Contributing Author: Sarah Axe
On October 3, Food Tank is hosting its second Summit in New York City at the New York University Tishman Auditorium titled, “Focusing on Food Loss and Food Waste,” along with Hunter College NYC Food Policy Center, Natural Resources Defense Council, New York University, ReFED, and The Rockefeller Foundation.
We will hear from more than 30 speakers and panelists from the food and agriculture world in the New York area and around the globe, including Dan Barber, Dickie Brennan, Marion Nestle, and many more! Journalists from CNN, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times, will moderate the panel discussions between these diverse and engaging food leaders.
The limited number of tickets to this event have already sold out! You can tune into our FREE livestream on Food Tank’s Facebook page and engage with us on social media using #FoodTank. After the event, all videos will be immediately archived on Food Tank’s YouTube Channel and we will be sharing some content through our Podcast, “Food Talk with Dani Nierenberg.”
Here is a preview of the all-star line up of the 35+ speakers at the 2018 New York City Summit to advance the conversation about food waste and food loss!
Jack Algiere, Farm Director of Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture, oversees all farm operations, working to integrate livestock, grains, field crops, greenhouse, fruit, flowers and compost in a four-season agroecological system. He leads the farm’s innovation programs and works on trainings for beginning farmers. He holds a degree in horticulture from the University of Rhode Island and has been an active farmer for nearly three decades.
Jane Ambuko, Senior Lecturer and Head of Horticulture for the Department of Plant Science and Crop Protection at the University of Nairobi, focuses her research on the adaption, validation, and promotion of postharvest technologies with a special focus on appropriate technologies for smallholder farmers in developing countries.
Elizabeth Balkan, Director of Food Waste in the Healthy People and Thriving Communities Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), helps to catalyze and scale food waste reduction from businesses to consumers at the local and national levels. Previously, Balkan served as the Director of Policy and Senior Advisor to the Commissioner at the New York City Department of Sanitation, and has worked extensively with cities to make sustainable development economically viable in the developed and developing context.
Dan Barber, Chef and Co-Owner of Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barn and the author of The Third Plate was appointed by President Barack Obama to serve on the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. His opinions on food and agricultural policy have appeared in the New York Times and other prominent media outlets, and he has received multiple James Beard awards including Best Chef. In 2009 he was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world.
Dickie Brennan, Owner and Managing Partner of Dickie Brennan & Company, showcases Creole cooking at his four restaurants—Palace Cafe, Dickie Brennan’s Steakhouse, Bourbon House, and Tableau. He establishes close connections with farmers, sourcing locally and sustainably grown ingredients in an effort to improve the local food system. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the National Restaurant Association, Louisiana Restaurant Association, Louisiana Tourism Promotion Association, the New Orleans Culinary and Hospitality Institute (NOCHI), and the Coalition for Coastal Resilience and Economy (CCRE).
Marco Canora, Chef and Author, leads Hearth Restaurant and is the founder of Brodo Broth Company. A James Beard Award-winning Chef, he promotes delicious, simple, and healthful food and is an industry leader and forerunner. He also founded Zadie’s Oyster Room, an ode to turn of the century oyster houses serving seven different oyster preparations. Marco’s appreciation for delicious food has been a part of him since his childhood in upstate New York, where he enjoyed the freshest herbs and vegetables from the garden and cooked with his mother for hours on end.
Chris Cochran, Executive Director of ReFED, works to convene new collaborators on food system challenges. Previously, he led Walmart’s global produce business as Senior Manager of Sustainability. Cochran has extensive experience tackling food waste from multiple points in the value chain.
Gabriele Corcos, Co-Host of the Cooking Channel’s ‘Extra Virgin’, broadcasts his life with his wife and actress Debi Mazar, and their passion for Tuscan food. They demonstrate the simplicity of blending Tuscan traditions with modern American life. In addition to hosting and producing this James Beard Award winning tv show, he is a New York Times best-selling author and food and technology entrepreneur.
Homa Dashtaki, Owner and Co-Founder of White Moustache Yogurt, was a former corporate lawyer before founding the yogurt company in 2010 with her father. The company makes small batch yogurt with high quality and sustainably raised cow’s milk as well as other probiotic products.
Sheryll Durrant, New Roots Farm Coordinator out of the International Rescue Committee and Manager of Kelly Street Garden, works as an urban farmer, educator and food justice advocate. Prior to graduating from Farm School NYC, she directed the urban farm and garden program for Sustainable Flatbush in Brooklyn. Her work included developing community-based urban agricultural projects and providing expertise and technical assistance for supportive housing garden programs.
Rafael Flor, Director of YieldWise, an initiative of The Rockefeller Foundation, works on ways to save food from the waste stream in an effort to improve millions of lives. He aims to promote market-based solutions and innovations to increase efficiency of priority value chains to reduce post-harvest losses by half. Flor has over 20 years of experience working in international development and hunger eradication efforts.
