Cool cuisine: Taking the bite out of global warming

Global warming has become one of the defining scientific, political and social issues of our era. Interest in reducing heat trapping gases has spurred both environmentalists and entrepreneurs toward developing new strategies and products to reduce the carbon footprint of  humanity. While more efficient automobiles and renewable energy sit  center stage in the solutions category, agriculture and our industrial food system play a more minor role in the public eye. This talk, however, focuses on food, where it comes from, how to cook with it, and how changing ones diet can reduce carbon emissions as effectively as buying a new fuel-efficient car. The material comes from the newly published book, Cool Cuisine: Taking the Bite out of Global Warming, which examines connections between food and energy use and offers solutions for reducing our carbon footprint through consumer education and food choices, and proposes that global warming could be the best thing to happen to the culinary world in a long time. The presenters are the book’s authors, Chef Laura Stec and Dr Eugene Cordero.

Presenter(s)

Laura Stec is a San Francisco Bay Area chef and environmental advocate who enjoys teaching about the artistry, health and energetics of cooking. She trained at the Culinary Institute of America, the School of Natural Cookery and the Vega Macrobiotic Study Center before starting her own personal chef/catering business - Laura Stec - Innovative Cuisine, and joining Kaiser Permanente Medical Group as their Culinary Health Educator. Since founding one of the first U.S. food and environment organizations in 1989, Stec has been feeding us with the idea that one the most positive effects we can have on the environment begins on our dinner plate, a message she continues to promote while on staff 12 years at Acterra, an environmental organization based in Palo Alto, CA. With over 25 years experience in the food industry, Stec now partners with EcoSpeakers.com to lecture and consult with corporations and institutions on ways to bring regionally responsible cuisine into their food systems.

Dr. Eugene Cordero is an Associate Professor in the Department of Meteorology at San Jose State University (SJSU) in California. His research interests are focused on understanding the processes responsible for long-term changes in climate through the use of observations and atmospheric models. At present, this work is supported by research grants from the National Science Foundation and NASA. Dr. Cordero is a coauthor on the WMO/UNEP 2006 Ozone Assessment report and is currently participating in projects related to evaluating the models used for the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report. In the Department of Meteorology, Dr. Cordero teaches various courses in climate change and is involved in projects working to improve methods of education that engage and ultimately stimulate social change.