Le Cordon Bleu and Escoffier at Hotel Ritz, both in Paris, and furthered her specialization in pastry by training at the renowned L’Atelier de Jöel Robouchon. For the last six years Chef Massaro has been the pastry chef at Restaurant Huaca Pucllana, where she works with native ingredients, applying her extensive knowledge and exacting techniques to reinterpret classic desserts and present her own creations featuring regional Perúvian products. (Lima, Perú)

Hemant Mathur is the co-executive chef, with Suvir Saran, of Dévi, in New York City. A native of Jaipur, India, Chef Mathur’s culinary education has taken him everywhere from Bukhara Restaurant in New Delhi to Mexico, where he was private chef to British financier and activist Sir James Goldsmith. In New York City, Chef Mathur garnered much acclaim for his work at Diwan Grill, Tamarind, and, most recently, Amma, and for bringing a new level of sophistication and innovation to Indian food in the United States. (New York, NY)

Aaron McCargo, Jr. won season four of The Next Food Network Star in 2008, beating out thousands of culinary hopefuls for the ultimate dream job—his own Food Network show. Big Daddy’s House, now in its second season, premiered August 3, 2008, and ranked as the number one “In the Kitchen” weekend show during its initial six-episode run. His passion for cooking was sparked at the age of four when he started baking cakes in his sister’s Easy-Bake Oven. At the age of 13, Chef McCargo was a junior volunteer in the kitchen at Cooper Hospital University. He later attended Atlantic Cape Community College’s Academy of Culinary Arts and worked in nine New Jersey restaurants including casual and fine dining. In 2003, he opened McCargo’s Restaurant in Camden, NJ. Most recently, he served as the executive VIP catering chef at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. Chef McCargo has been featured on numerous national news programs including Today, Live with Regis and Kelly, and Rachael Ray. He is currently a contributor to Essence magazineand the spokesperson for the Great American Dine Out, working closely with Share Our Strength to help nearly 12.6 million American children in their fight against hunger. (Camden, NJ)

Masaharu Morimoto—known to millions as star of Iron Chef and Iron Chef America—is as comfortable cooking against the clock for a live television audience as he is preparing his signature omakase menu at his namesake restaurants in New York, Philadelphia, Tokyo, and Mumbai. Wherever Chef Morimoto cooks, his inspired and innovative dishes garner critical and popular acclaim.  Through the seamless use of Western and Japanese ingredients, Masaharu Morimoto has effectively created his own, unique cuisine—one defined by innovation and inspiration. He is the author of Morimoto: The New Art of Japanese Cooking, a hardcover book published August 2007 that sheds light on his inventive cooking style and unique cuisine. (New York, NY)

Seamus Mullen is the executive chef of Boqueria and Boqueria Soho in New York City.
Raised on a farm in Vermont, Chef Mullen learned early on the value of working with the land to bring a meal to the table. He studied Spanish language and literature in college, and spent the last two years at Universidad Autonoma de Extremadura in Caceres, Spain. He then decided to follow his passion for food and worked in restaurants in San Francisco (Mecca) and New York City (Tabla and Crudo) before returning to Spain in 2003 to work at Mugaritz, Andoni Luis Aduriz's forward-thinking Michelin two-starred restaurant in the Basque country. He then moved to Barcelona to work in two of the most respected restaurants in the city, Abac and Alkimia. When Chef Mullen returned to New York City, he worked as executive sous chef at  Brasserie 8 ½, alongside executive chef Julian Alonzo. He opened Boqueria, an accessible Spanish tapas restaurant, with partner Yann de Rochefort in August 2006. Mullen and de Rochefort opened Boqueria Soho in fall 2008. Boqueria’s regional Spanish cuisine has been praised by both consumers and critics alike, earning a glowing two-star review from The New York Times.  This fall Chef Mullen will compete against nine other chefs on the Food Networks Next Iron Chef. The winner will join the ranks of Mario Batali, Cat Cora, Morimoto, Bobby Flay and Michael Symon. (New York, NY)

Adrian Murcia is the fromager and assistant sommelier at New York City's Chanterelle, as well as a writer, educator, and consultant specializing in wine and cheese from Spain. (New York, NY)

