This summer’s Food & Wine Classic in Aspen features a more diverse lineup of talent than ever.
With dishes like My Mother’s Gumbo, Roots Southern Table, a Texas restaurant nominated for two James Beard awards, pays homage to chef Tiffany Derry’s Southern upbringing. Derry is one of a deep lineup of talent that will be featured at this summer’s Food & Wine Classic.
IN the wake of 2020’s racial unrest and a global pandemic, our lives have indelibly changed— and in some ways for the better. The Food & Wine Classic in Aspen has been a high point for chefs, restaurants and wine since 1981. This June marks the 39th time the event has been staged, and the event’s lineup is evolving with the times. This summer’s lineup of talent has been intentionally curated to be more inclusive and reflective of the real world. You’ll see more BIPOC presenters, from a Dominican pastry chef to an Indian food TV dynamo to a wine connoisseur who’s known more for his stepback 3-pointers on the hardwood.
The move to bring more diversity and inclusion to the Classic is a reflection of what’s been happening in the pages of the namesake magazine. “We want to make sure that Food & Wine is reflective of our broader food and drink culture,” says Editor-in-Chief Hunter Lewis, who took the helm of the magazine in 2017. “The Me Too movement sparked a call to action, and so have the racial and cultural reckonings that have emerged in the years since. We’re looking at everything we do as a brand through a lens of inclusivity and hospitality now more than ever before. And for us, George Floyd’s murder was an immediate catalyst to move faster.”
This summer’s Classic will feature two celebrity NBA stars who are building legacy wine brands: Dwyane Wade and CJ McCollum. Their presentation will be a conversation about brand building and leadership but also about making wine more inclusive. “What we love about the NBA stars is that they’re helping to democratize wine,” Lewis says.
Read on for the backstories—as well as the incredible social justice initiatives—behind some of the BIPOC personalities you’ll meet at the F&W Classic this summer. June 17-19, classic.
CO-FOUNDER OF MORPH HOSPITALITY GROUP, INCLUDING CHAUHAN ALE & MASALA HOUSE, TANSUO, THE MOCKINGBIRD AND CHAATABLE
Chauhan draws inspiration from her world travels, including a cross-country railroad trip through India
Hot chicken pakoras are on the menu at Chauhan Ale & Masala House.
“The Food & Wine Classic has such an interesting and invigorating audience because the people who visit revere food as much as the chefs do,” says chef, author and television personality Maneet Chauhan. “And that’s very contagious.”
Co-founder of Morph Hospitality Group in Nashville, Chauhan has appeared on Iron Chef America and Guy Fieri’s Tournament of Champions and earned a James Beard Award in Broadcast Media for her role as a perennial judge on Food Network’s Chopped.
During her upcoming F&W Classic seminar, “Mumbai Memories: A Love Letter to Indian Street Food” (June 17, 10AM), Chauhan will tap into recipes from her new book, Chaat: The Best Recipes From the Kitchens, Markets, and Railways of India (Clarkson Potter). “I want to bring chaat to the forefront in America,” says Chauhan, who was born in Punjab, India, and came to the U.S. to study at the Culinary Institute of America. Chauhan brings seasonality to the street food, with dishes like strawberry rhubarb chaat.
“My culinary approach is based on an Indian foundation—that’s my roots—but because I have traveled the world, I grow and evolve based on the ingredients around me,” she says. “Peas are coming into season, so now I’m making black-eyed peas with collard greens and a makhani sauce.”
In her adopted hometown of Nashville, Chauhan helped bring diversity to the dining landscape with Tansuo, a Chinese concept; The Mockingbird, a global diner; and Chaatable, an Indian street food concept. She sees diversity growing in the restaurant industry. “In 1998, I was the only Indian on campus at CIA, and now there are all these kids from India,” she says. “Food & Wine is reflecting that diversity in its lineup.”
