Bite Silicon Valley, Day 1, How Can We Shape The Future of Food, Health, and Technology to help our Growing Population, End Food Waste, Create Affordable Food for All, and GMOs Debate Conference, at Levi’s® Stadium

The Bite Silicon Valley, the nation’s first-ever FESTIVAL exploring the intersection of food + tech, at Levi’s® Stadium June 5-7, 2015 has come to a close, marking the very first year of the best and the brightest in the worlds of culinary, chefs, innovators, pioneers, winemakers, and tech all got together in the heart of Silicon Valley. With over 60 chefs, 30 wineries, 20 speakers, and all for great cause, Bite SV benefits Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara & San Mateo Counties and the 49ers Foundation. Unlike other Food & Wine Festivals in Las Vegas, South Beach or Aspen, where celebrity sightings, fancy dinners, after-parties, and happy hours sponsored by many luxurious high end brands; Bite has been a successful food + wine + tech + innovation festival, like no other, where ideas, issues, awareness, and solutions were raised and together we will make this world a better place. We’re humbled and truly honored to attend Bite SV and joined favorite chefs and Bite Silicon Valley to make a difference in our community.

Now that the show was over, here are a few highlights of DAY 1 conference, from Bite Silicon Valley 2015, Dep Lifestyle Magazine team got to attend this past weekend.

On day 1:

We got to listen to opening keynote speaker, one of Time Magazine’s “100” Most Influential People and awarded “Outstanding Chef” by the James Beard Foundation chef Jose Andres of ThinkFoodGroup. Along with Michiel Bakker, Director, Global Food Program, Google, Danielle Nierenberg, President, Food Tank, and moderator Dorothy Cann Hamilton, Founder & CEO, The International Culinary Center.

What Are You Doing to Enable The Planet to Feed 9 Billion People?

“Food is the most important energy. Food moves everyone. Food is not a problem. Food is a solution for us now and the future. How are we going to feed the 9 billion people? The rich & the poor are all interconnect. Food is lifting us up, not bringing us down. We need to use technology to solve food waste & to save the hungers. Food can change the world. And we are in the best place in the world to start that conversation NOW.” Chef Jose Andres was passionate about this as he always has been committed advocate of food and hunger issues.

“If you focus on something, change will happen. Don’t wait for perfect solution, act today! Done is better than perfect.” by Michiel Bakker. He shared Google vision: “To inspire and enable the world to make food choices and use food experiences to develop more sustainable lifestyles and communities.” How can we help people to be at their best today, tomorrow and over the long haul through food (experiences)? And Google goal: “Move people to a balanced-plant-centric diet. And how do we increase appeal of plant-based proteins?”

“Forward thinking, connecting people together and how to get people together moving forward with food.” By Dorothy Cann Hamilton

Inspiration note by Danielle Nierenberg: “Food Tank is committed to showcasing best practices to implement change.”

The Millennials how they are engaged with food, it’s our generation to solve this ongoing world’s problems. With technology moving forward, celebrity chefs, world leaders, scientists, and community, together we can solve this problem by minimizing, reversing, and conserving.

The Challenge of Food Waste – Moderator Kerry Diamond, Editor in Chief, Yahoo Food.

“Waste food = profit, I’m an entrepreneur, I guarantee you I want to make profit = no food waste.” Chef Jose Andres

“100% “nasty goods”, sell healthy food to kids, Robert Egger Founder LA Kitchen & DC Central Kitchen, said he is seriously thinking about branding it!

Follow @UglyFruitAndVeg @EndFoodWaste food is the single largest source of waste in the US. EndFoodWaste.org is the website and campaign created and managed by volunteer food waste activist Jordan Figueiredo.  In the world, 33% of our food is wasted while 1 in 7 people are food insecure and 10% of our human-made emissions come from the food we waste.  It is through the intersection of those issues, as the environmental and social challenges of our time that sparked the website motto “To End Food Waste, Hunger, and Climate Change. All at the Same Time.”  Bringing these 3 issues together provides greater awareness and inspiration as they are very well connected in problem and in solutions such as food waste prevention and food recovery, among other things.