Kobkaew Naipinij is an assistant professor at the prestigious Rajabhat Institute Suan Dusit Royal Cooking College in Bangkok. She has written about and taught cooking for more than 30 years, focusing on classical Thai cuisine. Ms. Naipinij is the author of Thai Food and Dessert, a book that presents both Thai food and culture from hundreds of years ago to present day. Her cooking and writing represents what many people call “round taste,” referring to the delicate, balanced flavors of Thai court cuisine. (Bangkok, Thailand)

Niphatchanok "Ning" Naipinij is an instructor at the prestigious Rajabhat Institute Suan Dusit Royal Cooking College in Bangkok, and the daughter of Kobkaew Naipinij. She and her mother have written about and taught cooking for many years. Her goal is to continue her mother’s work, researching and sharing the fascinating history and delicate flavors of Thai court cuisine with food lovers around the world. (Bangkok, Thailand)

Andi Ng is a chef at the Grand Hyatt in Singapore. (Singapore)

Riccardo Olanda  is a cheesemaker from Andria, Italy. Riccardo has worked in his family’s cheese making business, Caseificio Olanda Michele, since 1988. He is in charge of the production of the cheese and the organization of promotional events and catering services. From 1997 to 2007 he was responsible for the wholesale and retail sale of typical Italian and Apulian products. Riccardo is also head of his family’s farming business, Fucci Carmela, also located in Andria. The farm produces Coratina olives for extra virgin olive oil and table and wine grapes. (Andria, Italy)

Daniel Olivella is executive chef-partner and wine buyer of B44 Catalan Bistro in San Francisco, and BarLata, a tapas bar in Oakland. He opened B44 in 1999 and was named a Rising Star Chef of the Year in 2001 by the San Francisco Chronicle. B44 has been featured in numerous magazines both in the U.S. and in Spain, and B44 dishes have twice been chosen as one of the 20 Best Dishes in America by USA Today. Chef Olivella opened BarLata in March 2009 in the Temescal neighborhood of Oakland. He began working in restaurants at age 15 in his hometown near Barcelona, then for 10 years he worked in numerous restaurants in Chicago before moving to the Bay Area in 1989. He has presented at numerous retreats at The Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. (San Francisco, CA)

Violet Oon is a cookbook author and chef. She is one of Singapore’s leading food gurus, and she is known as much for her cooking as for her opinions on food. She’s considered a leading authority on Asian cuisine and her own speciality is the Nonya cuisine of Singapore. Oon has published three cookbooks of her own and is the writer and recipe tester of the recently published Naturally Peninsula recipe book of the Peninsula hotel chain and the Tasty Singapore Timeless Recipes cookbook commissioned and published by International Enterprise Singapore (IES). She has also been commissioned to create recipes for a wide range of products and beverages. Besides creating recipes Oon is also a leading F&B consultant and food researcher and has archived the National Heritage Board of Singapore’s exhibition called Singapore Food Prints. (Singapore)

Alexander Ong is the chef and managing partner of Betelnut Pejiu Wu in San Francisco. Born and raised in Malaysia, Chef Ong apprenticed at the Shangri La Hotel in Kuala Lumpur for four years before coming to United States. Recruited by the Ritz Carlton Buckhead in Georgia, he traveled throughout United States working on assignments for the company. In 1995, he moved to San Francisco where he worked with Chef Jeremiah Tower at Stars for three years. Though he was trained in classical French cooking, he decided to return to his Asian roots and opened Le Colonial’s kitchen and then Xanadu in Berkeley, where in 2000 he was named Rising Star Chef by The San Francisco Chronicle. Chef Ong is a member of the CIA’s Asian Cuisines Advisory Council. (San Francisco, CA)

James Oseland has been the editor-in-chief of Saveur magazine since 2006. Prior to that, he was the magazine’s executive editor. He has also been an editor at Vogue, Organic Style, Sassy, and Mademoiselle. In 2006 his book, Cradle of Flavor: Home Cooking from the Spice Islands of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore, was published and went on to win awards from the James Beard Foundation and the International Association of Culinary Professionals and was named one of the best books of that year by Time Asia, The New York Times, Good Morning America, The San Francisco Chronicle, The San Jose Mercury News, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and others.

