Special to Road Trips for Foodies

The James Beard Foundation’s Taste America® culinary pop-up series returns July 24, 2019, at Tribeca 360° in New York City with experiences crafted by James Beard Award winners, nominees, and participants in the Foundation’s mission-forward Impact programs.

The New York City event will be the first in the Foundation’s newly expanded Taste America series, now in its seventh year, which will bring the Foundation’s Good Food for Good™ programs to more than 20 U.S. cities, including: Atlanta; Boston; Charleston, SC; Chicago; Dallas; Denver; Houston; Kansas City, MO; Los Angeles; Louisville, KY; Miami; Minneapolis/St. Paul; Nashville; New Orleans; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Portland, OR; San Francisco; Seattle, and Washington, D.C.

Guests at the launch event will join event co-hosts Olympic figure skater Sasha Cohen and actress Bellamy Young to enjoy seasonal bites and beverages created by tastemakers from across the country. Expect dishes from guest chefs from many of the Taste America tour stops, including James Beard Award nominee Tiffani Faison of Tiger Mama (presented by Greater Boston Convention & Visitors Bureau); Marc Collins of Circa 1886 (presented by Explore Charleston); Kevin Beary of Three Dots and a Dash and CJ Jacobson of Aba (presented by Choose Chicago); Nichelle Thurston of The Seafood Lady (presented by Louisville Tourism); Brad Kilgore of Kilgore Culinary (presented by Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau); Andy Little of Josephine (presented by Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp); and James Beard Award nominee Rich Landau, co-owner of Vedge (presented by VISIT PHILADELPHIA®).

“Taste America gives food lovers across the country an opportunity to have a unique dining experience while learning more about the impact of their food choices from passionate leaders who are changing the landscape of the food industry,” said Clare Reichenbach, chief executive officer of the James Beard Foundation. “Taste America is a celebratory manifestation of our mantra: Good Food for Good.”

The New York City celebration will bring the James Beard Foundation’s Waste Not initiative to life, featuring a full-use kitchen demonstration hosted by chefs Esther Choi of Mokbar and Kwame Williams of Vital Dining, who will provide dishes, techniques, and tips that inspire home cooks to reduce food waste in their own cooking. The Foundation is also partnering with Food Recovery Network to ensure that Taste America events are Food Recovery Verified, meaning that all surplus food from these events will be recovered and donated to hunger-fighting nonprofits, who support food insecure individuals, in each city. Through Food Recovery Verified, the Foundation can do its part to reduce food waste and hunger at the community level.

Tickets for the NYC launch event are on sale now online. Additional James Beard Foundation Taste America events will be on sale later this summer.

The James Beard Foundation‘s mission is to promote Good Food for Good™. For more than 30 years, the James Beard Foundation has highlighted the centrality of food culture in our daily lives. Through the James Beard Awards, unique dining experiences at the James Beard House and around the country, scholarships, hands-on learning, and a variety of industry programs that educate and empower leaders in our community, the Foundation has built a platform for chefs and asserted the power of gastronomy to drive behavior, culture, and policy change around food. To that end, the Foundation has also created signature impact-oriented initiatives that include our Women’s Leadership Programs, aimed at addressing the gender imbalance in the culinary industry; advocacy training through our Chefs Boot Camp for Policy and Change; and the James Beard Foundation Leadership Awards, which shine a spotlight on successful change makers. The organization is committed to giving chefs and their colleagues a voice and the tools they need to make the world more sustainable, equitable, and delicious for everyone.

(Photo courtesy of James Beard Foundation)