Sean Buchanan
Executive Chef, Stowe Mountain Lodge, Vermont
At a hotel and restaurant where local artisan-inspired cuisine, all-natural organic ingredients, seasonally changing menus and boundless creativity provide the basis for a unique fine dining experience, it is only fitting that Buchanan, one of Vermont's foremost advocates of local farmers, would be chosen to take the helm of the highly-coveted new Stowe Mountain Lodge kitchen.
With almost ten years of culinary experience, including a recent position as executive chef at the Middlebury Inn, a small hotel known for teaching guests about the Vermont "localvore" movement, Buchanan not only understands how to run a successful restaurant kitchen, but he has also learned the importance of advocating local cuisine. Buchanan's underlying passion and motivation for his cooking is attached to his philosophy that fresh, native ingredients produce the highest quality and most tasteful cuisine, and supporting local farmers is the responsibility of the entire food community. Buchanan left the Middlebury Inn to take on a sales & marketing role at Wood Creek Farm in Bridport, Vermont, where he dedicated his time to learning first hand about the farming industry while simultaneously encouraging restaurants within the New England area to buy local, farm-raised beef. In just eleven months, he was able to increase the farm's sales of natural beef by 500% and spread awareness throughout the region of the benefits of purchasing locally- and humanely-raised meats. This time away from the kitchen also gave Buchanan an opportunity to travel around the state on behalf of Vermont Public Television, with whom he worked to create and host "Feast in the Making," a television series dedicated to introducing viewers to the state's meat, dairy and vegetable farmers, artisan cheesemakers, and the chefs who support them.
This young crusader's accomplishments and talents have not gone unrecognized. In addition to consistently being selected by Vermont Fresh Network, a local farm advocacy group, as a chef representative for their movement, the Vermont Department of Agriculture presented Buchanan with their "Buying Local" award in both 2006 and 2007. Edible Green Mountains, the Vermont edition of the renowned national food publication, chose Buchanan to be a regular contributor to their magazine as a way to continue the dialogue between farmers and consumers. Now that Buchanan is once again stepping back into the kitchen, his talent for creating memorable cuisine using indigenous ingredients will bring fresh and inspirational tastes to Stowe Mountain Lodge, ensuring an authentic Vermont experience for diners at the area's most exquisite new resort hotel and restaurant.
Steve Jenkins
Cheesemonger & Book Author, Fairway, New York
On July 25, 2008, Jenkins was honored with a lifetime achievement award from the American Cheese Society at the summer conference and competition in Chicago. His latest book, The Food Life (Ecco/HarperCollins), was published earlier in the same month. Variously described in print over the years as “New York’s highest-profile grocer” (New York Magazine), “the enfant terrible of the fancy food business” (The New York Times), and “the eminence grise of American cheesemongers” (The New Yorker), as well as having been featured in New York Magazine’s “The 100 Smartest New Yorkers” issue, Steven Jenkins has worked at New York’s Fairway Markets for most of his career. He was the first American cheesemonger inducted into France’s ancient and elite Guilde des Fromagers, in 1976, and was only recently elevated to “prud’homme”, the guild’s highest status. In 1980 he was welcomed into France’s super-honorary society, Taste-fromage, once again, the first American. Jenkins’ first book, Cheese Primer (Workman, 1996), decidedly a “chef-d’oeuvre”, is in its record-breaking eleventh printing. Cheese Primer won the James Beard Award, and is regarded as the most important and indispensable book in the world of cheese for both professionals and amateurs. Jenkins has written extensively for every major food and wine publication as well as columns for the major trade magazines and domestic and international culinary journals. Jenkins is credited with having introduced countless cheeses and other foods to New Yorkers (and subsequently the rest of the United States), and continues to generate remarkable publicity and public awareness for food artisans and artisanal foods (it was he who popularized the use of the terms “artisan/artisanal” as well as “cheesemonger”). He was recently named one of the 25 most important people in the history of the American specialty foods industry by Gourmet Retailer in their 25th-year anniversary issue. Steven is a frequent guest lecturer at numerous venues here in the US and in Europe (The National Geographic Society, The University of Pennsylvania, The 92nd Street Y, The Aspen Food & Wine Classic, The Fairway Masterclass Series); he is also in demand as a judge at various competitions and culinary schools (The American Cheese Society, The French Culinary Institute, ICE), and makes frequent appearances on television (Modern Marvels: Cheese (The History Channel), PBS with Jacques Pepin; a featured segment on CBS’s Sunday Morning). He is a regular guest on the award-winning NPR program “The Splendid Table” with Lynn Rossetto Kasper. Jenkins’ many videos and interviews can be seen at food-related websites such as that of Chow, Serious Eats, The Cook’s Companion and Epicurious. Jenkins was a board member of the American Cheese Society and is an active participant in the important work of the Oldways Preservation and Exchange Trust (Cambridge, Massachusetts). His many responsibilities at the highly regarded Fairway Markets (New York City) include the pioneering (exclusive) importation of traditional foods from over a hundred European companies. Jenkins lives in New York City with his wife Michelle and their children, Max and Lily.