Oseland has appeared on the Today Show and as a judge on Iron Chef America and Top Chef Masters, and is a regular guest on radio programs, including The Splendid Table. He has lectured on a variety of culinary topics at the Asia Society, the Abergavenny Food Festival in Wales, and Slow Food Nation. Oseland holds a BFA and MFA in photography and film studies from the San Francisco Art Institute. A California native, he has lived in India and Indonesia and now calls Williamsburg, Brooklyn, home. (New York, NY)

Jorge Luis (Coque) Ossio is widely recognized as one of Lima’s top chefs and a very talented culinary entrepreneur. His mother, Marisa Guiulfo, is Lima’s premier caterer who oversees a thriving family business, including a French bistro and patisserie where Coque had his first culinary apprenticeship. Coque attended The Culinary Institute of America at Hyde Park and completed his externship in Paris at the three-star Michelin restaurant, Arpege, under Alain Passard. Coque returned to Lima as executive chef at Ambrosia, a French/Peruvian restaurant recognized by Condé Nast Traveler as one of the “50 Hot Tables” in 1999. Three years later, Coque opened his own restaurants, Inca grill, Map Café, Incanto and Pachapapa in Cuzco, and La Bonbonniere, in Lima. He is currently corporate chef of his own restaurants, the gastronomic consultant to a luxury hotel chain, a food stylist, known for his work in Tony Custer’s acclaimed Art of Peruvian Cuisine and one of the Prom-Peru chefs promoting Peruvian cuisine overseas. (Lima, Peru)

Luzian Palmieri has been the executive chef at the Villa Vergine in Cutrofiano, Italy since 2007. He has worked in numerous hotels and restaurants throughout Italy, including the Hotel Palace Torre Dell’Orso and Il Giardino Restaurant Lecce. Chef Palmieri has been a regular guest on local television, taught cooking classes, and organized culinary courses for the Regione Puglia. Chef Palmieris also has participated in Italian food promotional events for the Regione Puglia in many countries including Austria, Montenegro, Australia, Great Britain, and in France for the Gran Galà Tatinger at the Concorde La Faiette. He has won a bronze medal at the “Internazionale d’Italia” in Massa-Carrara, an Italian province in Tuscany. (Cutrofiano, Italy)

Neela Paniz is the chef-owner of Neela’s, a contemporary Indian restaurant in Napa, CA.  As a child growing up in Bombay, Neela was drawn to the fragrant kitchen aromas conjured by her family's skillful cook, Chandan. His traditional Indian cooking—based on practicality and subtle application of spices—inspired her love of this warm and cultured food, which she has elevated with her own original style. Neela’s menu features the many different provinces of India—vegetarian dishes from the south and tandoor-cooked dishes from the north, as well as chaat (street foods) and classic dishes of the British Raj—all made with the freshest ingredients available to create bright, home-style fare. In the 1980’s, Paniz defied the stereotypes of rich, heavy Indian dishes with her unique brand of restaurants in Los Angeles, Chutney’s Indian take-out, and the hugely successful Bombay Cafe with partner David Chaparro. Her book, The Bombay Cafe Cookbook (1998) put her on the national map as one of the leading voices of contemporary Indian cuisine. In 2007, she sold her partnership in Bombay Cafe and in 2008, she and her husband moved to Napa to open Neela’s in early 2009. (Napa, CA)

Christoforos Peskias is the chef of 48 The Restaurant in Athens, Greece. Known for presenting traditional Greek cuisine with modern culinary techniques, Chef Peskias was born and raised in Cyprus, studied business administration at Boston University, and returned to Athens in 1992 to get his first cooking job at Dash Restaurant in Kifissia. In 1995 he moved to Chicago to work with his first mentor, Charlie Trotter. In 2002, while working in Greece, he met with Ntoris Margelos, who was planning to open 48 The Restaurant. Before opening 48, Chef Peskias trained briefly under Ferran Adrià, Mark Menaux, and Joel Robuchon. Today, 48 is considered one of the best restaurants in Greece. In 2007 and 2008, Restaurant magazine ranked 48 The Restaurant as one of the top 100 restaurants in the world. (Athens, Greece)

