Friday, June 27, 2008

Institute of Food Technologists Conference 2008~New Orleans

Hello NOLA!

By now, I am off to New Orleans for the annual Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) conference . The IFT is an international organization for food scientists around the world. It's a huge organization with over 20,000 members. At the annual conference you can learn about the current food research going on. This includes topics like Food Microbiology and safety issues, nanotechnology, to culinary trends. What's also appealing is the Food Expo with companies showing off and sampling the newest ingredients! Last year adding functional ingredients was big and a lot of companies were incorporating soluble fiber into their products. My body was not used to consuming all that fiber in a short span of time, so this year I will definitely pace myself.

This is the second IFT conference I am attending and it is definitely an eventful one! On top of meetings for the Sensory Evaluation Division and the Education Division, I'll have an oral presentation, oral competition, and the Product Development competition to take part in. Even though it'll be really busy, I'm quite excited about the whole thing! I've never been to New Orleans and I can't wait to take part in the conference!
I've been so busy preparing for this conference that I haven't looked into the restaurants and foods to enjoy. Luckily others have made plans and I'm invited to tag along. I think on tap is a dinner at Oliver's Creole Restaurant, the Crescent City Brewhouse, Coyote Ugly, and Cafe Du Monde(for beignets).

Wish us luck and cheer on the University of Illinois team!

*This was a pre-scheduled post.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

good luck, lauren!! i loved hearing about the fiber food finds you enjoyed last year, and i bet it's way more amazing to experience yourself. so lucky!

good luck in your various presentations and the food development competition!! can't wait to hear about it. how very exciting!

i won the spam recipe contest!! the recipe/story should be in the starbulletin sometime soon (betty shimabukuro's column). i love food competitions, but i can't stand the pressure!! :)