“Carefree Feasting – IS that still POSSIBLE?” symposium

The health effects and safety of our food have become an important topic of conversation. Social media recently reported that top chef Ferran Adrià from El Bulli, the world-famous ‘test-tube chef’ who could conjure heavenly flavours from a simple sprout, may have used toxic flavourings and other additives in his creations. There have been worrying developments in nature too, involving farmers, growers and breeders: heavy metals contamination, overuse of antibiotics, and emissions of CO2 and methane, just to name a few. All these messages lead to many questions, both for the cook in a restaurant and for the kitchen manager in a health care facility.

Is there any truth to these slurs and scares? Can you still eat a tasty meal without any worries? Or enjoy it to the fullest when you senses tell you that something is delicious and still healthy? Should we eat synthetic meat and other alternatives in the future?

On 16 December 2016, Maastricht University and Les Tables Maastricht will organise a joint symposium to mark their respective 40th and 20th anniversaries. This symposium will bring together professors and professionals in the field of (healthy) food to discuss the theme “Carefree feasting – is that still possible?”. It will take place from 9 am to 4 pm at the School of Business and Economics at Tongersestraat 53 in Maastricht.

Top chefs, professors and representatives from the Netherlands Nutrition Centre[A1]  will take up the challenge to talk about meat, fish and vegetables in plain language. They will discuss the worrisome news on this subject and how in spite of it you can cook delicious food and enjoy it thoroughly.

Some of the speakers will include:
* Frank Fol, Mastercooks of Belgium
* Dennis van der Meer, Restaurant O
* Hans van Wolde, Head chef at Beluga**
* Dr Lisette Brink, Netherlands Nutrition Centre (Voedingscentrum)
* Peter Klosse, ‘taste professor’ and senior lecturer at Zuyd University of Applied Sciences
* Prof Harry Aiking, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
* Prof Johan Verreth, Wageningen University & Research
* Prof Mark Post, Maastricht University
* Prof Fred Brouns, Maastricht University

This symposium is intended for anyone who talks about food in his/her working environment: chefs, restaurateurs, cooks, care managers, physicians, naturopaths, dietitians, nutritionists, nutrition consultants, weight loss consultants, press and bloggers.

You can find more information about the symposium at http://mintonline.org/event-onbezorgd-smullen.asp. This symposium follows the extremely successful “Poison on my Plate” symposium that took place in 2015, various educational recordings of which have been quite popular on YouTube.