Mai Pham is the chef/owner of Lemon Grass Restaurant and Lemon Grass Asian Grill and Noodle Bar in Sacramento, and at the Sacramento International Airport - the first Vietnamese Thai concept located inside an airport in the U.S.  She is the author of Pleasures of the Vietnamese Table, The Best of Vietnamese and Thai Cooking, and the just released The Flavors of Asia. A food columnist for The San Francisco Chronicle and host of the Food Network special My Country, My Kitchen: Vietnam, Chef Pham is the winner of the IACP Bert Greene Award for distinguished journalism. A frequent guest instructor at the CIA, Chef Pham consults with colleges and universities (she recently launched Star Ginger at UC Berkeley) and is the creator of Lemon Grass Kitchen, a line of Asian soups and sauces for foodservice. Her new retail collection was recently launched at Whole Foods and other grocery chains. Chef Pham is a member of the CIA¹s Asian Cuisines Advisory Council. (Sacramento, CA)

Charles Phan is the chef and owner of the Slanted Door, a modern Vietnamese restaurant located in the beautiful Ferry Plaza in San Francisco. Born in Da Lat, Vietnam, Chef Phan left his home country along with his family—his parents and five siblings—after the war in 1975. The Phan family opened the original Slanted Door in the Mission District in 1995 with a vision to blend contemporary Vietnamese cooking with the best locally sourced ingredients.  Chef Phan was named San Francisco Focus magazine’s rising star chef for 1998, won the 2004 James Beard Award for Best Chef: California, and is a frequent visiting instructor at the CIA at Greystone.  His newest venture, Out the Door, offers prepared dishes to go and easy-to-use cooking kits at two locations in San Francisco.  (San Francisco, CA)

Jim Poris is a senior editor of Food Arts magazine. In this role for 12 years, Jim has had a bird’s-eye view of the worldwide boom times for the restaurant and hospitality industries. At Food Arts he creates, writes, and/or edits features on kitchen design and equipment, American and international cuisine, cookbooks, recipes, culinary technique, wine, and well-known chefs. He serves as the editor for many of Food Arts’ stable of renowned writers, including Michael Ruhlman, Anthony Bourdain, Gael Greene, Patricia Quintana, Paula Wolfert, Greg Atkinson, Eileen Yin-Fei Lo, Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Daguid, Rose Levy Beranbaum, Betty Fussell, and Phyllis Richman. He came to Food Arts with an insider’s knowledge of the professional kitchen, having served as one of the opening cooks at the three-star restaurant Picholine in New York City after his graduation from the French Culinary Institute.  (New York, NY)

Maricel Presilla is a culinary historian, author, and chef specializing in the cuisines of Latin America and Spain. Ms. Presilla is the co-owner and chef of Zafra and Cucharamama, two Latin American restaurants in Hoboken, NJ. She has been nominated for Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic Region by the James Beard Foundation in 2007, 2008, and 2009. Her outdoor cooking, inspired by the street and comfort foods of Latin America, was featured in a 26-page spread in Gourmet in June 2009, the first time the magazine has dedicated so much space to a menu story covered in real time without props or stylists involved. Ms. Presilla is the author of The New Taste of Chocolate: A Cultural and Natural History of Cacao with Recipes (Ten Speed Press, 2009) and a Latin American cookbook for W.W. Norton that explores the cuisines of 20 Latin American countries (forthcoming). In November 2009, she will open Ultramarinos, a food store and cooking atelier in Hoboken specializing in Spanish and Latin American foods and ingredients such as cacao and chocolate. She divides her time between her New Jersey restaurants, Miami, and Latin America. (Hoboken, NJ)

Ruth Reichl has been the Editor in Chief at Gourmet since April 1999. She came to the magazine from The New York Times, where she had been the restaurant critic since 1993. As chef and co-owner of The Swallow Restaurant from 1974 to 1977, she played a part in the culinary revolution that took place in Berkeley, California. In the years that followed, she served as restaurant critic for New West and California magazines. In 1984, she became restaurant critic of the Los Angeles Times, where she was also named food editor. Ms. Reichl began writing about food in 1972, when she published Mmmmm: A Feastiary. Since then, she has authored the critically acclaimed, best-selling memoirs Tender at the Bone, Comfort Me with Apples, and Garlic and Sapphires. Her latest book is Not Becoming My Mother. Ms. Reichl is the executive producer of-and makes frequent appearances in-Gourmet’s Diary of a Foodie, public television’s 20-episode series, which debuted in October 2006. She is also executive producer of Garlic and Sapphires, a Fox 2000 film based on her memoirs and to be produced by Cary Brokaw’s Avenue Pictures. Ms. Reichl has been honored with four James Beard Awards (two for restaurant criticism, in 1996 and 1998; one for journalism, in 1994; and Who’s Who of Food and Beverage in America, 1984) and with numerous awards from the Association of American Food Journalists. In 2007, she was named Adweek’s Editor of the Year. She lives in New York City with her husband, Michael Singer, a television news producer, and their son. (New York, NY)