Joe Folds, President of Pacific Foods at Campbell Soup Company, prioritizes sustainability and sourcing locally. The company practices energy conservation methods in their production and packaging of foods, and over half of their ingredients are sourced from local producers. Previously, he has held multiple roles including strategy, supply chain and general management positions in the U.S., Hong Kong, Australia and Germany.
Tobias Grasso, North American President of Food Care at Sealed Air, creates packaging solutions that improve food safety, increase operational, efficiency, extend shelf life, and reduce resource use and waste throughout the global food supply chain. He has 30 years of experience in the food and agriculture business, including leadership roles with Cargill, Nestle, Bunge, and Mosaic Fertilizantes do Brasil.
Marie Haga, Executive Director of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, has led a career in Foreign Service, held positions in the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and was a long-time member of the Norwegian Parliament. She has extensive experience in renewable energy and nature research. She has also published three books including two that focus on Norwegian politics.
Karen Hanner, Vice President of Manufacturing Partnerships at Feeding America, works to source more food for food insecure communities and leads efforts to rescue more nutritious foods across the supply chain. She oversees strategy development, implements systems for donations, and guides disaster response and resilience initiatives across 200 food banks. Hanner leads the sustainability efforts, representing the organization on the Food Waste Reduction Alliance and the ReFED Advisory Council. Prior to joining Feeding America, Hanner held positions in marketing and supply chain management at Kraft, Keebler, Nestle, and Market Day.
Joseph “JJ” Johnson, Chef, Author, and Co-founder of Ingrained Hospitality Concepts is a James Beard-nominated Executive Chef best known for his Pan-African culinary style. He was a Forbes magazine “30 Under 30” honoree, recognized as one the Observer’s ‘20 Under 40’ extraordinary philanthropists, and has been named on Zagat ‘30 Under 30’ and Eater’s ‘Young Gun’ lists. In 2013 he helped open The Cecil, which later merged with Minton’s Playhouse, a jazz supper club where he served as executive chef. Since, he has founded InGrained Hospitality, a restaurant group that will focus on rice, grains, and global foods. He is also the chef and founder of FIELDTRIP, a quick service rice concept opening in Harlem in the fall of 2018. Chef JJ is a member of the James Beard Foundation Impact Advisory Committee to establish a more sustainable food system through education, advocacy and thought leadership
Robert Lee, Co-Founder and CEO of Rescuing Leftover Cuisine (RLC), reduces and prevents the wasting of edible food while working on solutions to fight hunger. RLC provides services such as food waste consulting, excess food delivery, co-branding services, and tax credit assistance. Lee was a Gates Millennium Scholar and graduated cum laude from the Stern School of Business at New York University where he worked with a club that delivered leftover dining hall food to homeless shelters. Prior to co-founding RLC, he worked in Asset Management at JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Tim Ma, Chef and Owner of Kyirisan restaurant, was formerly an engineer who always dreamed of being a chef. 10 years ago he left his career to study at the International Culinary Center and has opened several restaurants with his wife in the Virginia area. In March of 2016, he opened his first DC restaurant concept: Kyirisan with a Chinese-French menu in a home like setting.
Bonnie McClafferty, Director of the Food Value Chain at the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), has worked in agricultural research and development for over 20 years. Currently she evaluates opportunities to improve the nutritional density of foods along the value chain and mitigate losses of nutrients as foods move from farm to consumer. Previously, she was on the founding leadership team for HarvestPlus.
Katherine Miller, Vice President of Impact at the James Beard Foundation, oversees the Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change along with programs that influence positive changes in public policy and industry practices. She is also the Founding Executive Director of the Chef Action Network (CAN), a nonprofit organization comprised of passionate chefs who educate about complex issues related to food. In 2017, she was named “The 2017 Most Innovative Woman in Food and Drink” by Fortune and Food & Wine.
Elizabeth Mitcham, Director of the Horticulture Innovation Lab and Postharvest Specialist, Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis, runs programs to develop strategies for postharvest insect control in harvested and exported commodities. She directs the Horticulture Innovation Lab, a $37 million program funded by USAID and managed by the University of California, Davis. As program director, she manages a portfolio of 24 agriculture development projects; empowering smallholder farmers to earn more income while better nourishing their communities.
Pamela Morris, Vice Dean for Research and Faculty Affairs at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development, has conducted more than a decade of research working at the intersection of social policy, practice, and developmental psychology, testing promising interventions for low-income families and children. Her work has spanned from research on employment and antipoverty policies targeted to parents, to early childhood interventions targeting the development of low-income children. She is also the former director of the Institute of Human Development and Social Change.
Caity Moseman Wadler, Executive Director of Heritage Radio Network, focuses on food access, sustainability, and urban agriculture at the nonprofit food radio station and podcast network based in Bushwick, Brooklyn. She began her work with Heritage Radio Network as a Julia Child Foundation Food Writing Fellow in 2015. She holds an M.A. in Food Studies from New York University and a B.A. in Molecular Biology/ Biochemistry from Middlebury College.
