IACP 43: An Alabama Feast

This IACP Conference will be one for the memory books. And we couldn’t be more excited to get together and talk food in Birmingham, Alabama. But like most things in the world these days, it’s not going to be the same as it used to be. We’ve been through a lot in recent years and we’re rapidly evolving to meet current needs. Safety guidelines aren’t the only thing that has changed; our businesses, careers, and daily lives have changed—and with them, our culinary conversations continue to evolve. New topics demand our attention. And as such, our true north remains bringing our community together to connect and converse over food.

In order to do this, we’ve gotten creative, finding open spaces that allow for safe social-distancing. This means fewer sessions in the sprawling outdoor venues we do have, but it also means that we can cover the big topics as a unified group in a safe manner. 

Despite these changes, this year’s conference “Menu” offers up a delicious Starter, a.k.a. kickoff party, as well as Table Talks, our keynote conversations, alongside tasty Sides, a.k.a. breakout sessions. As you read through our conference Menu below you will see that IACP 43 will be one big delicious Alabama Feast!

***

CONFERENCE PASS - The 3-day pass includes all events except Alabama Tastemakers, workshops, tours, field trips, and optional dining events

STARTERS: Sweet Home Street Party - Opening night party at Pepper Place

THE MAIN DISH: IACP Media & Cookbook Awards - 2021 Annual Awards Ceremony at Sloss Furnaces

ALABAMA TASTEMAKERS - Chefs demos and lifestyle sessions at Pepper Place

WORKSHOPS, TOURS & FIELD TRIPS - Optional events planned in and around Birmingham

FRIDAY NIGHT: Optional dining and bar-hopping events

PASSES & TICKET PRICES: Tickets can be purchased on Eventbrite

Cheers to IACP’s 43rd year under the twinkle lights at Pepper Place where guests will enjoy live music from the Birmingham All-Stars, a retail crawl among the shops and eateries, in-store events, as well as pop-ups from artisan makers. Beloved Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin will welcome IACP members to Birmingham, and we’ll toast to IACP43 with a signature cocktail from Cosmic Crisp! Chefs from Bettola, BLUEROOT, Blueprint on 3rd, Hot and Hot Fish Club, Ovenbird, and more will be at stations serving sample plates. Following these festivities, guests are invited to enjoy a dine-around at their choice of restaurant at Pepper Place, purchase an optional chefs’ tasting experience by Tasting TBL at the John Hand Club, or join a Bar Crawl led by Les Dames d’Escoffier of Birmingham (see details below). **Conference pass includes admission to Sweet Home Street Party. Individual guest tickets are available for purchase.

Presenting Sponsor: Sweet Home Alabama: The Official Travel Site of Alabama

Time: 5:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

Location: Pepper Place Entertainment District (Outdoors)

Enjoy breakfast from Chris and Idie Hastings’ Ovenbird restaurant. Dine in the chic eatery, enjoy its al fresco tables, or grab your breakfast to go as you walkabout the market. Then head to the IACP cookbook signing at the bustling Pepper Place farmers market where families, friends, and pooches peruse the farm-fresh produce, flowers, handmade goods, and art, as live music plays and chef demos take place.

Presenting Sponsor: Sweet Home Alabama: The Official Travel Site of Alabama

Time: 8:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.

Location: Pepper Place Entertainment District (Outdoors)

Enjoy a barbecue lunch from Pitmaster Rodney Scott of Rodney Scott’s Whole Hog BBQ. He will talk about his time-tested method of cooking meat over hardwood live-coal embers, which earned him a James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Southeast in 2018. A whole hog lunch with mac and cheese, cole slaw, and sweet tea will be served at the Water Tower at Sloss Furnaces, topped off with Hero Doughnuts and Buns’ incredible treats in specialty flavors complementary to a barbecue lunch.

Presenting Sponsor: Pihakis Restaurant Group

Time: 12:15 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.

Location: Sloss Furnaces Water Tower (Outdoors)

IACP Special-Interest Section: Food & Health Experts

During this session, Patricia Greenberg and Nandita Godbole will explore how to understand and embrace aging with strategies, lifestyle habits, and a positive mindset that will help us live life to the fullest as we move on in years. Growing old is inevitable and should be embraced! Patricia and Nandita will provide a thorough understanding of how and why we age. They'll explain how to navigate the workplace and our personal lives during this process and will offer coping skills for combating ageism and prejudice. By living well, we'll thrive in our later years!