Paco Roncero is the executive chef at the Casino de Madrid. Born into a family rich in culinary tradition, Paco started his studies at age 18 at the Madrid School of Tourism and Hospitality. In 1990, he began his career at the restaurant Zalacain and later moved to the Ritz Hotel. In 1991, he joined the staff at the Casino de Madrid as a chef. It was there that he met his mentor, Ferrán Adriá, who greatly developed his culinary expertise and understanding. In 2000, Chef Roncero was promoted to head chef at the Casino and shortly after led the club to earn a Michelin star in 2002. Chef Roncero was named the Best Chef of the Future in 2005 by the International Academy of Gastronomy and was awarded the Best Design Letter Restaurant in 2006 by the National Academy of Gastronomy. Always cutting edge, Mr. Roncero also helped develop "Gestor de Cocina" software, which is dedicated to promoting new culinary technology. (Madrid, Spain)

Arturo Rubio is founder and CEO of Huaca Pucllana Restaurant. A businessman and gastronomist, he is one of the pioneers of the culinary trend known as The Lima Vanguard, an initiative that is encouraging a new Peruvian cuisine through modern interpretation of classical recipes and extensive use of native products. Arturo is a member of the CIA’s Latin Cuisines Advisory Council. (Lima, PE)

Tim Ryan, C.M.C., Ed.D., M.B.A. is the president of The Culinary Institute of America. Dr. Ryan holds the distinction of being the youngest national president of the American Culinary Federation (ACF) and, at that time, the youngest chef ever to achieve Certified Master Chef status from that organization. Dr. Ryan was named the ACF’s Chef of the Year in 1998, and is one of only five Americans to receive the Presidential Medal from the World Association of Cooks Societies. He also captained the U.S. Culinary Olympic Team to a world championship.  Dr. Ryan has been instrumental in generating the sustained growth, innovation, and quality improvements that have shaped the CIA.  Over his tenure as president, and previously as executive vice president, he launched the world’s first bachelor’s degree programs in Culinary Arts Management and Baking and Pastry Arts Management, developed a highly successful publishing program, launched CIA television series (PBS), and more.  A 1977 graduate of the CIA, Chef Ryan is the first alumnus and first faculty member to rise through the ranks to President.  (Hyde Park, NY)

Sabina Ficco Salvatori is the chef-owner at Il Ventaglio in Foggia, Italy. A self-taught chef, Sabina started her culinary career in 1988 when she opened her Il Ventaglio. Previously she had worked with her husband, Augusto Salvatori, in two other restaurants, the Masester in Foggia (later known as La Pietra di Francia) and the summer venue of the Masester in Rodi Garganico. Sabina has attended various courses held by top Italian chefs including Paracucchi, Marchesi, and Vissani. In 1995 her restaurant was awarded a Michelin star. (Foggia, Italy)

Richard Sandoval is the chef-owner of Modern Mexican Restaurants. A chef and restaurateur who artfully balances authentic Mexican flavors and innovative culinary techniques, he is recognized as the “Father of Modern Mexican cuisine.” Among Chef Sandoval’s highly celebrated awards are the Bon Appetit Restaurateur of the Year 2006 and Mexico’s National Toque d’Oro. His internationally renowned restaurants, including Isla, La Sandia, Maya, and Pompano, offer superior dining environments that bring his cuisine to a whole new level. (New York, NY)

Roberto Santibañez the owner of Truly Mexican, a New York-based consulting firm. As a native of Mexico City and a graduate with honors from Paris’s top culinary institutions, award-winning Chef Roberto Santibañez's culinary resume includes stints as restaurateur, culinary consultant, author and teacher in Mexico, Europe and the United States. Roberto has been responsible for the culinary development of some of the most highly regarded Mexican restaurants in the United States. His 2007 book Rosa’s New Mexican Table was nominated for a 2008 James Beard Award and currently he is working on his second cookbook to be published in 2010. Roberto is a member of The Culinary Institute of America’s Latin Cuisines Advisory Council. (New York, NY)

