Cooking demonstration — Photo courtesy of Bill Stanley
The events are plentiful and the names are boldfaced during Flavor! Napa Valley 2012. From November 14-18, 2012, participants will be able to eat, drink and learn to their stomach's content. Events range from "Terroir to Table," to a downtown Napa restaurant tour, to culinary demonstrations to learning how to conduct expertly guided wine tastings.
Chefs including the Forgione clan of cooks (Larry, Bryan, Marc and Sean), Thomas Keller, Cindy Pawlcyn, Michael Chiarello, Geoffrey Zakarian and Masuharu Morimoto, as well as others, will participate in events like cooking demonstrations, panel discussions and private lunches and dinners. Some of the events are general, showcasing the chef, while others hone in on specific skills, like chef Johnny Iuzzini's class on working local vegetables into desserts. In terms of wine, panels will focus on new emerging vintners, a blind taste test competition and offer experiences like tasting bottles of the San Francisco Chronicle's top 100 list with the newspaper's wine writer, Jon Bonné.
With all of the net proceeds going to the Culinary Institute of America's efforts toward providing scholarships to students, there's no better opportunity to listen to Thomas Keller explain why it's important to use only the freshest produce in your cooking. An added bonus: many of the events take place at the CIA building at Greystone, an incredible, castle-like place that is worth a visit all on its own.
