The Colorado Fruit & Vegetable Growers Association is glad to see top culinary trends incorporating produce. According to the National Restaurant Association that interviewed 700 chefs, the hottest menu trends this year are local, vegetable-forward choices and ethnic-inspired menu items.
“All of these trends and in particular vegetable-forward choices that ‘flip the plate’ from a meat and starch focus to a produce entrée are positive for Americans’ health,” said Marilyn Bay Drake, CFVGA executive director. “This trend and the interest in nutrition led our conference committee to incorporate this topic into CFVGA’s Fourth Annual Conference Feb. 19 and 20, 2018.”
Cathy Schmelter, registered dietitian and nutrition educator, will talk about “flipping the plate” as well as ways to use vegetables as side dishes instead of the more common high-carbohydrate, processed foods. She also will discuss research showing the number of fruits and veggies you need to consume daily to bring happiness.
“It might come as a surprise for some folks to learn that specific fruits and vegetables have a specific impact on our moods and overall well-being,” Schmelter said. “We will also discuss veggie sides dishes that may parade as nutritious, but which really need a make over to serve this role.”
Schmelter also will talk about food synergy and why it may be more important than individual nutrients in the fruits and vegetables we eat. She will present Nutrition: Give Your Sides a Makeover—Healthy Vegetable Dishes Using Fresh, Local Produce, Monday, Feb. 19 at 10:45 a.m. and again at 1:15 p.m.
The conference also will feature speakers on water, soil health, organic and conventional disease control, recall readiness, produce marketing, fair labor practices and food safety. In addition, the always popular grower-buyer networking session will take place Feb. 19, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. The conference will culminate with a tech pitch, styled after the television show Shark Tank, with companies pitching their ideas for innovation in the produce industry to judges before the entire conference audience. More information on the CFVGA conference is available at https://cfvga.org.
CFVGA is comprised of some 300 grower, allied industry and partner members of all scales and types of production. The Colorado fruit and vegetable growing sector contributes nearly $300 million to Colorado at the farm gate and is multiplied as it goes through the distribution chain. Over 60,000 Colorado acres are in fruit and vegetable production.