Advancing Innovation at
the Intersection of Technology, Behavior, Design, and Food
Media Contact:
Jan Smyth
Marketing Manager
845-451-1457
j_smyth@culinary.edu
St. Helena, CA – reThink Food is a unique collaboration between The Culinary
Institute of America and the MIT Media Lab that will explore how areas such as
big data, social networking, mobile computing, behavioral economics, marketing,
neuroscience, agriculture, and culinary strategy are radically changing food
markets, systems, and our understanding of consumer choices.
The first annual , to be held November 7–9 at the Ѹ’s Napa
Valley campus, will bring together a group of thought leaders and innovators in
technology, behavior, design, and food. Research presentations, panel
discussions, culinary demonstrations, and sensory experiences will be led by experts
who include behavioral economists Dan Ariely (Duke University) and Michael Norton (Harvard University), scientists Stuart Firestein (Columbia University) and Howard Shapiro (Mars, Inc.), chefs Christopher Kostow (The Restaurant at Meadowood)
and Daniel Patterson (The Daniel
Patterson Restaurant Group), Chief Creative Officer Arthur Rubinfeld (Starbucks), and
Pulitzer Prize winner Michael Moss (The New York Times), along with Ѹ
President Tim Ryan and MIT Media Lab Director Joi Ito. The complete .
A major revolution in food is underway. It is powered by
information technology; driven by consumers who can readily connect with food
industry leaders; and accelerated by innovations from entrepreneurs, scholars,
scientists, behavioral economists, and designers. It is a movement of ideas aimed
at creating a business landscape in which healthy, sustainable, higher quality,
and more engaging food experiences can thrive.
“From the latest chef-curated food experiences to robotics
in the kitchen to the splintering of consumer aspirations, the pace of
evolution of food in America has never been more kinetic than it is today,”
says Dr. Tim Ryan, president of the Ѹ. “The fresh insights offered by this
inspired joint venture between the Ѹ and the MIT Media Lab will allow us to
delve deeply into the possibilities of design, science and technology, flavor
discovery, and entrepreneurship that are disrupting how we’re collectively re-imagining
‘what’s next for dinner.’”
With over 10,000 years of history in agriculture and
cooking, food represents some of our earliest and most
transformational
technologies. “There is no reason to slow down now,” says Joi Ito,
director of the MIT Media Lab. “We should be rethinking production,
distribution, preparation, and the interactions of food with our
brains and
bodies. On a human level, we are beginning to understand taste and are
shedding
light on the multi-sensory activity of eating. Collaborating with the
Ѹ, we
look forward to bringing our unique research capabilities to the rich
traditions and the remarkable future of how, and what, we eat.”
reThink Food will provide crucial
insights and strategies for those launching a new restaurant or retail food
concept, creating new food and distribution technologies, seeking to understand
flavor preferences and consumer behavior, developing advances for healthier eating
practices, or researching cultural behaviors around cooking and eating. To learn
more, visit and follow #ѸMLfood.
Photo Caption
reThink Food is a new conference series co-presented by The Culinary Institute of
America (Ѹ) and the MIT Media Lab. (Photo
credit: Ѹ and MIT Media Lab)
Founded in 1946, The Culinary Institute
of America is an independent, not-for-profit college offering associate and
bachelor's degrees with majors in culinary arts, baking and pastry arts, and
culinary science, as well as certificate programs in culinary arts and wine and
beverage studies. As the world's premier culinary college, the Ѹ provides
thought leadership in the areas of health & wellness, sustainability, and
world cuisines & cultures through research and conferences. The Ѹ has a
network of 46,000 alumni that includes industry leaders and innovators. The Ѹ
also offers courses for professionals and enthusiasts, as well as consulting
services in support of innovation for the foodservice and hospitality industry.
The college has campuses in Hyde Park, NY; St. Helena, CA; San Antonio, TX; and
Singapore. For more information, visit ciachef.edu.
Actively promoting a
unique, antidisciplinary culture, the MIT
Media Lab goes beyond known boundaries and disciplines, encouraging the
most unconventional mixing and matching of seemingly disparate research areas.
It creates disruptive technologies that happen at the edges, pioneering such
areas as wearable computing, tangible interfaces, and affective computing.
Today, faculty members, research staff, and students at the Lab work in more
than 25 research groups on more than 350 projects, from digital approaches for
treating neurological disorders, to a stackable, electric car for sustainable
cities, to advanced imaging technologies that can “see around a corner.” The
Lab is committed to looking beyond the obvious to ask the questions not yet
asked whose answers could radically improve the way people live, learn, express
themselves, work, and play.
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