BY%20FAR%20THE%20MOST%20INTERESTING%20AND%20STIMULATING%20FOOD-WINE%20CONFERENCE%20I%20HAVE%20EVER%20ATTENDED%20AND%20THE%20PARTIES%20WEREN%26%23039%3BT%20BAD%20EITHER%21

—JANICE%20FUHRMAN%2C%20FREELANCE%20WRITER%2C%20DECANTER%20MAGAZINE

HIGHLIGHTS%2007

MUSHROOMS, BEES AND PLEASURE TAKE THE STAGE AT ROBERT MONDAVI WINERY'S 2007 TASTE3 CONFERENCE

Sustainability, transformation and the power of individual action are just a few of the intriguing themes that emerged at Robert Mondavi Winery's riveting TASTE³ conference, which was held in Napa Valley May 6-8.

For a second year, Robert Mondavi Winery brought together the best and brightest at TASTE3, pulling speakers and attendees from a wide range of disciplines to explore the intersection of ideas in wine, food and the arts. Conference attendees made up an impressive roster of national media, vintners, sommeliers, chefs, CEOs, founders, presidents and directors.

"I was dazzled and surprised by the avalanche of information by our speakers from fungi and bees, to Bali and Afghanistan," said Margrit Mondavi, the winery's vice president of cultural affairs. "It was a sparkling two days."

Sustainability

Speakers shared ideas on how to mitigate the effects of human activity on the environment, from cleaning diesel spills with mushrooms to protecting biodiversity.

Mycologist Paul Stamets introduced "Five ideas that can save the world" using mushrooms. His work with various mycelium showed an astonishing range of solutions including eliminating the need for chemical pesticides, creation of drugs that treat HIV and cancer, and decomposing toxic waste into edible fungi. "Mycelium are the grand molecular disassemblers of nature," he explained.
Speaking on sustainable luxury, Katrina Markoff, owner and founder of Vosges Haut-Chocolat, shared an impassioned look into the sources of her inspiration and activism. "You need to fall in love with the beauty or the cause," she said, "but you also need action. The person who is 95% dreamer and 5% activist is the one who brings change to the world."
Dennis vanEngelsdorp explored the phenomenon of Colony Collapse Disorder afflicting world-wide bee populations, and presented research indicating immune deficiencies. "Is this caused by a new pathogen, a virus?" he asked, "or an environmental issue?"
Big Tree Farms' Ben Ripple shared his commitment to protecting biodiversity by supporting traditional farming in Indonesia. "The idea is to give these small producers the necessary tools and necessary percentage of the value chain to be economically viable, creating lasting, socially-sustainable change."

Transformation

Several presenters explored the boundaries of transformation, from personal metamorphosis to the rearranging of molecules.

Chef Jeff Henderson had the audience spellbound as he related his personal journey from crack cocaine-dealing street kid, through federal prison, to becoming the first African-American to hold the executive chef position at Café Bellagio in Las Vegas.
Dave Arnold, director of technology at the French Culinary Institute, whirled through a demonstration of carbonating gin for the perfect gin and tonic, a madcap display involving a contraption made of eBay-ordered tubes and a Rotovapor machine; he also sourced three kinds of powdered acid and a prescription for quinine. Attendees tasted the prototype and reported the fizzy result felt like having a mouthful of gin "pop rocks."
Twenty-two-year-old whiz kid Ben Roche, pastry chef at Moto Restaurant in Chicago, described their mission to "transmogrify" food. "It's the transformation of one original product into another," he explained as he showed how candied corn chips, kiwi mint salsa, pureed cheesecake and frozen mango shredded into liquid nitrogen come together into a dessert that looks exactly like nachos a visual pun with what appears to be an appetizer instead coming at the end of the meal.
Chef Dan Barber of Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barnstold a poignant tale of how a chance encounter with an elusive girl led him to become the chef he wanted to be. "I didn't get the girl but I got the restaurant," he said. "She made me see that I wanted to put the culture' back in agriculture."

The power of individual responsibility.

Ideas from the simple to the awe-inspiring gave an unspoken call to action through individual involvement.

Blair Randall cited the Victory Gardens of WWI and WWII as the inspiration for the Victory Gardens 07+ project in 1943, 20 million gardens produced 40% of the country's food supply. Randall pointed out that in San Francisco alone there are 1.8 million total acres of residential open space; he holds frequent "planting parties" to get the city's denizens started. "Victory, to me, means gaining independence from an unsustainable food system, reducing food miles and enabling city residents to have an increased awareness of nature that deepens our appreciation of food," he stated.
Kirk Azevedo described how he felt morally obligated to question his then-employer, Monsanto due to what he felt was a lack of information and testing of genetically engineered organisms.
Blogger Anil Dash challenged conference attendees to join the online community. "I look around me and I see exceptional talent," he said, "and every one of you in this room should be blogging."
Maurizio Cellura, a professor at the University of Palermo in Italy, spent nearly a year studying the environmental footprint of one bottle of wine and found that 40% of the impact came from the bottling and packaging. Cellura suggested that consumers should demand that products carry an Environmental Product Label & Declaration to help them understand the effect of what we consume.

The beauty of the ugly

Photographer Andrea Fazzari, audio architect Nemo Librizzi, and design firm AvroKO co-founder Greg Bradshaw all found beauty in what Bradshaw termed "Best Ugly." "I like to find things that are beautiful yet awkward," he said. Speaking about the creation of musical ambience, Librizzi said, "You have to be careful not to weed out all ugliness, because it creates interesting contrast. You want to use the accidental, the spontaneous." Taking the audience on a world tour through photographs, Fazzari noted that "A photo of the traces left from a meal enjoyed is more sensual and inviting than a pristine, untouched dish."

More highlights

Medical researcher Roger Corder's studies indicate that it is the level of procyanidins, not resveratrol, that is most important to the health benefits of red wine, but he cautioned against the high alcohol levels in some modern wine styles.
Pharmaceutical scientist Georges Halpern declared Guilt makes you sick, and discussed how pleasurable things wine, chocolate, music, sex actually make you healthier. Pleasure is not an extra, a bonus, he said. We need it not only to be happy but also to be healthy.
Eleanor Coppola showed a behind-the-scenes look at bringing 18th century dishes to life for the sumptuous feasts of the movie, Marie Antoinette.
Master of Wine David Molyneux-Berry captivated the audience with the intrigue of unraveling a case of wine fraud.
Maverick winemaker Randall Grahm took the case for terroir to the ultimate with a project he is dedicating the rest of his life to: growing grapevines from seed.
Enologix founder Leo McCloskey raised eyebrows with his controversial suggestion that analysis of wine ratings be used to compile an appellation-style ranking of Napa Valley's AVAs.
ThingM co-founder Mike Kuniavsky fascinated with examples of ubiquitous computing, or Ubi Cons, which encapsulate knowledge into everyday tools your stove could tell your running shoes what you had for dinner; your shoes then tell your personal music player to pick up the tempo and help you burn it off.