Celebrity Chefs, Sustainable Cuisine Highlight Monterey Bay Aquarium Event

Americas greatest chefs will continue to build the connection between fine dining and healthy oceans during the Monterey Bay Aquariums Cooking for Solutions 2003, two days of fine dining and food-related activities on May 30-31, 2003.

For the aquariums second celebration, some of the most renowned figures in the culinary world will be creating great dishes, leading tours of sustainable farms and vineyards, and coming together at a VIP banquet to honor Diana Kennedy, the preeminent champion of regional Mexican cuisine and environmentally sustainable living.

Cooking for Solutions 2003 will bring together a dozen noted chefs from around the country, including Martin Yan of Yan Can Cook, Stephan Pyles (Star Canyon/Dallas), Jody Adams (Rialto/Boston), and Judy Rodgers (Zuni Cafe/San Francisco).

Events will include a festive Friday night gala on May 30 that features sustainable seafood and dishes prepared with organic ingredients. There will be tastings of organic and sustainable wines.

Highlights on May 31 include morning cooking demonstrations, four farm and winery tours with the celebrity chefs during the day, and the Banquet with the Chefs that night.

Once again, the focus of Cooking for Solutions is to help people connect their individual buying decisions to the health of the oceans and the soil.

The events support the aquariums Seafood Watch program, which helps consumers make seafood choices that will assure a future with abundant ocean wildlife.

The featured event will be the Friday extravaganza in the renowned aquariums award-winning exhibit galleries, with celebrity chefs joining two dozen restaurants to prepare and serve sustainable gourmet dishes. There will be tastings from 20 wineries.

Throughout the Cooking for Solutions weekend there will be many other opportunities to connect with the chefs. Three chefs  Jody Adams, Stephan Pyles and Susan Spicer (Bayona/New Orleans)  will present the Saturday cooking demonstrations. John Ash (Fetzer Vineyards), Suzanne Goin (Lucques/Los Angeles), Judy Rodgers and Cory Schreiber (Wildwood/Portland, Ore.) will lead small-group tours of organic farms, vineyards and an abalone aquaculture farms that include a picnic lunch.

At the Saturday Banquet with the Chefs, all of the chefs will dine with participants and share one-on-one conversation at the dinner table. Nationally renowned chef, food authority and radio/television host Narsai David will make a special presentation honoring Diana Kennedy for her contributions to sustainable cuisine.

For details and registration, call the Monterey Bay Aquarium at (831) 644-7561. Information about Cooking for Solutions 2003 can also be found online under Whats New at www.montereybayaquarium.org.