“LA restaurants food waste is coming to an end. Profit should not leaving your community, and think of social responsibility, we should End Food Waste now.” Robert Egger. He mentioned that LA serves local food and keeps the money in the local community, especially for the public sector. Uncensored Egger added: “Could “Fuck Waste” be the “Got Milk?” slogan for Food Waste?” Then he gives us one of his best advise “First to follow, last can lead”, food can reveal that power that we all have!” More food ends up in landfills than plastic or paper and that’s fact.

According to the USDA, in 2013, 14.7 million or approximately 20 percent of children in the U.S. lived in poverty, that’s 1 in 5 children, how can we end food waste? And share ii with the less fortunate? How can food waste be such a big problem?

Hampton Creek, Josh Tetrick, CEO/Founder, a technology company pioneering in food and selected by Bill Gates as one of the three shaping the future of food. It has a mission to bring healthier and affordable food to everyone, everywhere, using the world’s untapped plant kingdom. Hampton Creek is the fastest-growing food company on Earth.

“Everything I do right now is making a machine that makes an impact in this world.” Good people will do good. Just make it easy. What would it look like of we started over? We don’t have to be victims of the supply chain” Tetrick added.

The Story of Loco’l – Bringing Restaurants to Food Deserts.

Chef Roy Choi, who is celebrated for “food that isn’t fancy” and is known as one of the founders of the food truck movement. He shared with us Loco’l, his new fast casual concept aimed at food deserts, will be open later 2015 in Watts, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, as well as in the Tenderloin, San Francisco in the near future.  Chef Roy Choi is making a difference in our community 1 food truck at a time. We got to serve our community first! Support your community by follow him on Twitter @RidingShotgunLA and @welocol for news and updates along the way.

“We’re bring the best motherfucker here to you, but they came from Watts, Tenderloin that culture, that life will change. I trust the intelligence of the public. We want to serve the public good food. They don’t need to know who we are (chefs). Culture, food, life, there is a whole landscape out there. It’s a journey, not to be adulty about food.” Uncensored chef Roy Choi, got the crowd cheering up for him.

“He brings his soul, his food, and his passion to the people. He’s amazing. He’s a hero.” Chef Jose Andres praised Chef Roy Choi in closing.

The Renewed Debate About GMOs

On the last discussion of the conference, Bite SV debated about the controversial of GMOs, Dr. Robert Fraley, EVP and CTO of Monsato and Chef, TV Host, Farmer, + Vintner Michael Chiarello discussed about the need to feed a growing population and overcome adverse growing condition, what roll GMOs play.

“Without profitability there is no sustainability. The sufficient food, since 1980, the bad news is that 256% people are over nourished, we can re-distribute the calories from the over nourished to the under nourished. Decrease emotional calories, it’s all about calories distribution in our population, take us back to 1900.” Chef Michael Chiarello.

Many of American are now malnourished. They are over nourished. Our eating habits have changed drastically in the last few decades. Even in California, according UCLA Center for Health Policy Research and California Center for Public Health Advocacy, 1 in 3 children are obesity, how did we get here? And 1 in 5 children in this country are hungry every day. How can we change this?

$15 an average meal cost for an American is about a week wage for 4 billion people in the world. This is fact from Dr. Robb Fraley. By 2050 we need to produce more food than ever before in history. We have to reduce and conserve to feed the population, and we need to be able to do it all facing the climate change, together we can.

“I wake up every day for the last 35 years, thinking what I leave for my kids. That’s what thrive me. Innovation in food is what we do.” Dr. Robb Fraley. Collaborating for change: discussed how Monsato broadly licenses technologies around the world to help farmers. GMOs panel talked about Hybridization and genetic modification are the same thing; the difference is the warp speed.

Audiences asked what would Dr. Robb Fraley do different if he could. He replied: “I would start with the trust by the consumers, that’s how I would start over.” IN the end, an interesting point Dr. Robb Fraley stated that not only Monsato against GMOs labeling because only 5 percent of food that needs it; but the public also voted down on this proposition 37.

In closing of the conference Day 1, the speakers and the audiences all agree that we need to reduce, conserve, and little by little than nothing at all.

Author: Manda Bear

To follow her food and wine adventure, you can follow her on:

Instagram: @1mandabear
Twitter: @1mandabear and @DepLifestyleMag