Celebrity chef Rick Bayless among participants in CIA San Antonio’s Latin American Cuisine Summit

The Culinary Institute of America’s San Antonio campus will kick off its annual Latin American Cuisine Summit this week, hosting notable chefs and experts including Mexican cooking guru Rick Bayless, the Express-News reports.

The James Beard Award-winning Bayless — a renowned chef, restaurateur and cookbook author — will give a presentation about the use of tomatillos in their roasted, raw and pickled forms, according to the daily. Bayless also hosts the PBS television series Mexico: One Plate at a Time.

The two-day culinary event, which starts Wednesday, focuses on iconic ingredients used in Latin American cuisine. The demos and panel discussions about items such as corn, chiles, tomatoes and cacao aim to foster conversations about sustainability, regenerative agriculture and climate change, the Express-News reports.

Bayless will join other culinary heavyweights at the summit, including Top Chef: Houston alum Evelyn Garcia and Mexican cooking expert Adán Medrano, known for his book Truly Texas Mexican: A Native Culinary Heritage in Recipes and the documentary film Truly Texas Mexican.

San Antonio will be represented by Pharm Table chef Elizabeth Johnson, who will appear in a panel discussion about the future of our food system, and by pastry queen Sofia Tejeda, tasked with demonstrating how to make a vegan concha with avocado chocolate mousse.

Admission to the two-day event runs $299 and includes access to more than a dozen panel discussions, meals and social mixers. The full schedule and registration information are available at the Culinary Institute of America website.

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This article appears in Sep 21 – Oct 4, 2022.