Ana Celia Batista Santos is chef-owner of Zanzíbar, a bar and restaurant that specializes in African and Afro-Brazilian cuisine. Chef Santos was born and raised in Salvador, Bahia, a region in northeast Brazil known for great culinary diversity, especially African-influenced cuisines. She began cooking at an early age by helping her aunt, the head cook, at the Bahia Hotel. Before opening Zanzibar, Chef Santos cooked for 10 years at the Afro-Brazilian restaurant Casa Do Benin, where she developed her well-known cuisine that adapts African flavors to the tastes of the Bahian diner. Zanzibar opened in 1976 and quickly became a popular hangout for local bohemians, poets, and musicians like Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil, who have mentioned the restaurant in their songs. Through her cooking, Chef Santos presents great Afro-Bahian cookery with lots of flavors and rhythm. (Salvador, Brazil)

Suvir Saran is chef, consultant, and the author of two widely acclaimed cookbooks, American Masala: 125 New Classics From My Home Kitchen and Indian Home Cooking. He is currently working on two new books on Indian cuisine.  Suvir established new standards for Indian food in America when he teamed up with tandoor master Hemant Mathur to create the authentic flavors of Indian home cooking at Dévi restaurant in New York City, the only Indian restaurant in the U.S. to have ever earned a Michelin star. Most recently, he introduced his American Masala Collection of porcelain kitchenware and dinnerware by Wade Ceramics Ltd. He serves as chairman, Asian culinary studies for The Culinary Institute of America’s World Cuisines Council.. He teaches all over the U.S. and beyond, but when he is not traveling, he works on his 68-acre farm in upstate New York. (New York, NY)

Pedro Miguel Schiaffino is chef/owner of Malabar, one of Lima’s most cutting edge and innovative restaurants. He also is the chef/owner of La Pescaderia, restaurant and retail store that offers a unique fish based cuisine. He recently started a catering company, Schiaffino Gastronomica. Pedro is also the chef advisor of Aqua, an Amazonian luxury cruise line in Iquitos, and Sol y Luna, a boutique hotel in Cuzco. His cuisine fuses Peruvian ingredients with traditional technique. Schiaffino is known for his interest in local ingredients and their sources, such as Amazonian ingredients. He has focused his work on building a supply chain that goes from the cultivation and preservation of the native ingredient and its surroundings, to the creation of the dishes that are offered in all his restaurants. His is a graduate of both The Culinary Institute of America and the Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners, and he worked five years in Italy in several Michelin starred restaurants. (Lima, Peru)

K.F. Seetoh, a former photojournalist, is the founder of Makansutra, a company dedicated to the celebration of Asian food, culture, and lifestyles. The company publishes its own Makansutra Asian food guides, operates and owns specialized Makansutra food courts in Asia, delivers mobile content, and consults on food business. Seetoh’s works have been featured by numerous international media like CNN, BBC, CNBC, The New York Times, and The New Yorker. In 2008, he was awarded by the Singapore Tourism Board, through the country's President, a Special Recognition Award for his work in promoting Asian food and culture. The late Johnny Apple of The New York Times called him “the food maven,” and the Asian Wall Street Journal says, “the best way to eat in Singapore is to buy Makansutra.” Seetoh’s latest culinary venture is the 15,000 square foot Makansutra Asian Food Village in Manila, Philippines. It is a 13 station, open kitchen, performance chef food court offering cooked-before-your-eyes Southeast Asian flavors. All chefs are trained by K.F. Seetoh and his team. (Singapore)

Ida Shen is the assistant director/executive chef at the University of California, Berkeley where she oversees menu and product development, and helps to maintain quality assurance and training standards.  She is also responsible for product research and development, as well as vendor relations. A graduate of the University of California, Santa Cruz, Ida later attended the California Culinary Academy. As a recipient of a Sodexo Scholarship, Ida studied in France at Ecole des Arts Culinaires et de l'Hotellerie, de Lyon, where she earned a Cuisine & Culture Certificate. Ida has more than 15 years of post culinary school experience as a cook at Strait’s Café and at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in San Francisco, as a caterer, and a cooking instructor.  She has participated in several American Culinary Federation-sponsored culinary challenge competitions and has won bronze, silver, and gold medals. Ida adheres to the philosophy that food is about community and fostering relationships. It nourishes the soul, and creates an opportunity for people to come together over a plate, and to experience and share their values and cultural differences. (Berkeley, CA)

