About The Culinary Trust

The Culinary Trust gives culinary professionals the tools and opportunities to understand and act on critical issues in the world of food.

The Culinary Trust started its corporate life on February 7, 1984 under the name Cooking Advancement Research and Education Foundation (CAREF). Its first Trustees were the late Julia Child, CCP, Shirley Corriher, CCP, and Marlene Sorosky, CCP. CAREF was a charitable foundation formed to support research and education in the broad fields of culinary studies, whether from a scientific, literary or practical standpoint. Among CAREF’s significant accomplishments was providing scholarships for culinary education and grants for culinary research at a time when the culinary field was emerging from its popular perception as a trade to its current status as a profession.

Recognizing the close affinity of its mission with the goals of the IACP, in 1994, CAREF changed its name to the IACP Foundation and spent the next ten years working closely with the IACP to promote culinary research and education, as well as charitable activities such as hunger relief. By 2004, however, the IACP Foundation saw a need and opportunity to expand its efforts to include the preservation of culinary heritage in our rapidly changing foodways. The IACP Foundation changed its name to the all-inclusive The Culinary Trust, reflecting its updated mission. While still working closely with the IACP, the Trust serves the broad public interest and is focused in giving culinary professionals the tools and opportunities to understand and act on critical issues on the world of food.

The Culinary Trust achieves its mission through scholarships and grants for students and professionals, cookbook preservation and restoration, educational programs and grants for hunger alleviation. For more information or to get involved please email info@theculinarytrust.org

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Ken Rubin, CCP, Chair

Ken Rubin, CCP, is a leader in culinary education, with twenty years of achievement as an education executive, food editor, food culture researcher, and consultant.  As a culinary anthropologist, he has gained an awareness of critical issues surrounding food and health, education and training, sustainability, and the role of food in society.  Ken is Vice President of Culinary Training at Rouxbe Cooking School, an online cooking school found in more than 170 countries.

Karin Endy, Immediate Past Chair

Karin Endy brings to the board more than fifteen years of experience in the culinary field and a background in environmental law and policy to Edible Resources. is the Associate Director of Culinary and Pastry Education at the International Culinary Center in New York.  She is also the founder and principal for Edible Resources, providing consulting services for food companies and non-profits on education, sustainability and corporate social responsibility matters. Prior to that, she was Associate Dean of Students/General Counsel for The French Culinary Institute where she played an active role in the 2006 school expansion.

Karin is an active member of New York City’s Greenmarket Farmer and Citizens Advisory Committee. She has served on the James Beard Scholarship committee and led fundraising events for The Friends of The FCI. Karin was a panelist on school food at the Baum Forum, food labeling at the International Association of Culinary Professionals annual conference, and on heirloom seeds and heritage breeds for the Culinary Historians of New York honoring Betty Fussell. She has responded to Michelle Obamas call for chefs to adopt schools and has adopted P.S.230 in Kensington Brooklyn, a school with 78% of the students qualifying for free lunch. Karin has served on the Board of Trustees of The Culinary Trust since 2005.

Alexa Van de Walle, Secretary

Lexi is food advocate, writer/health coach/chef/marketer, focusing on critical issues in food, nutrition, policy and sustainability. Founder of Lighthearted Locavore, she has worked on dozens of projects including: UN Commission on Sustainable Development (Host Committee), the NYC Food Charter, Child Nutrition Reauthorization/Slow Food Eat-in, and Social Enterprise at Kellogg 2011 where she and her husband are underwriting a university-wide case competition on food access. Lexi writes about local and federal food policy and creates recipes using locally sourced produce. Her articles have appeared in Huffington Post and Mother Earth News and her blog LightheartedLocavore.com.

She is co-author of FoodNYC: A Blue Print for a Sustainable Food System. Lexi’s prior career as a marketing and advertising executive spanned 25 years at Citigroup, Pfizer, American Express and Ogilvy and Mather. She has a MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management and attended the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and Peter Kump’s Cooking School where she received nutrition counseling and chef certifications.

