Presenter Biographies
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PRESENTER BIOGRAPHIES MATTHEW ACCARRINO ‘98 is the nationally recognized chef of SPQR in San Francisco, CA. Born in the Midwest and raised on the East Coast, he moved west to California in 2007. His unique culinary style draws inspiration from his Italian heritage, personal experiences, and classical training with some of America’s best chefs. He couples this style with an embrace of California ingredients and a strong belief in direct sourcing and even producing some of his own ingredients. The result is an intensely personal cuisine that is both technically polished and soulful; and which has garnered praise from publications such as Food & Wine, Bon Appétit, Saveur, The Wall Street Journal, and more. Under his direction, the restaurant was recognized with a Michelin star in the 2013 and 2014 guides. Matt has been named a StarChefs 2010 Rising Star and in 2011 he took top honors at San Francisco’s Cochon 555 competition. Matt has been nominated three consecutive times by the James Beard Foundation as a semi-finalist for Best Chef: West. Food & Wine named him People’s Best Chef California in 2013 and editorially selected him for the prestigious Best New Chef award in 2014. Matt is co-author of the book SPQR: Modern Italian Food and Wine (Ten Speed Press, 2012). (San Francisco, CA) @mattaccarrino (Instagram) BRAD BARNES ‘87, CMC is director of consulting and industry programs at The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, NY. Brad is responsible for the oversight of all operational consulting, ProChef® certification, and custom professional training. His clients include Google, U.S. Department of Defense, and Stanford University. Brad is the author of two books and the creator of food concepts such as Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn and The Pythian Market in New Orleans. Previously, he served as senior director of culinary education and senior director of continuing education at the CIA. Before joining the education administration, he was the president of GigaChef, LLC and chef/owner of B&B Solutions. Brad is a Certified Master Chef, one of 66 in the United States, a Certified Culinary Administrator, and an inductee of the American Academy of Chefs, the American Culinary Federation’s honor society. (Hyde Park, NY) 2021 Global Plant-Forward Biographies | Updated March 31, 2021 | Page 1 of 19 © 2021 The Culinary Institute of America. All rights reserved. BLAYNE BERTONCELLO is head chef and owner at O.MY Restaurant and Ned’s Lounge as well as the operations manager of the restaurants’ farm in Cardinia. His focus is on sustainable, seasonal eating, and having a connection to the foods being produced. After establishing a 3.5-acre farm to supply his restaurant, Blayne shifted his mentality towards ensuring a sense of meaning and place behind his food. Blayne has formed relationships with farmers, fisheries, and producers around Victoria to supply what he cannot grow himself at the farm to complete the restaurant’s menu. (Beaconsfield, Australia) @omyrestaurant (Instagram) JOAKIM BJUNÖ is director of product development at Oatly North America. His culinary background ranges from restaurants in the south of Sweden to the kitchens of the Swedish navy. While serving as chef and supply chain officer with the Swedish Armed Forces, he competed with the Swedish Military Culinary team, winning the world championship at the 2010 Culinary World Cup. Joakim studied food science and technology and started at Oatly in 2011 as an intern, going on to develop some of Oatly’s most beloved products. In 2018, he brought the company’s innovative product philosophy to the U.S., where he leads product development today. (Philadelphia, PA) @OatlyUS JANE BLACK is a Washington, DC-based food writer who covers food politics, trends, and sustainability, and has a particular interest in how we shop, eat, and think about food. Jane's career has taken her from San Francisco, where she helped to launch one of the first real-time online news services, to the BBC in London, BusinessWeek in New York and the Washington Post where she was a staff writer at the James Beard-award winning Food section. Her work appears regularly in the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and the New York Times. In her free time, she cooks, eats, and travels to eat—most often to Italy, her favorite country in the world. (Washington, DC) @jane_black DANE BLOM ‘07 is executive chef at the Grange Restaurant at The Citizen Hotel. A Sacramento native, Dane’s earliest days in the restaurant industry date back to high school, where he discovered a passion for cooking that ultimately led him to attend The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY. From there, he joined the team at fine dining, Michelin-starred restaurant Terra in the Napa Valley. In 2007, he became the first hire at Hawks Restaurant in