RCA Hits Napa

RCA regional events are a great way to meet people who work in the world of Culinology® and live in your region. The Northern California region has had several great events over the years that you can read about on the RCA website. Back in October 2007, Jean-Yves Charon from Galaxy Desserts hosted an amazing event in his warehouse! We had a celebrity chef do a food and wine pairing and Jean-Yves gave everyone a tour of his manufacturing facility. In 2008 we had a great turnout of over 100 people in Woodland, CA at Culinary Farms, and in 2009 Christopher Ranch showed us their garlic and hosted a delicious garlic-centric dinner—all of which took place a few days before the famous Gilroy Garlic festival. Then in 2010 we did a joint event with the Northern California RCA and ACCT, a day of candy seminars and lunch held at the CIA Culinary Institute in Napa.

Which brings us to the 2011 event, the RCA “super-regional” that took place the day before the CIA Worlds of Flavor Conference and brought in both local RCA members and out-of-towners who were in town for the in for the Worlds of Flavor show. The RCA event took place from 3 to 5 pm at Cook Restaurant, St. Helena, CA. Executive Chef Jude, inspired by our generous sponsors Superior Farms and the Almond Board of California, served almond, raisin and lamb hors d’oeuvres and lamb skewers. There were other delicious appetizers and a special signature green tea cocktail made with Charbay Vodka, one of our contributing sponsors. The event brought in over 45 people and the tiny Main Street restaurant was packed. We had a mix of local ingredient suppliers, culinary students, and R&D chefs that represented the food industry from Napa all the way down to Turlock.

Thanks to all of the companies that donated gifts to the raffle! We raised over $400 that will go to a lucky Culinology student! The raffle included a killer snack basket from Revolution Foods, Coffin hot sauce from Dave’s Gourmet, a grill set from Superior Farms, wine from David Michael, and vodka from Charbay.

Of course this event could not have taken place without the generous monetary support from our amazing sponsors. Thank you Kagome Inc., the Almond Board of California, Awrey Bakery, and Paradise Tomato Kitchens.