Hiroko Shimbo is a recognized authority on Japanese cuisine. She is a chef-consultant for restaurants and food companies, a trained sushi chef, author, media performer and chef-instructor. Hiroko began her business, Hiroko’s Kitchen, in her native Japan in 1989. Since 1999 her business has been based in New York City. Hiroko’s award-winning, best selling first cookbook, The Japanese Kitchen, was published by Harvard Common Press in 2000. This comprehensive book, considered the standard English language work on Japanese cuisine, is designed to demystify Japanese cooking for Western cooks working in a typical home or professional kitchen using locally available ingredients. Hiroko’s second book, The Sushi Experience, was published in October 2006 and became a James Beard Nominee for 2006. The lavishly illustrated book is the most comprehensive treatment of sushi ever published in English. It presents the history and cultural associations of sushi, sushi restaurant dining tips and etiquette, and complete instruction on the ingredients, techniques and recipes of this world cuisine. The book is aimed at professional and home cooks, sushi restaurant diners and readers with an interest in food history and culture. Hiroko is currently working on developing her own television program for PBS. (New York City, NY)

Chai Siriyarn is the chef-owner of Marnee Thai Restaurant, which has two locations in San Francisco and has been among the Zagat Survey's Top Thai Restaurants in the city for the past 15 years. Bangkok born and bred, Chef Siriyarn grew up in a culinary family and spent his childhood steeped in the restaurant business. Chef Siriyarn's culinary accolades include winning the grand prize in the Los Angeles Pad Thai Festival contest in 2000, and earning "Thailand Superchef Award" in 2003. He was also named "International Chef of the Year" by the Awards of the Americas in New York City in 2001. Chef Siriyarn was a guest chef to the Royal Thai Embassy at a tsunami relief fundraising event held in Washington, DC. He is a member of the CIA’s Asian Cuisines Advisory Council and is the author of Thai Cuisine Beyond Curry. (San Francisco, CA)

Kannika Siriyarn was born in the ancient city of Ayudthaya, the former capital of Thailand and birthplace of Royal Thai cuisine. She learned traditional Thai cooking from her aunt, who was a famous chef at the city market. Mrs. Siriyarn moved to Bangkok in 1952 and ran her own business as a food vendor, selling her curries and Thai sweets for more than three decades. After retiring, she moved to northern Thailand, where she still loves to cook, always keeping abreast of the new trends in Thai cuisine. (Chiang Mai, Thailand)

Pham Thi Ngoc Tinh is the chef and owner of Thuong Chi restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. A native of Hue, Chef Tinh specializes in Royal Cuisine and the foods of the central region of Vietnam. Prior to opening her restaurant, Chef Tinh was the founding chef of Ngu Binh, a highly acclaimed restaurant specializing in Hue cuisine in Ho Chi Minh City, and then the chef of the Vietnamese restaurant in the New World Hotel. (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam)

Yoshi Tome is the CEO of Sushi Ran in Sausalito, California. Sushi Ran is ranked among the top five restaurants in the Bay Area (across all categories of cuisine), according to Zagat Survey 2006. Sushi Ran, well-known in the Bay Area for its inventive interpretations of traditional Japanese and Pacific Rim cuisine, received a Michelin star in November 2006, making it one of only 28 Bay Area restaurants to receive a star. A native of Okinawa, Japan, Yoshi Tome has been a resident of the United States since 1981. Tome came to the United States for a year-long teacher exchange program. After living in the San Joaquin Valley of California for a year, Tome relocated to Sausalito where he worked for three years in the restaurant before becoming sole proprietor of Sushi Ran. (Sausolito, CA)

Norman Van Aken is known as “the founding father of New World Cuisine.” He is the only Floridian inducted into the James Beard “Who’s Who.” His restaurant, Norman’s, was deemed Best Restaurant in Florida by The New York Times and was also nominated by the James Beard Foundation as The Best Restaurant in America in its first year of eligibility. Chef Van Aken was hailed as a “culinary genius” by Johnson and Wales University and given an honorary doctorate. In 2006 he was honored as one of the Founders of the New American Cuisine, alongside Alice Waters, Paul Prudhomme, and Mark Miller at Spain’s International Summit of Gastronomy Madrid Fusion event. He was the first chef in America to become a member of the James Beard Foundation’s Board of Trustees and serves on the organization’s National Advisory Board. Chef Van Aken oversees Norman’s at the Ritz-Carlton, his acclaimed restaurant in Orlando, and is currently building his newest creation, Norman’s 180 in Miami. He has published four books: Feast of Sunlight (1988), The Exotic Fruit Book (1995), Norman’s New World Cuisine (1997), and New World Kitchen (2003). (Miami, FL)

