let me start with few questions so
please raise your hand if you or your
spouse cook dinner at home every
evening all right I've seen
better now please raise your hand if
you're watching cooking shows on
television I have not seen better does
it help you put a meal on the table
probably not
we all lost our ability to do what our
grandmothers or previous generation were
able to do break a chicken into eight
make a sausage from scratch preserve
food for the winter without taking a
cooking
class today we live in a
paradox we want to cook we want to be
creative in the kitchen but the majority
of us don't have the skill or are too
frightened to
try the risk of messing dinner can be
high let's face it who doesn't dread the
moment when their kid pushes the play
away making a face at the dinner
table no other living creature
Cooks if you think about it cooking or
the ability to cook is what defines us
as human
beings my point is there is a gap
because we lost a Lifeline to the
kitchen
I left my path to be a restaurant Chef
because I'm passionate about helping
recreate this Lifeline I'm the uni liver
corporate Chef it's a big fat
title I get to help 90 million
households in the United States cook for
their
families my role has nothing to do with
cooking for our
Executives
sometimes
however my role has everything to do
with bringing insights to the business
bringing ideas to life making them
products creating recipes that one might
find at the back of the pack or on our
website foolproof recipes that enable
and inspire people to put tasty meals on
their table when you go to a restaurant
you go to eat the chef's creation their
interpretation of food their vision of
culinary in my
role what I
do my consumer my end user whom I
usually refer to as Sheila from De MO is
at the heart of everything we
do she's a mom just like me who juggles
two or three kids uh with homework play
dates after school activities household
chores but it's very important for her
to bring a family back to the table
because this is her quality time and she
needs to do it on a tight
budget however to truly make a
sustainable change we need to understand
the bigger context we operate
in our society is growing and changing
by
2020 60% of the world population will be
living in cities or nearby
suburbs this will change the food supply
chain CH as we know
it water scarcity climate change growing
demand for food all going to apply
pressure to Our Food Systems from soil
to
plate as it is 40% of our agriculture
land is severely
degraded prices of basic fruits and
vegetables are already expected to go up
15 to 20% next year and just as another
example the drought conditions in
California or Brazil two of the biggest
agriculture producers in the world are
not expected to change in the next 3
years so something has got to
change never in a million years did I
think I'll be a chef working for a big
Corporation I'm the cliche of the kid
who spend time with a parent in the
kitchen the cliche of the kid who went
with her mom to the farmers market to
buy The Ripe but firm
Tomatoes or the oh so smell so good
Peaches I was also lucky I got to travel
the world as a kid and everywhere I went
I wanted to go to a grocery store and
see what is the people put in the
shopping cart wondering why yep I to
supermarkets after my Army service I
worked in restaurants to pay for my
college
education this is where I realized that
my passion for food was more than just a
hobby
it was then that I realized what I
really really wanted to do when I grew
up my point is we have to find the PATH
back to the
kitchen my mom was not a great cook but
my father was yet my mom managed to
put both lunch and dinner on the table
for us every
day in today's reality of both working
parents and the fear of dinner time this
is not an easy
task and I do say fear of dinner time
because where I have the ability to open
the fridge and make dinner from whatever
is in there not many people do so 4:30
is a true crunch time kids running
around 30 minutes to make dinner what do
I have in the fridge what do you have in
the pantry and it needs to be tasty
because everybody needs to like it so
in this reality convenience is not such
a bad word is
it so here is what I
think we need to go back to the
basics growing some of what it is that
we consume regularly on your window cell
your rooftop your garden and not because
this is going to change the world's food
demand but it's going to give us re
appreciation for Taste and taste is a
powerful thing
we also need to learn how to utilize
leftovers being ingredients or dishes
and not throw them
away and we need to master a few very
basic cooking
skills those are small steps yes but
they have a big big
impact and this will lead to us owning
the kitchen
again I'm a chef because I love cooking
for others I do what I do now because I
want to make a big
difference food is more than a
necessity food is personal it's cultural
it's an anchor to our memories it's a
connector this is how I feel about food
and this is what I aspire to share with
others my relationship with food started
as a one night stand good one ended up
in a happy marriage excuse my husband
who's in the crowd uh and just like any
good evolving relationship I was able to
change my path and so change my
perspective it's my honor to be a part
of the solution influencing how and what
people eat every day and making sure
that sustainability is a bright part of
everyone's future thank
you