Topic: Eat Well, Live Well, Age Well 

Conversations Leads: Patricia Greenberg and Nandita Godbole

Time: 3:30 p.m – 4:30 p.m.

Location: Sloss Furnaces Auditorium (Indoors)

***

IACP Special-Interest Section: Food Writers, Editors, + Publishers 

What's behind your topic? Sometimes, an oft-repeated nugget that is incorrect becomes a factoid simply because it is widely cited. How do you tell truth from “truthiness”? It’s all too easy to just page through a Google search. How can you convey origin and expertise so your work doesn't sound overly academic? This group of experts will share techniques and research methods that can make a difference in your credibility. Conceived for food writers of all levels, the session will inspire you to dig down until you find The Right Stuff.

Topic: The Mother Sources: Add Depth to Your Writing

Conversation Leads: Bonnie Benwick, Darra Goldstein, Ann Taylor Pittman, Cheryl Slocum

Time: 3:30 p.m – 4:30 p.m.

Location: Sloss Furnaces Auditorium (Indoors)

Enjoy a Build-a-Biscuit Sandwich Bar with the editorial teams of Food & Wine, Southern Living, and Meredith Food Studios at Jones Valley Teaching Farm (JVTF). Tour the grounds of JVTF where students have cross-curricular experiential lessons using food, farming, and the culinary arts, and hear Executive Director Amanda Storey speak on empowerment, education, and the power of food.

Hosts: Teams from Food & Wine, Southern Living, and Meredith Food Studios 

Sponsor: Niman Ranch

Time: 8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.

Location: Jones Valley Teaching Farm Pavilion

Everything today is about the story. It’s what matters. Led by Jamila Robinson, this conversation features Food & Wine Editor-in-Chief Hunter Lewis, L.A. TACO Editor and Associate Producer of Netflix’s Taco Chronicles Javier Cabral, founding editor of MyRecipes.com and Digital Content Director of Allrecipes.com Jason Burnett, and award-winning food and nutrition journalist, cookbook author, and historian Toni Tipton-Martin. These industry pros talk about how they find the stories worth telling and how they tell those stories across each publication’s many platforms.

Time: 1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Location: Casting Shed at Sloss Furnaces (Outdoors)

Conversation Lead: Jamila Robinson, Food Media Leader & Innovator, Food Editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer

Amanda Hesser, Food 52 Founder, former food editor at The New York Times, and author of the new The Essential New York Times Cookbook, joins Kim Severson, a Southern-based food and culture correspondent for The New York Times, to talk about food fads and how cooking has changed through the decades.

Time: 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Location: Casting Shed at Sloss Furnaces (Outdoors)

Conversation Leads: Food 52 Founder Amanda Hesser and The New York Times' Kim Severson

Pastry Chef Kristen Farmer Hall brings us a beautiful Pâte Sucrée demonstration! It’s a wonderful, home-baker-friendly sweet tart dough, perfect for the holidays. Kristen will demonstrate how to make, store, roll, and bake, followed by sharing samples of finished tart shells and some filled ones, as well!

Time: 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Location: Cantley & Co. Kitchen @ Design Supply, at Pepper Place

Attendee Max: 40 People

Chef Tyler Lyne and Pastry Chef Jennifer Lyne of Tasting TBL will do a fall-themed chef’s demo with a savory dish of braised short rib in falling leaves and a pumpkin-shaped dessert of pumpkin bread and cream filling.

Time: 1:30 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Location: Cantley & Co. Kitchen @ Design Supply, at Pepper Place

Attendee Max: 40 People

Cyndy Cantley, the Lead Designer and owner of award-winning, nationally published kitchen and bath design firm, Cantley & Co., covers the top tips on entertaining, focusing on the tablescape and autumn style.

Time: 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.

Location: Cantley & Co. Kitchen @ Design Supply, at Pepper Place

Attendee Max: 40 People

Guided by local tour guide Ann Clemons, this field trip will take a group to Montgomery, Alabama, to tour The National Memorial for Peace and Justice & The Legacy Museum. The memorial, informally known as the National Lynching Memorial, is the nation’s first memorial dedicated to the legacy of enslaved Black people, people terrorized by lynching, African Americans humiliated by racial segregation and Jim Crow, and people of color burdened with contemporary presumptions of guilt and police violence. The newly redesigned museum explores the history of racial inequality and economic injustice from enslavement to mass incarceration. The memorial and museum are created by the Equal Justice Initiative, which was founded by Bryan Stephenson, author of the memoir Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption. Attendees meet at Red Cat Coffeehouse at 7:30 a.m. to grab their complimentary to-go breakfast and hop aboard the bus.

