Piedmont Culinary Guild is bringing back its Food & Beverage Symposium, presented as four online sessions on consecutive Sundays.
You can attend the streaming events live – as well as receive exclusive access to the recorded sessions to view at your convenience whenever you’d like.
February 28 – March 21
Just $30 gets you all four sessions!
(Or you can register for a single session for $15)
The Sessions
February 28, 2021 • 5pm
Winter Vegetables in The Piedmont
Chef Greg Collier: Leah & Louise
Summer vegetables get all the love: bright, flavorful and often overwhelming in their abundance (hello squash and tomatoes). But don’t sleep on Winter vegetables — there’s delicious heartiness in the colder months too. Chef Gregory Collier will demonstrate how to make the winter bounty just as spectacular.
Chef Gregory Collier has always had a special place in his heart for food and its preparations. A native of Memphis, his first real memories recall cooking beside his grandmother making butter rolls. She never revealed her recipe to him, but she left him with so much more: A desire to make people happy with good food. a two-time James Beard semifinalist, his newest concept, Leah & Louise, a modern juke joint, opened in June 2020 with a menu featuring modern interpretations of Southern classics honoring Mississippi river valley foodways. Esquire Magazine named Leah & Louise one of the best new restaurants of 2020.
March 7, 2021 • 5pm
The Ultimate Pivot
Chef Sam Diminich: Your Farms Your Table – Moderator
Panelists: Isaac Oliver: Harmony Ridge Farms | Jamie Barnes & Greg Williams: What the Fries | Noey & Sammy Koenigsberg: New Town Farm | Hannah Neville: Honeybear Bakeshop | Michael Bowling: Hot Box “Next Level Kitchen” | Desiree Mines Kinker: Ree’ Kreations | Bonnie Warford: Earl’s Grocery
Life is always a series of adapting and finding ways to be positive – no more than in this past year of COVID. Food has always been a unifying element in our lives; an opportunity to step away from life’s distractions and embrace togetherness. This discussion will look at the ways many our the area’s local food leaders have found ways to pivot – all using the same mantra – “save yourself and everybody you can get your hands on.”
Chef Sam Diminich is a third-generation chef. Originally from Myrtle Beach, Chef Sam grew up in the restaurants of both his father (“Big Sam”) and grandfather (“Bíga Sáma”), who came to the US from Italy at age 16 – a classic immigrant story of seeking opportunity in America. His life has been one of many pivots – from a top chef, to homeless addict, to recovery, back to a top chef, to COVID furlough, to now creating and delivering locally sourced three-course meals for $30. Chef Sam is wildly passionate about working with local ingredients. His goal is to prepare food that brings a celebratory influence to the meal experience as the centerpiece in the story of our lives with our friends and family.
March 14, 2021 • 5pm
Farm Tours:
Emma Hendel: Fair Share Farm
Michael & Christy Underwood: Underwood Family Farm
Two great farm tours in one online session! You’ll see how Underwood Family Farm gets food from farm to market. A walk through the entire meat production process: how animals are raised and a talk about where they are processed. You’ll also get a glimpse into a day in the life of a dairyman; including twice a day milking and herd management and fish with a talk about direct marketing and how to reach your customers. At Fair Share Farm, you’ll poke your heads into the greenhouse to check out Fair Share’s microgreens and transplants, swing down to the caterpillars and high tunnels to catch the paper pot transplanter in action, hike up to wash and pack to see where everything is processed, then cross the street to check out a newly leased tract of land that is transitioning out of conventional soy/corn production.
Emma Hendel returned to her maternal family roots in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 2012 to pursue a career in agriculture. Originally from Prince George’s County Maryland, Emma has lived and worked in states from Connecticut to Texas and even spent a year in Hong Kong teaching English as a second language. While attending college at Elizabethtown in Pennsylvania pursuing a degree in Social Studies Education, Emma started to become aware of food system and agricultural issues and has been hooked ever since. Along with her husband, Elliot Seldner, Emma runs Fair Share Farm, growing and distributing produce for Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and Charlotte.
Michael and Christy Underwood started Underwood Family Farms in 2005 with sustainability, community, and healthy food in mind. It all began with a cow and a dog; a Jersey named Flame and a border collie named Sam. They soon added more cows to the herd for beef production. Shortly after, the pigs came onto the farm scene and in several months they started marketing to Charlotte by going to the Regional Farmers Market with pasture-raised pork. Soon they were marketing to restaurants as well and adding grass-fed beef to their list of products. The sheep were the last piece of the puzzle, and lamb was added to the list. Sixteen years later, you can still find them at the Charlotte Regional Farmers Market every Saturday morning offering beef, pork, veal, and milk. While the farm continues to evolve, its focus has remained the same – sustainability, community, and healthy food.
March 21, 2021 • 5pm
Chefs with Issues: Total wellness during and in recovery from the Covid Crisis
Keia Mastrianni: Writer, Chef: Milk Glass Pies – Moderator
Panelists: Katy Kindred: Kindred | Sam Diminch: Your Farms Your Table | Michael Bowling: Hot Box “Next Level Kitchen”
It’s no secret that the restaurant industry has suffered some of the highest rates of mental illness and substance abuse, enough to have sparked national conversation these last few years with a call for change. The conversation around prioritizing mental health and wellness is now more urgent than ever. The COVID-19 crisis has leveled restaurant operations, while many others are struggling to survive. We speak with three panelists about their own journeys with health and wellness and discuss their unique struggles, and how they are coping through the pandemic.
Keia Mastrianni is a writer, editor, author, and baker. She’s written for the Local Palate, Bon Appetit, Vice Munchies, Healthyish, Bake from Scratch and more. As an editor, she’s helped to produce Crop Stories, an independent magazine that tells complex stories from the agricultural South. She recently co-authored Bruce Moffett Cooks, a cookbook published by UNC-Press in March 2020. When she can, she bakes pie for a small batch endeavor called Milk Glass Pie. Mastrianni is also a member of Les Dames Escoffier, NC chapter, and sits on the board for local nonprofit, the Bulb Gallery.