“Cook, Eat, Drink: Taste the Terroir” Is Theme Of Fifth Annual Food Lab Conference

“Cook, Eat, Drink: Taste the Terroir” is the theme of the fifth annual Food Lab Conference at Stony Brook Southampton, which runs Friday and Saturday, September 13 and 14. Headlining an impressive list of panels, discussions and tastings will be celebrity chef Lidia Bastianich in a keynote conversation with author and New Yorker magazine contributor Adam Gopnik.

The food lab coincides with the harvest season, and this year’s conference brings together nationally admired speakers, tastings of the best local food and drink, and an opportunity to better understand, experience and appreciate eastern Long Island’s culinary diversity, innovation, entrepreneurship and globally recognized excellence.

Emmy and James Beard Award-winning TV chef, author, and Long Island resident Lidia Bastianich — often called “the Godmother of the Italian table” — will talk with Adam Gopnik about “The Power of Local: Taste the Terroir” at 11 a.m. on Saturday, September 14, in the Duke Auditorium on Stony Brook’s Southampton campus. Tickets for the 2019 Food Lab Conference are $150 at thefoodlab.org.

Other highlights of this year’s conference include a Friday Afternoon Cooking Class with Chef Nicholas Poulmentis. When he’s not in Astoria, Queens, the Greek island of Kythira is home to Chef Nicholas. This year, by popular demand, he returns to the Food Lab Conference to offer an interactive Mediterranean cooking class based on Kythira’s, and his, favorite taste memories. There is an additional charge of $50 to attend this class, which will be limited to 25 people.

The Friday evening “Farmer to Table” cocktails and buffet opening reception will feature Early Girl Farm’s Patty Gentry in conversation with Saveur Magazine founding editor Dorothy Kalins.

Saturday session highlights include Taste the Terroir, an opportunity to taste and learn about wines, beers and spirits from all across Long Island.

Interactive Tasting and Taste Memory will offer an opportunity to learn all about “How We Taste,” led by chefs, food and wine writers, sommeliers and mixologists, together with experts in biology, anthropology and practitioners of mindful eating. The program is designed to help participants develop a deeper appreciation of what we eat and drink.

For a full list of conference schedules and speaker details, visit the foodlaborg.