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FOOD WEEK: WHEN ORGANIC MAY NOT BE ENOUGH: Are farm to table, foraging and eating local really sustainable or merely elitist?
October 22, 2014 @ 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm
An Oppenheim Lectures Series moderated by Jonathan Gold, Pulitzer Prize Winning Restaurant Critic for the Los Angeles Times
Lenard Auditorium
Fowler Museum at UCLA
RSVP by Wednesday, October 15, 2014
RESERVATIONS ARE REQUIRED
Moderator:
Jonathan Gold is the restaurant critic for the Los Angeles Times. He won the Pulitzer Prize in criticism in 2007 and was a finalist again in 2011. A Los Angeles native, he began writing the Counter Intelligence column for the L.A. Weekly in 1986, wrote about death metal and gangsta rap for Rolling Stone and Spin among other places, and is delighted that he has managed to forge a career out of the professional eating of tacos.
Panelists:
Evan Kleiman, Host of Good Food on KCRW
Evan Kleiman is Host of Good Food on KCRW. She’s a culinary multitasker whose work no matter what form it takes (interviewing, teaching, writing, cooking) has food as the focus in a quest to create and reveal connections we make with one another.
Michael Cimarusti, Executive Chef/Owner, Providence
At his acclaimed Los Angeles restaurant Providence, Executive Chef Michael Cimarusti has created contemporary seafood-centric cuisine for almost a decade, yielding several James Beard Award nominations and two highly coveted Michelin stars. He combines his knowledge and appreciation of the dynamic nature of seafood with an advocacy for sustainable fishing practices evident in every dish.
The New Jersey native was first lured to L.A. by Wolfgang Puck to become chef de cuisine at the original Spago, followed by stints at New York City’s Osteria del Circo; the Michelin three-starred Arpège; and Le Cirque, where he cooked with legends such as Paul Bocuse, Roger Vergé, and Gérard Boyer. He then spent six years at Water Grill, earning a national reputation for his fish mastery.
Michael’s culinary career was cultivated early on by fishing with his grandfather and cooking with his grandmother. After graduating with honors from the Culinary Institute of America, he cooked at An American Place with his mentor Chef Larry Forgione, a restaurant that is recognized as leading the farm-to-table movement now omnipresent in American cuisine. While working in Forgione’s kitchen, he also met his future wife and business partner, pastry chef Cristina Echiverri.
Today, he and Echiverri operate Providence and Connie & Ted’s. Outside of his restaurants, Michael actively supports the Special Olympics and always finds time to go fishing with his two children.
Craig McNamara, President/Owner, Sierra Orchards & President, California State Board of Food and Agriculture
Craig McNamara is the president and owner of Sierra Orchards, a diversified farming operation producing primarily organic walnuts.
By connecting people, policy and agricultural best practices, Craig works to protect the land that feeds us, to promote social justice and support the next generation of farmers.
In that capacity, he serves as the founder of the Center for Land-Based Learning, an innovative program that helps high school students build greater social and human capital in their communities.
He is President of the California State Board of Food and Agriculture, on the UC President’s Advisory Commission and the UC Davis Dean’s Advisory Council. He is an advisory board member of the Agricultural Sustainability Institute, and active in the American Farmland Trust, Roots of Change, and the Public Policy Institute of California.
He is the recipient of several awards including California Agriculturalist of the Year 2014, James Irving Leadership Award, Leopold Conservation Award, the California Governor’s Environmental and Economic Leadership Award, the UC Davis Award of Distinction and Outstanding Alumnus Award.
He is passionate about sharing his knowledge in sustainable agriculture and leadership with the world around him. Together with his wife and three children he lives in Winters California.
Inquiries: CollegeEvents@support.ucla.edu or (310) 825-4038
Co-Hosted by: UCLA Healthy Campus Initiative, Resnick Program for Food Law and Policy at UCLA, and Food Law Society at UCLA