Time: 8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. (lunch included)

Transportation: Bus

Location: Montgomery, AL

Attendee Max: 30 People

Explore historic Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark site to discover the science behind the iron making process and the men responsible for the development of the Birmingham Industrial District. Walk where men operated boilers, hot-blast stoves, and tapped furnaces to produce the iron that built the nation. Today, Sloss Furnaces National Historic Landmark is the only 20th century blast furnace site in the nation being preserved and interpreted as an industrial museum. Don’t miss this unique opportunity!

Time: 9:00 a.m –10:00 a.m. AND 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Transportation: Self transportation

Location: 20 32nd St N, Birmingham, AL 35222

Attendee Max: 20 people per tour

Join us for a peek inside Meredith Food Studios, home to recipe testing, food photography, and video for some of the nation’s most beloved lifestyle brands, including Southern Living, Food & Wine, Real Simple, Eating Well, People, and more. This 40,000-square-foot facility features 28 test kitchens, 13 photo and video studios, a prop and styling studio, and an expansive showcase kitchen and tasting room. Food Studios Director, Allison Lowery, Test Kitchen Director, Katie Barreira, and Photo Director, Sheri Wilson, will host small groups to see the space, learn a bit about how it all comes together, and meet and greet with some of our test kitchen chefs, photographers, and stylists while they work. Follow us on Instagram for a preview of what’s to come: @meredithfoodstudios

Time: 10:30 a.m –12:00 p.m. AND 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Transportation: Self transportation

Location: 3854 Old Montgomery Hwy, Homewood, AL 35209

Attendee Max: 25 people per tour

At last! After 19 months of meeting online to connect with fellow cooking school owners and cooking teachers, now we can get together in real life to become better acquainted and to share achievements, frustrations, creative ideas, and questions. Join us at Dekalb Office Alabama at Pepper Place. At the conclusion of the meeting, IACP's opening reception is only a few steps away.

Time: 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Location: Dekalb Office Alabama, Pepper Place, 27th St. and 2nd Ave South

Biscuits are shrouded in the enigmatic magic of Southern cooking lore, and most—chefs and non-chefs alike—chase the recipe that will capture the essence of the “perfectly Southern biscuit.” James Beard Award-winning Chef Scott Peacock is one of the Southern biscuit’s most trusted keepers. His biscuits have been celebrated on the covers of Gourmet and Food & Wine magazines, the pages of Better Homes & Gardens and The New York Times, and on The Martha Stewart Show and TODAY. In the recent 40th anniversary issue, Food & Wine named his biscuits one of their 40 best recipes ever published.

In Marion, Alabama, Peacock’s Biscuit Experience is an intimate, small-group workshop on the fine art of traditional Southern biscuit-making. Hosted in the historic kitchens of Reverie mansion, Scott will reveal the nuances of biscuit mastery and share the philosophy behind his well-honed techniques. Students will also learn about exclusive ingredients, including flour ground from one of the original biscuit wheats, rare antique white lammas that Scott has been growing and working to restore to the Alabama table. Attendees will also get to tour the Farm where Scott sources many of his vegetables.

Time: 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m

Location: Marion, AL

Attendee Max: 10 People

Sign up early! We are holding 25 seats for IACP attendees at each of the restaurants at Pepper Place, which includes Bettola, Blueprint on 3rd, and Hot and Hot Fish Club. Restaurants may accept reservations beyond the 25 IACP-reserved seats, but we cannot guarantee that their seats will remain available. If booking your reservations on Open Table, Resy, or other similar platforms, please indicate that you are an IACP member in the Notes section. And please book your reservation by Wednesday, October 20th.

Book now!

Time: 7:00 p.m. until …

Transportation: Not provided

Price: Dinner is on you. 

Reservation deadline: Wednesday, October 20, 2021

$450.00

$650.00

$750.00

$250.00

$50.00

$75.00

$40.00

$340.00

$340.00

$50.00

$50.00

$50.00

$50.00

$50.00

$50.00

$50.00

$50.00

$50.00

$30.00

$50.00

$250.00

$50.00

$50.00

$35.00