Bruno Wehren has been an executive chef with Barilla America, Inc. since 1997. Chef Bruno started his career at an early age, attending cooking school in his native Switzerland and working as a cook in the Swiss Army. Along the way many accomplishments, including opening the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, have earned him the privilege of cooking or catering for many dignitaries, including presidents of Zambia, Kenya, the United Arabic Emirates, U.S. governors, and Presidents Nixon and Carter. In 1983, Chef Bruno’s vast experience and love of the food industry propelled him to start his own consulting firm, B&B Consulting. Chef Bruno is a member of the American Culinary Federation, Chain de Rotisseur and Toque Blanche. He is involved in community activities such as Chef and Child, Chef for Kids, and Share our Strength, and he has been awarded several gold, silver, and bronze medals worldwide. (Chicago, IL)

Matthew Weingarten is the executive chef at Inside Park at St. Bart’s in New York City. A longtime supporter of local farmlands, sustainable culinary practices and responsibly sourced ingredients, Matthew Weingarten has always strived to create menus that reflect a sense of place and time. At Inside Park at St. Bart's, Weingarten's artisanal approach to cooking is highlighted by his passion for culinary traditions and the lost culinary arts of curing, pickling, preserving and "whole animal cooking" -- all of which help to better sustain our culinary and cultural knowledge for future generations. (New York, NY)

Scott Whitman is the executive chef of Sushi Ran in Sausalito, CA. A graduate of the California Culinary Academy, Chef Whitman’s star was rising from day one. He has trained with some of the best in the business, voraciously consuming cultural experiences and culinary techniques in restaurants around the world, all of which eventually led him to Sushi Ran and a Michelin star. Chef Whitman’s résumé reads like an exotic travel magazine: executive chef at a 5-star beach resort on the island of Bonaire, in the Dutch Caribbean; the launch of a waterfront restaurant in Hawaii, which netted him big press in Island Home magazine and a guest chef appearance on Hari's Kitchen; and cooking for Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and the Dutch Royal Family. Add to this his stints in Thailand, Hong Kong, and Singapore, as well as posts at many of the top restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area, and you have the master of Sushi Ran's kitchen, with its innovative cuisine that continues to surprise and delight customers. (Sausalito, CA)

Paula Wolfert is an internationally known cookbook author. Her award-winning books are admired by chefs and cooking teachers throughout the U.S. and around the world. They include Couscous & Other Good Food from Morocco, Mediterranean Cooking, The Cooking of Southwest France, Paula Wolfert’s World of Food, The Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean, Mediterranean Grains & Greens, The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen, and the soon-to-be-published The Mediterranean Clay Pot Cookbook. Paula has been honored with numerous awards including a Julia Child Award, a James Beard Award, a Tastemaker Award, the M. F. K. Fisher Prize, a Cooks magazine Platinum Plate Award, a Food Arts Silver Spoon Award, and the Perigueux Award for Lifetime Achievement. (Sonoma, CA)

Beatriz Ramírez Woolrich is a teacher, culinary historian, and the most highly regarded tamale maker (tamalera) in Mexico City. She is the chef-owner of Tamales Especiales, which she opened in 1958. Her retail shop and restaurant offer a wide variety of tamales, including banana leaf-wrapped Oaxacan tamales. (Mexico City)

William W. Wongso is Indonesia’s most famous culinary expert, renowned restaurateur, food consultant, critic, and host of a very popular television series, “Cooking Adventure with William Wongso.” The weekly shows explore Indonesian cooking and its adaptability to modern cooking without losing its authenticity. William is the author of FLAVOURS of INDONESIA: Nourishing a Culture and the recipient of many prestigious awards including the Chevalier dans L’ordre du Merite Agricole, an honor bestowed by the Ministry of Agriculture of France, an appreciation of William’s significant role and merit in the French culinary and gastronomy. (Jakarta, Indonesia)