“The biggest challenge in my career is changing the perception of Indian food,” Chauhan says. “It’s not greasy all-you-can-eat buffets.”
In March 2020, she founded Hospitality Strong, a nonprofit benefiting hospitality workers in need. “If anybody asks, the answer is always ‘yes’ because I am fortunate enough to have the platform,” she says. During the pandemic, the brewmaster at her brewery Hop Springs crafted a beer called Social Distance, with profits going to Nashville hospitality workers. More recently, Brian Riggenbach, chef at The Mockingbird, put makivnyk, a Ukrainian yeasted bread, on the menu, with 100% of the profits going to UNICEF Ukraine.
PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE, WINE CONNOISSEUR AND CREATOR OF MCCOLLUM HERITAGE 91
NBA basketball star CJ McCollum is helping to change the face of the wine industry with his McCollum Heritage 91 label.
Shooting guard CJ McCollum was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans in 2022, but his nine years playing for the Portland Trailblazers gave him the perfect backdrop to explore wine—and become a true trailblazer in the wine business. McCollum, along with basketball superstar Dwyane Wade, who launched the Napa wine label Wade Cellars in 2014, is changing the face of wine. In Aspen, Wade and McCollum will present the seminar “The Crossover— How Two NBA Stars Built Brands That Transcend Basketball” (June 18, 3PM). At the F&W Classic, McCollum is looking forward to sharing his journey and “laying a path forward for people of color and from diverse backgrounds to see themselves in the wine industry,” he says.
McCollum’s college sweetheart (and now wife) Elise introduced him to wine while they were at Lehigh in Pennsylvania. “The most incredible thing about wine is not the varietal, terroir or tannin but the way it brings people together,” he says.
In 2020, McCollum launched his signature wine label McCollum Heritage 91, in partnership with Oregon’s Adelsheim Vineyard. When the first release went on sale—a 2018 Willamette Valley Pinot Noir—it sold out in 45 minutes. “Since announcing my own label, I’ve learned more and more about the lack of representation in the wine industry,” McCollum says. The turmoil of the last several years left an impression. “It’s reaffirmed my devotion to showing up and providing a platform, both on and off the basketball court,” he says.
To that end, McCollum joined seven Oregon wineries in the One Barrel Challenge, an effort to break down barriers for those from diverse backgrounds to enter the wine industry. The wineries donate 300 bottles of wine (roughly a barrel), with 100% of the proceeds going to the cause. One Barrel, he says, is rooted in unity, collaboration and empowerment. “I look forward to actively increasing awareness and witnessing the change we can create through this program, ensuring wine is more approachable for everyone,” McCollum says, “particularly those who may not see people who look like them leading the profession.”
Last year, the McCollums bought a 318- acre vineyard property in the Yamhill-Carlton AVA, adjacent to Resonance Wines. The couple are in the preliminary stages of planning the evolution of the site, but they see a great deal of potential in the land and terroir. “Elise was the initial catalyst for my passion,” McCollum says. “It will be one more venture we share.”
CHEF AND OWNER OF ROOTS CHICKEN SHAK AND ROOTS SOUTHERN TABLE
Tiffany Derry shares her passion for food
Duck fatfried chicken with Southern greens at Roots Southern Table.
First-time F&W Classic presenter Tiffany Derry was denied her first job at 15 as a cook at IHOP because of race and gender. “They had me wait tables instead,” she says. But when the restaurant was in a pinch, she was able to jump behind the stoves—where she quickly proved herself. Since then, Derry earned a culinary degree from The Art Institute of Houston, opened her own restaurants and co-founded a purpose-driven hospitality group. She was a fan-favorite on Bravo’s Top Chef and has made guest appearances on Food Network’s Chopped Junior and NBC’s Foodfighters. She even cooked for President Obama at the White House. What she’s most excited about: In March, her restaurant Roots Southern Table was named a 2022 James Beard finalist for Best New Restaurant and Derry was named finalist for Best Chef, Texas.
