Food Loves Tech Kickoff Dinner

#foodlovestech #feedfeed

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@lenavergnesLena Vergnes, East Hampton, New York

It may have been pouring rain and windy the night we hosted 60 people for the Food Loves Tech kickoff dinner with Edible at FeedfeedBrooklyn, but inside, we were sipping on Dragon's Milk Cocktails out of whole coconuts made by Chef Winston Chiu of Bonbite.
The guests mingling before sitting down for the dinner being prepped by the Bonbite team
The room was filled with a mix of people who helped put Food Loves Tech together, members of the Feedfeed community, as well as a few exhibitors, like Nima—a device that detects if gluten is present in a food—and SproutsiO—an indoor gardening system. After sipping on cocktails we moved to beer and wine thanks to Toast Ale—a company that uses unsold bread loaves that would otherwise be thrown out to make beer—and Proud Pour—a wine company that takes part of their revenue to restore oyster populations and plant wildflowers in an effort to save honeybees.
Top to bottom, clockwise: Ariel Lauren Wilson of Edible; Meg Savage of Edible; Rachel Simons and Monica Molenaar of Seed + Mill
Our dinner came together under the theme of food waste reduction with the help of Baldor's SparCs Program, which is an initiative to combat food waste by finding a home for any foods that cannot be distributed to restaurants because of aesthetics and the like. The other essential component to this dinner was Vitamix because their line of products makes a chef's and cook's job easier when it comes to making use out of what is considered compost to most. The high powered Vitamix machines also make it possible to heat something up while blending it, which we experienced that night in the silky smooth custard that filled the buns for dessert.
Top to bottom, clockwise: Pineapple Custard Bun; Pork Belly with Braised Lettuce & Black Moss; Chef Winston Chiu blending the custard for dessert
However, what made Winston's job not so easy that day was the fact that there is no picking and choosing what ingredients one would like to use in a dish when it comes to utilizing scraps. Yet, at the end of the dinner it seemed as if Winston had thought of and perfected the dishes weeks ago. I can still taste the Charred Smoked Cabbage atop a bed of Lotus Leaf Rice.

A lot of time went into planning the Food Loves Tech expo, from completely transforming a warehouse space in Industry City, to bringing together an array of exhibitors, to scheduling the chefs and influencers for the demo kitchen and more. A wonderful way to kickoff and celebrate the event was to have an evening spent enjoying each other's company with delicious food and drinks.
Top to bottom, clockwise: Chef Winston Chiu plating; Pork Belly with Braised Lettuce & Black Moss; Scotch Egg Nest Puff; Crystal Dumplings with Sunchoke Soy Foam

A special thank you to all those who made the evening possible:

Vitamix for sponsoring the demo kitchen at Food Loves Tech
Baldor for donating the food through their SparCs program
Chef Winston Chiu and team for cooking a wonderful meal
Edible Brooklyn for being key players in putting on Food Loves Tech
Toast Ale for providing the beer
Proud Pour for providing the wine
KitchenAid for providing us the kitchen at FeedfeedBrooklyn

Knork for providing the flatware at FeedfeedBrooklyn

Caesarstone for providing the countertop at FeedfeedBrooklyn

Room & Board for providing the furniture at FeedfeedBrooklyn