DOORS OPEN 30 MINUTES BEFORE START TIME.
Taste & Talk Sereies is hosted by Daniel Hintz (Velocity Group, Bauhaus Biergarten)
Free community program featuring guest chefs, local farmers, makers, and culinary influencers together on stage and in conversation. Each session includes interactive experiences and tastings, engaging the audience in exclusive and intimate access into the state of the culinary world.
TALK THE TALK
(Story & Drink)
9:00am - 10:00am
Stories have always been shared over a good meal, from ancient myths to family memories, reinforcing identity, deepening connections and strengthening community. What happens when the cuisine itself becomes the story? Discussing the power of food, storytelling and how we eat transforms the vocabulary of our life, our conversations will take us on a journey with master storytellers. Featuring Anela Malik (Feed the Malik), Case Dighero (Edible Culture), Marshall Shafkowitz (Brightwater: Center for the Study of Food), and food photographer Meredith Mashburn, with Onyx Coffee & Case Dighero’s famous Bloody Marys.
FARM TO FABLE
(Salad Course)
10:15am - 11:15am
In its purest form, farm-to-table means that the food presented at the table has come directly from a farm, without going through a store, market, or distributor along the way. More commonly, the use of farm-to-table emphasizes a direct relationship between a farm and a restaurant. However, the logistics of supply chains, government regulations, staffing, storage, production challenges and more pulls the curtain back from the romantic fable of this idyllic relationship. We’ll be discussing both the opportunity and challenges of the farm-to-table movement and highlighting several projects on their way to help deepen the connection between farmers and consumers. Featuring Kelton Hayes (Osage Farms/Cobblestone Farm) and Karin Endy (Market Center of the Ozarks), with Chef Becky Miller (Apple Seeds Teaching Farm) and Black Apple Crossing’s Leo Orpin sharing some goodies along the way.
THE SMOKE
(Entree Course)
11:30am - 12:30pm
Fire changed the course of humankind, and as the world’s oldest cooking method, being a pit master may be the world's second oldest profession. In the beginning, the burnt offerings filled ornate temples with amazing aromas to appease the gods. In modern times, the science of excellent barbeque is still considered an alchemy that mesmerizes the senses, lifts the spirits and whose recipes lay wreathed in a sea of myths. Come and enjoy James Beard Nominee Chef Esaul Ramos (2M Smokehouse, San Antonio, TX) & Jordan Wright (Wright’s BBQ), as we discuss the magic and reality of great BBQ. The conversation and smoky culinary delights will be paired with specialty beers provided by Marty Shutter of Roger’s based Ozark Beer Company.
SPIRIT WORLD
(Intermezzo)
1:00pm - 2:00pm
The fifteenth-century German physician Hieronymus Brunschwig identified the many benefits of alcohol, which included comforting the heart, healing all old and new sores on the head, cures baldness, kills body lice and fleas, cures lethargy, cures all deafness, reduces toothache, cures bad breath, causes good digestion, improves the appetite, eases yellow jaundice, dropsy (edema), and gout, heals all shrunken sinews, cures the bites of a rabid dog, provides courage, causes good memory, eases the diseases caused by cold and purifies the five wits of melancholy and of all uncleanness. While local craft spirits makers Wander Folk Spirits (Guthrie, OK) and Fox Trail Distillery (Rogers, AR) may not lay claim to all of those benefits, the discussion during this session will certainly be lively, the tastings delicious and some baldness just might be cured…certainly after being paired the culinary prowess of Chef Bill Lyle (Summit Club, Tulsa, OK)
ESPIRITU DE MEXICO
(Entree Course)
2:15pm - 3:15pm
The agave plant isn’t merely an ingredient necessary for the creation of mezcal and tequila. Its role in the history of Mexico, and in particular the state of Oaxaca, has a degree of spiritual, cultural, and mythological significance. According to a myth, mezcal came to be when a lightning bolt struck an agave plant. This resulted in a beverage that the natives referred to as the elixir of the gods and was assigned certain mystical. James Beard nominee Chef Rafael Rios, (Yeyo’s, Bentonville and Rogers, AR) has been providing a mystical array of food inspired from his family’s home in Michoacan, Mexico and has been exploring the connections between food and mescal in his restaurants. Providing some delicious cuisine from his kitchen, he will be joined by Mezcal expert Eduardo Belaunzaran (Wahaka Mezcal) as we explore flavors and stories of mezcal and Mexican cuisine.
CHOCOLATE & CHEESE
(Dessert Course)
3:30pm - 4:30pm
A chocolate and cheese pairing may not be as famous as wine and chocolate, fruit and chocolate, or the studio album Chocolate and Cheese by Ween, but cheese can be a best friend of chocolate. Both chocolate and cheese date back over 3,000 years, so it doesn’t take a lot to imagine a sordid night of flavor debauchery between chocolate and cheese occurring often enough to lay the groundwork for an incredible Taste & Talk with chocolate maker Lauren Blanco and Anders Olsen of Markham & Fitz and cheese expert Jessica Keahey of Sweet Freedom Cheese. And for those that want a little trinity of flavors, Kim Crawford of Natural State Distributing will be adding her sommelier skills to the mix and sharing a cornucopia of delicious wines.