Granite Bay before the restaurant opened, establishing his appreciation for high standards in the kitchen and working his way up to sous chef. After leaving Hawks in 2014, Dane became the chef de cuisine of Grange Restaurant & Bar before taking over as executive chef in 2018. As chef at Grange, Dane echoes the farm-to- fork culture long embraced at the restaurant and nurtures his team to learn and grow. (Sacramento, CA) @dinegrange (Instagram) CHAD BRAUZE is executive chef, culinary and menu development at Chipotle. (Irvine, CA) 2021 Global Plant-Forward Biographies | Updated March 31, 2021 | Page 2 of 19 © 2021 The Culinary Institute of America. All rights reserved. JACQUELYN CHI, MA is director of programs and special projects for the Strategic Initiatives Group, the thought leadership arm of The Culinary Institute of America (CIA). In this role, Jacquelyn serves as program director for the Global Plant-Forward Culinary Summit, and also oversees the Flavor Summit retreat, targeting food and beverage executives in the hotel, resort, cruise line, casino, and upper-tier multi-unit restaurants sector. She previously ran the CIA’s reThink Food initiative, exploring the intersection of technology, behavior, design, and food; and Appetites + Innovation (A+I), which advanced culinary excellence, health and wellness, sustainability, and cultures of innovation in retail foodservice. In 2013, Jacquelyn project-managed the CIA’s first mobile app for its flagship Worlds of Flavor® International Conference & Festival, which won the 2013 Cvent Plannie Award for Best Use of a Mobile App. Prior to joining the CIA, Jacquelyn earned her bachelor’s degree in radio-television-film from Northwestern University, and her master’s degree in international communication from American University, where she researched food as a tool of public diplomacy, and the social construction of authenticity in foreign eating experiences. She has also served as photographer and videographer for a Turkish coffee truck diplomacy project; managed social media for a start-up food company; and worked in a chocolate factory. (Napa, CA) @jaxiecracks AMANDA COHEN is the James Beard-nominated chef and owner of Dirt Candy, the award-winning vegetable restaurant on New York City's Lower East Side. She is also one of the Iron Chefs on Iron Chef Canada. Dirt Candy was the first vegetable-focused restaurant in the city and is a pioneer of the vegetable-forward movement. It’s included in Paul Freedman’s Ten Restaurants That Changed America as “Ten Restaurants Changing America Now” alongside Momofuku and Eleven Madison Park. Dirt Candy’s original location only had 18 seats and was open for seven years, during which time it became the first vegetarian restaurant in 17 years to receive two stars from the New York Times, was recognized by the Michelin Guide five years in a row, and won awards from Gourmet Magazine, the Village Voice, and many others. Its new location opened in January 2015 and was the first restaurant in the city to eliminate tipping and share profits with its employees. Amanda was the first vegetarian chef to compete on Iron Chef: America and her comic book cookbook, Dirt Candy: A Cookbook, is the first graphic novel cookbook to be published in North America. It's currently in its seventh printing. In 2018, New York Magazine named Dirt Candy "The Absolute Best Restaurant on the Lower East Side" and Wine Enthusiast selected it as one of the 100 Best Wine Restaurants in America. (New York, NY) DANA COHEN ‘05 is the corporate marketing chef for Unilever Food Solutions North America. As a finalist on seasons 10 and 17 (All-Stars) of Hell's Kitchen on FOX, Dana gained the hard-earned respect Gordon Ramsay and was dubbed the "Scallop Queen" for her seafood mastery. She also appeared as a fierce competitor on Food Network's Chopped. Her cooking style can best be described as a flair for transforming local and seasonal ingredients into simple yet memorable dishes. In her current role, she helps to 2021 Global Plant-Forward Biographies | Updated March 31, 2021 | Page 3 of 19 © 2021 The Culinary Institute of America. All rights reserved. inspire chefs around the world with the latest trends and products. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ) STEPHANI COOK is a Le Cordon Bleu Paris trained chef who has cooked in Los Angeles, Cambridge, and New York City under celebrated chefs including Top Chef Masters contestant, Sang Yoon, and James Beard Award nominee, Will Gilson. Stephani completed her MS in food policy and applied nutrition at Tufts University's Friedman School. Since then, she has worked in research, public health, food waste prevention, and delivered myriad F&B experiences from pop-ups to international restaurant consulting. Currently, she manages SEED, the global culinary education program for Compass at Google. Her passion lies at the intersection of health, sustainability, and great-tasting food.