Thursday kicked off the American Culinary Federation's annual national convention and show, Cook. Craft. Create., in Orlando. The event, running through Aug. 3 at the World Center Marriott, will feature National Restaurant Association CEO Dawn Sweeney as its keynote speaker, along with cooking demonstrations and seminars, hands-on workshops, chef battles and a two-day trade show.
Topics like sustainable cooking, food trends, kitchen techniques and more will be presented by the convention's culinary gurus, which include Florida chefs Norman Van Aken of Orlando's Norman's and Cress Restaurant in DeLand's Hari Pulapaka.
Pulapaka — who recently published his first cookbook Dreaming in Spice — will be featured during a Friday session on beef sourcing and another on Sunday that talks about local-meets-global dishes, while Van Aken will discuss New World cuisine in a Monday presentation.
Open to the public, the event has on-site registration available every day starting at 7 a.m. Non-members will receive single-day badges for $200, which also includes breakfast, and food service professionals and chefs older than 16 may enter for $25 if they're only attending the trade show.
This article appears in Jul 30 – Aug 5, 2015.