Lara Nixon, Treasurer

Lara’s lifelong love of culinary traditions turned into a passion for cocktails and bar craft after being introduced to historical cocktails through antique manuals, which led to her re-envisioning classic cocktail recipes to include locally sourced and sustainable organic products. After studying bar craft in Santa Rosa, California, she founded Boxcar Bar, an Austin-based bartending and consulting service.
She is co-founder of Bad Dog Bar Craft, an artisan bitters producer, and her original cocktail recipes have won awards, as has Tipsy Tech, a spirits education program she co-developed with David Alan. Lara served as treasurer of the U.S. Bartenders Guild, Austin Chapter, from 2009-2011.

Anne E. McBride, Trustee

Anne McBride is the culinary program and editorial director for strategic initiatives at The Culinary Institute of America, where her responsibilities include leading the programming for the Worlds of Flavor® International Conference & Festival. She co-authored Les Petits Macarons: Colorful French Confections to Make at Home and Culinary Careers: How to Get Your Dream Job in Food, and two cookbooks with famed pastry chef François Payard. Anne is working towards a Ph.D. in food studies at New York University, where she taught for six years and is the director of the Experimental Cuisine Collective. She regularly writes on topics related to professional and experimental cooking, including contributions to Gastronomica, Food Arts, the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, and Food Cultures of the World. She is also a board member of the Association for the Study of Food and Society and The James Beard Foundation Awards, and previously served as a two-term board member of the New York Women’s Culinary Alliance. She is also a judge for the James Beard Cookbook Awards. A native of Switzerland, she received a degree in journalism from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

David McIntyre, Trustee

David McIntyre, a culinary and food systems consultant, draws upon 30 years of experience in culinary education, food policy, restaurants, and retail operations.  His projects include an Hispanic Public Market in Portland, a food-entrepreneur training program in Albuquerque, and a USDA Specialty Crops Grant promoting increased local purchases among institutional purchasers.  In addition to consulting, he recently joined Whole Foods as the Associate Regional Coordinator for Prepared Foods for the Pacific Northwest. David is co-chair of IACP’s Food Policy interest section.

Raghavan Iyer, IACP Board Liaison

SCHOLARSHIPS COMMITTEE

Erik Murnighan, Chair

Erik Murnighan worked in business and technology prior to following his passion for food to The French Culinary Institute, where he graduated in 2001. After having worked as a chef de cuisine in Vermont and a food and beverage director in Santa Fe, Erik returned to New York to pursue a career in culinary education. Erik brought his diverse experience to The International Culinary Center where he is the School Director. He is a mentor to many aspiring food and wine professionals and believes that education begins with encouragement.

HONORARY TRUSTEES [2013-2014]

• Rick Bayless
• Maxime Bilet
• Emeril Lagasse
• Jacques Pepin
• Anne Willan
• Martin Yan

PAST CHAIRS

• 2010-2012 Karin Endy
• 2008-2010 Janet Cabot
• 2006-2008 Andrew F. Smith
• 2004-2006 Robyn Lee
• 2002-2004 Justin Newby
• 2000-2002 Paul M. Barrett
• 1999-2000 Catherine Evans, CCP
• 1998-1999 Madge Griswold, CCP
• 1997-1998 Jude Theriot, CCP
• 1996-1997 Renie Steves, CCP
• 1995-1996 Teresa J. Farney, CCP
• 1994-1995 Nancy V. Barr, CCP
• 1993-1994 Patrice Dionot
• 1991-1993 Nancy Kirby Harris, CCP
• 1990-1991 Carmen Jones, CCP
• 1989-1990 Leslie Beal Bloom, CCP
• 1987-1989 Blake Swihart, CCP
• 1985-1987 Anne Byrd
• 1984-1985 Marlene Sorosky