24th Annual conference | November 2-4, 2022
AFRICA and the WORLD | Reclaiming the Past, Crafting the Future
An exploration of food, culture, and innovation on the African continent and impacts and flavors of the African Diaspora
The food and cooking of Africa is broad and diverse, encompassing a range of foods, culinary techniques, and cultures of the African continent. From the biodiversity of its indigenous food crops to the layers and nuances of regional food cultures shaped by ancient trade routes, colonization, and the slave trade, modern Africa’s rich culinary heritage has influenced foodways throughout the globe.
This is our point of departure for The Culinary Institute of America’s 24th Annual Worlds of Flavor International Conference & Festival: one continent, full of ideas and inspiration for chefs everywhere, no matter their culinary identity or style of cooking. Our journey will start with the mother cuisines of Africa, consider their evolution, and learn how they are being renewed and reimagined in the top professional kitchens across the continent.
At the same time, we’ll delve into the African diaspora, and consider how the resulting movement of peoples, foods, and culinary techniques shaped the cuisines of the Caribbean, parts of South America, the American South and, today, restaurants led by Black chefs across the United States. And, along the way, we’ll savor memorable flavors created by some of the best practitioners and beneficiaries of this heritage.
Our 2022 Worlds of Flavor International Conference is designed in collaboration with a program committee and is being planned in parallel with the development of the CIA’s new African Cuisines Concentration for our bachelor’s degree programs.
Join us for this landmark gathering—Africa and the World: Reclaiming the Past, Crafting the Future—to celebrate the people, the flavors and cultures, the streams of culinary innovation—and the urgency of change—that together present such abundance of possibilities for our collective future.
The Culinary Institute of America’s Worlds of Flavor® International Conference & Festival is widely acknowledged as our country’s most influential professional forum on world cuisines, food cultures, and flavor trends.
Each year, the Worlds of Flavor conference welcomes a distinguished group of presenting chefs and other experts from around the world and across the United States to the college’s historic Napa Valley campus to explore the best of world cuisines that are reshaping American palates and our industry. Now in its 24th year, this annual gathering of professionals is the “must attend” for leading chefs, corporate menu decision-makers, foodservice management executives, suppliers, and media.