STARCHEFS INTERNATIONAL CHEFS CONGRESS (2006-19)

While we give thanks to our French forebears—béchamel, velouté, espagnole, sauce tomat, hollandaise—we celebrate the ascendance of belachan, bagoong, amino sauce, koji, salsa macha, swallows, miso, gochujang, and the new foundations of progressive cooking. We’re bringing together chefs and restaurant professionals who are masters in their crafts—be that wok frying, fermenting, or charcoal cooking.

We can do better as an industry. At the 13th Annual StarChefs Congress, thought leaders from around the globe gathered to define what’s good—in kitchen culture, in the cuisines we craft, and in the profession that drives us—along with the behaviors and practices that we need to root out and smash. There’s an inextricable link between great hospitality, a safe and happy workplace, and exceptional food and drink.

There is no cuisine without culture—no techniques to build from, no flavor memories to haunt you, no restaurants where you can feast with family and friends. Culture is fluid. It’s a moment in time, a generation, the places you’ve visited, your country of birth, and your grandmother’s dinged-up gravy pot—all rolled into one. What does that taste like? How do you share it with your guests, staff, and community?

Progress isn’t about the number of stars before your name anymore. It’s about doubling down on craft, building a business with integrity, and supporting the community you live in. Progress is facing labor shortages and rising rents head-on—with the grit and ingenuity it takes to get through Saturday night service. It’s making headway toward happiness in an industry in flux.

We live, cook, and eat in a post-Ferran world, one where the culinary industry has been opened, examined, and decoded—one service and one innovation at a time. Closed doors and secrets are no longer cornerstones of culinary greatness. Instead, sharing has become the clear path forward to a better, stronger industry—whether it’s through a stage abroad, inclusive menu contribution or pop-up dinners, or a white-hot Instagram feed.

Today’s tastemakers aren’t cultivating style, so much as looking within to find and live by the code of honest, personal cooking. They’re searching for authenticity in every corner of the food business. Diners want surprise and satisfaction, and it takes a professional with vision to deliver it. From fine-dining ateliers to hot dog carts, the demand (and destination) is authenticity and the journey there is personal, powerful, and, above all, honest.

Working in restaurants is a lifestyle: a professional calling that still manages inspiring progress in the face of 15-hour work days. It's a high-risk, high-reward industry driven by professionals who devote their lives to food and drink.

Think heirloom seeds and ancient foodways. Think time-warp menus and tradition-as-transformation. Look around and you'll see: now more than ever, the industry is looking through the lens of the past to glimpse its future, and the result is a kind of revolution by renaissance.

More than a whisper of nostalgia or a wisp of smoke, the Sixth Sense aspires to evoke an emotional response from the diner in every facet of hospitality. The restaurant industry is uniquely capable of harnessing perception and unleashing emotion, from the preparation and presentation of a dish to the design of the restaurant space and beyond. Modern hospitality is holistic: we are no longer simply feeding the diner; we are entertaining, challenging, teaching. We are plumbing the depths of emotional currency and testing the bounds of our own creative powers in an attempt to express a greater bond, and explore a shared humanity, in the increasingly diverse experience of cuisine.

If there is one thing that unites our disparate industry, it’s a universal passion for the creative process. How the individual defines his or her own role in it has long been a subject of debate: is cooking a craft or an art? But art and craft are not parallel paths. There is art in charcuterie just as there is craft in creating a beet gel. The intersections are many, and are ripe to be explored.

The regional nuances of well-defined and established cuisines, such as Italian, French, Spanish, or Chinese, are recognized by chefs, and subjects of study and exploration. But the definition of American cuisine—outside of hotdogs and hamburgers—and the regional differences within the United States is not commonly understood, inside nor outside of the US.

Being a successful chef is about creating delicious food, having a strong business sense, and pursuing a personal culinary philosophy – but it’s also about leadership, both within and outside the walls of your restaurant. It’s about making choices, and knowing that those choices can impact your staff, your diners, your community, and your environment. A chef’s influence is greater than ever before, and there’s no better time to have a dialogue about what it means to be a chef.

The ingredient is the starting point for every dish. Whether inspired by an early morning trip to the farmer’s market or music blasting from an open window - the act of cooking begins with the product. The difference is in each chef’s perspective: whether to investigate its physical properties, embrace its harvested state, or attempt what many modern chefs have: a combination of both.

StarChefs presents the most important professional culinary event in the US, the inaugural International Chefs Congress, a two-day culinary symposium where the world’s most influential and innovative chefs will present the latest techniques and culinary concepts to their chef peers. This is the first event of its kind in the US, and StarChefs.com invites you to be a part of culinary history!