Julia Moskin, Reporter for the New York Times, has been a Food staff reporter since 2004. She reports news with startling facts about food, writes profiles, and highlights upcoming food trends. She has also exposed the frequent use of ghostwriters by celebrity cookbook authors and hosts a video column, Recipe Lab.
Brad Nelson, Vice President of Global Operations and Discipline Leader for Marriott International, is a Chef and oversees the kitchens at the Marriott hotel chain. Previously he was awarded the Food Arts “Silver Spoon Award” and in 2014 he received the International Food Manufacturers Association “Silver Plate Award.”
Marion Nestle, Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, Emerita at New York University formerly retired in 2017. Previously she served as the senior nutrition policy advisor in the Department of Health and Human Services and was the editor of the Surgeon General’s Report on Nutrition and Health. Her research examines scientific and socioeconomic influences on food choice, obesity, and food safety, with an emphasis on the role of food marketing. She is the author of six prize-winning books.
Sandy Nurse, Founder and Co-Director of BK Rot, is a social justice activist and community organizer. She founded BK ROT, New York City’s first bike powered food waste hauling and composting service run by youth and young adults, in response to a lack of local composting options in her district. As Director, she supports small local businesses in five neighborhoods in North Brooklyn and works with young people to develop professional skills and biological knowledge for working in the field of organic waste management. She is now working on opening a new social justice movement space called Mayday. Previously she trained as a carpenter and worked for a Passive House design-build firm, which eventually became the first minority-owned construction collective in New York City.
Dadisi Olutosin, Co-Founder and Chief Culinary Officer of Plated Food Groupe, offers restaurant management, hospitality, and advisory services in the Washington, DC area. As a Chef, he focuses on gourmet comfort food with influences from the American South, Low Country and New Orleans Creole, the Caribbean, French and the West African cuisines of Senegal, and Nigeria. He is also Executive Chef at Heller and Wilde, opening soon in Washington, DC. He is also a published food photographer.
Charles Passy, Reporter for The Wall Street Journal, focuses reporting on arts and entertainment as well as the restaurant and bar scenes for The Wall Street Journal’s New York bureau. He is also a staff writer at Dow Jones, a leading media company. Previously, he served in prominent roles at MarketWatch.com, SmartMoney.com, SmartMoney magazine and Dow Jones Newswires.
Tobias Peggs, Co-Founder and CEO of Square Roots, works to bring local, real food to people in cities by empowering the next generation of leaders in urban farming. Square Roots is a high-tech indoor farming accelerator working to bring New York City residents fresh, sustainable produce twelve months all year long.
Questlove, Drummer, DJ, producer, culinary entrepreneur, New York Times best-selling author, member of The Roots, and five-time GRAMMY Award winner, is an unmistakable heartbeat of Philadelphia’s most influential hip-hop group. He made his way into the culinary world with his signature “Love’s Drumstick” and is now hosting a series of Food Salons with world-renowned and innovative chefs at his apartment in New York. Questlove’s interest in food and his own culinary endeavors have been featured on the cover of New York Magazine, in Food & Wine Magazine, Bon Appetit, and and more. He is a Celebrity Ambassador for Food Bank For New York City, is on the City Harvest Food Council, and a board
member of Edible Schoolyard.
Roy Steiner, Managing Director for Food at The Rockefeller Foundation, is a global agriculture and global development leader directing multi-year initiatives to advance a more nourishing and sustainable food system. Previously, he was a Senior Director at the Omidyar Network and served for nearly a decade at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, leading the Global Development Program. He holds a Ph.D. and a Master of Science in agricultural and biological engineering.
Rhea Suh, President of the Natural Resources Defense Council, leads nearly 500 scientists, attorneys, and policy experts in effective environmental action. She steered discussions leading to the global climate agreement in Paris, joined citizens of Flint, Michigan, to ensure an end to the water crisis, and was a presenting partner at the Women’s March on Washington, D.C. Previously, she served as the assistant secretary for policy, management, and budget at the U.S. Department of the Interior.
Haile Thomas, 17-year-old CEO of HAPPY (Healthy Active Positive Purposeful Youth), founded the organization at age 12 to address the need for free/affordable plant-based nutrition and culinary education in underserved/at-risk communities, as well as in schools and through annual summer camps. She is also the youngest Certified Integrative Health Coach in the U.S. Thomas works to educate people around the world about healthy lifestyle choices and has been featured on numerous television programs including the Today Show.
Ben Tinker, Supervising Producer of CNN Health, works to tell compelling and newsworthy health and wellness stories. Working directly with the CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, they have been first responders to breaking humanitarian crises across the globe. Previously, Tinker produced CNN’s weekly health and wellness show, winning New York Festival Awards and an Emmy nomination.
Bryan Walsh, Senior Editor for Time Magazine, writes an environmental column for TIME. Previously, he was a Hong Kong–based reporter and staff writer for TIME Asia, covering stories on public health, science and the environment.
