09-06-2025
UMass Amherst 31st Annual Chef Culinary Conference brings together some of the country's most well-known chefs
AMHERST, Mass. (WWLP) – The UMass Amherst 31st Annual Chef Culinary Conference is bringing together some of the country's most well-known chefs.
The conference kicked off Sunday, with live cooking demonstrations, cultural showcases, and workshops. This year's theme is 'Power of Food: Harmonizing health, food, culture and sustainability.' It featured a lineup of chefs from Alice Waters, the Pioneer of the Farm-To-Table Movement to Food Network Star Jet Tila.
Tila led culniary competitions, including 'CutThroat Kitchen' during the day. 'It's fun to show these chefs that somone who's worked in the same kitchens they have can basically go up and be, you know, world famous, be on Food Network. But at the end of the day, we're just cooking food, we're feeding people, and we're sharing knowledge. That's what it all comes down to,' said Tila.
This six-day event goes until June 13th. And it's expected to bring together more than 550 people from the culinary and academic worlds, with participants from 70 universities.
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