Kate Arding
Cheesemonger, Co-Founder of Culture Magazine, New York
A native of Britain, Kate Arding has worked within the specialist farmhouse cheese industry since 1993. Kate served as Wholesale Manager for Neals Yard Dairy in London for five years, during which time she developed extensive knowledge of the British and Irish farmhouse cheese industry with particular emphasis on affinage, sales and marketing and assisting small-scale cheese makers to adapt to changing market demands. In 1997, Kate moved to California to help establish Tomales Bay Foods and Cowgirl Creamery, a business largely structured on the Neals Yard Dairy model. Since September 2003, Kate has been working as an independent dairy consultant and has spent considerable time involved with overseas dairy development projects as well those within the United States. Kate’s latest venture is as one of the Founders and Editors of “culture”, a national consumer magazine that focuses on the world or artisanal and farmstead cheese. Kate offers expertise in the following areas: milk quality, cheese maturation and affinage, sales and marketing strategies and implementation and staff training. Kate Arding is based in rural New York.
Marc Druart
Master Cheesemaker, Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese, Burlington, Vermont
Marc Druart is the Master Cheesemaker at the Vermont Institute for Artisan Cheese (VIAC), one of the leading cheese institutes in the country for artisan cheese producers. Marc received his Brevet de Technicien Superieur from the prestigious National Dairy School of Poligny, France in 2000. After graduation, Marc traveled the world working for various cheese and dairy companies in the U.K, New Zealand, and the USA. In 2004, Marc joined the VIAC as an instructor and dairy technologist. Marc serves as cheesemaker and technology advisor on all UVM raw milk cheese research projects. Additionally, Marc is serving as a consultant for the “Ask the Expert” column in Dairy Food Magazine and has been presenting seminars at multiple trade and industry conferences such as the American Cheese Society, the Oregon Cheese Festival, and California Cheese Guild.
Janet Fletcher
Food Writer & Book Author, California
Janet Fletcher trained at the Culinary Institute of America and at Berkeley's celebrated Chez Panisse. She is a staff food writer and weekly cheese columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, where her writing has twice won the James Beard Foundation Award as well as the International Association of Culinary Professionals' Bert Greene Award. She is the author or co-author of 18 books on food and wine, including The Niman Ranch Cookbook, The Cheese Course and the Four Seasons Pasta (both Chronicle Books), and a regular contributor to Bon AppÈtit, Fine Cooking, Metropolitan Home and other national magazines. Janet is a certified Master Gardener and tends a large ornamental and edible garden at her home in Napa Valley.
Robin Schempp
Culinologist and President, Right Stuff Enterprise, Waterbury, Vermont
Robin has always had a proclivity for exploring and enjoying the many expressions of both the table and the bench. She shares those discoveries as President and Principal of Right Stuff Enterprises which specializes in creative culinary concept, product, menu, and market development. In its 15th year, Right Stuff is recognized for generation of valuable, wholesome food and beverage solutions reflecting modern flavors and ingredients for both food service and retail.
In addition to serving Right Stuffs’ clients, Robin writes about food and culinary R&D for several publications and regularly teaches and speaks on subjects from varietal honey in cocktails to the process of menu ideation. She is Vice Chair of Chefs Collaborative, President Emeritus of the Vermont Fresh Network both which strive to connect chefs with a more wholesome and sustainable food supply. Robin chairs the Board Development Committee of the RCA, sits on the Slow Food Ark of Taste Committee and is an active member of IACP. She multi-tasks at every opportunity by eating and drinking well.
