Fifth Annual Food Lab Conference At Stony Brook Southampton

Scheduled on Friday and Saturday, September 13 and 14, the fifth annual Food Lab Conference at Stony Brook Southampton will have a theme this year of “Cook, Eat, Drink: Taste the Terroir.” Headlining an impressive list of panels, discussions and tastings will be celebrity chef Lidia Bastianich in a keynote conversation with author and New Yorker magazine contributor Adam Gopnik (see story, page B1).

Coinciding once more with the harvest season, this year’s conference brings together an impressive list of nationally admired speakers, along with tastings of the best local food and drink offerings, providing an immersive opportunity for those attending to better understand, experience and appreciate eastern Long Island’s culinary diversity, innovation, entrepreneurship and globally recognized excellence.

In addition to Bastianich’s conversation with Gopnik, other highlights this year include: a Friday afternoon cooking class with Chef Nicholas Poulmentis; Friday evening “Farmer to Table” cocktails and buffet opening reception featuring Early Girl Farm’s Patty Gentry in conversation with Saveur Magazine founding editor Dorothy Kalins; and a Saturday midday farmers market luncheon and cooking theater for all participants.

Speakers and panelists at this year’s conference include: Restaurateurs and chefs Tom Schaudel, Claudia Fleming and Nicholas Poulmentis; pastry chef and baker Carissa Waechter; Dock-to-Dish’s Sean Barrett; four-time James Beard Award-winner Rozanne Gold; cookbook author, chef and former Martha Stewart Living editor Susan Spungen; Wolffer Vineyards partner and winemaker Roman Roth; East Hampton Star Food Editor Laura Donnelly; Open Minded Organics (OMO) farmer and CBD pioneer David Falkowski; Amber Waves Farm founders Katie Baldwin and Amanda Merrow; Stony Brook University Neurobiologist and Taste Expert Alfredo Fontanini; Satur Farms founder and chef Eberhard Müller; the founder of Long Island’s first commercial winery, Louisa Hargrave; Saveur magazine founding editor Dorothy Kalins; and East End Food Institute Executive Director Kate Fullam, to name only a few.

Saturday session highlights include Taste the Terroir, an opportunity to taste and learn about wines, beers and spirits from all across Long Island, from Montauk Brewery and Wölffer Estate Vineyard and Channing on the South Fork to Matchbook Distillery, Paumanok Vineyards and RGNY on the North Fork.

Interactive Tasting and Taste Memory will offer an opportunity to learn all about “How We Taste,” led by chefs, food and wine writers, sommeliers and mixologists, together with experts in biology, anthropology and practitioners of mindful eating. The program is designed to help participants develop a deeper appreciation of what we eat and drink.

Here’s a full list of conference events:

Friday, September 13:

Friday Afternoon Cooking Class with Chef Nicholas Poulmentis

Beyond Astoria, New York, the Greek island of Kythira is home to Chef Nicholas Poulmentis. This year, by popular demand, Chef Nicholas returns to the Food Lab Conference to offer a very special and personal interactive Mediterranean cooking class based on Kythira’s, and his, favorite taste memories.

Ingredients will be sourced using local, seasonal products — tweaked by the addition of some Greek specialties from Chef Nick’s personal pantry — to create a special taste memory and table favorite for all who share this class.Food and wine will accompany the cooking. There is an additional charge of $50 to attend this class, which will be limited to 25 people.

Friday Evening “Farmer to Table” Opening Reception

The 2019 Food Lab Conference gets underway Friday evening, September 13, from 6 to 8 p.m. with cocktails and an East End Food Institute farmers’ buffet sourced from local farmers and prepared by Chef Joao Garcia at the windmill on the Southampton campus. Welcome remarks will be offered by Creative Arts Associate Provost Robert Reeves, Food Lab Executive Director Geoffrey Drummond, and East End Food Institute Executive Director Kate Fullam.

The program features Patty Gentry, farmer/owner and chef at Early Girl Farm in Bellport in conversation with Dorothy Kalins, the founding editor of Saveur Magazine. Scenes from the film “The Soul of a Farmer” about Gentry and her farm by Emmy and James Beard Award-winning documentary filmmaker Roger Sherman will be shown.

Saturday, September 14:

Keynote: “The Power of Local: Taste The Terroir” with Lidia Matticchio Bastianich in conversation with Adam Gopnik at 11 a.m. in Duke Lecture Hall.

Saturday Cooking Theater and One Long Luncheon Table

Anolon Gourmet Cookware and East End Food Institute present “Cooking Theater: Healthy, Tasty and Easy Recipes inspired by Incredible Local Freshest Seasonal Ingredients.” During the Conference lunch break, all attendees will be treated to a farmers market luncheon, a grand buffet celebrating local iconic dishes and drinks.

Everyone will be seated at one long horseshoe table with a cooking stage at its focal point. Preparation of three quick and easy dishes using locally farmed and fished ingredients will be demonstrated by chefs in the al fresco kitchen in a new form of dinner (or lunch) theater.

Saturday Sessions:

• Taste, Taste Memory and Mindful Eating

• Our Coastal Cuisine — Fishing, Farming and Cooking from the Sea

• Featuring “Long Island Cuisine” — Branding Our Terroir

• From Farm to Pharma: Hemp Farming, Superfoods and CBD

• What’s Happening in Baking? — From Simple to Spectacular!

• Wines, Beers and Spirits with Edible Long Island/Edible East End:

• Tastings and Talking with Our Favorite Makers

Tickets for the 2019 Food Lab Conference are $150 (special price tickets for students and farmers). Tickets and full conference schedules and speaker details are available at thefoodlab.org.