At the Classic, she’ll present the seminar “Southern Food, The Remix: Old School Meets New School” (June 19, 10AM). “I want to share my take on Southern cooking—paying respect to the South’s culinary history while incorporating modern techniques and global flavors,” she says. “Southern food is so much more complex and diverse than people realize. It’s dependent on the season, the land and the hand that’s stirring the pot.” Given her own adversity in the food industry, Derry says she’s glad to see F&W is taking action to create a more inclusive and diverse environment. “Minorities have long been underrepresented in the industry, especially in leadership roles,” she says. “We still have a long way to go.”
Derry is passionate about social justice and equity. She works with the U.S. Embassy and James Beard Foundation as an ambassador to fight for sustainable food policies and equitable food access. “I continually strive to provide good food to the community, while pushing the boundaries of what it means to be a Black female chef,” she says. That includes cofounding T2D Concepts, with the goal of bridging gender and racial wealth gaps in the hospitality industry. “We’re developing an innovative funding and strategic business model that will expand the Roots Chicken Shak footprint and provide incentives and opportunities for females and people of color to operate their own franchises.”
RST’s cast-iron cornbread is served with smoked salted butter and apple-cranberry preserves.
“For me, food is love,” she says. “Being able to serve others and share this passion with them is the best part of being a chef.”
DIRECTOR OF FANTESCA ESTATE & WINERY
DLynn Proctor does a taste test inside Fantesca Estate & Winery’s cave, a natural wine-aging space set in a Californian hillside. Legend has it the naturally cool and humid cave once served as a silver mine.
The life of wine expert DLynn Proctor is loosely chronicled in Netflix’s Uncorked, a film about a young Black man who aspires to earn his sommelier certification. (Proctor was also an associate producer and had a cameo in the movie.) Uncorked might be a case of art imitating art: Proctor starred in 2012’s Somm, a documentary about sommeliers.
A longtime force in the winemaking business, Proctor was named Best Sommelier in America by Wine and Spirits magazine in 2008, and he was the winemaking ambassador for Australian winemaker Penfolds before joining Napa’s Fantesca Estate & Winery as director.
Proctor is a marketer (“always in PR mode”), an educator, a salesman and a groundbreaking pioneer as one of few Black voices in the industry. Like the character in Uncorked, Proctor forged his own path—his dad was a mortician, and his mom worked for the Postal Service.
In the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020, Proctor, Mary Margaret McCamic and Martin Reyes co-founded Wine Unify, a nonprofit whose mission is to welcome, elevate and amplify the voices of underrepresented minorities in the wine industry through education, funding and mentorship. “I’m delighted to help those who want to gain a seat in this industry and be a beacon of light while they’re on their path,” he says.
Along with fellow wine expert Alicia Towns Franken—who leads Wine Unify’s mentorship program and serves as VP of Wine Portfolio at Archer Roose—Proctor will be presenting two seminars at the F&W Classic: “Vintners Noir: Wines from Top African American Winemakers” (June 18, 10AM) and “Legendary Reds: Barolo vs. Burgundy” (June 18, 3PM). They’ll highlight Black vintners and their wines—and their importance to the industry.
“I’m looking forward to talking about my favorite estates and winemakers and regions across the globe,” Proctor says. “I’m not going to talk about hectoliters per hectare or old botti.” He’ll share his appreciation for nebbiolo of Piedmont and is prepared for the question: “What’s the greatest wine you’ve ever had?”
Proctor believes Uncorked and the Somm series (Somm 4 is slated for fall 2022) have undoubtedly inspired more people of color to become wine pros. “When you view something [on the big screen], something that’s cool or different, you want to seek it out or become it,” he says. “Wine, in all its various price points and levels of luxury, belongs on every table.”
CONSULTING CHEF OF VAGA AND FOUNDER OF VIVA LA VIDA
Born in San Diego, Claudette Zepeda grew up in Tijuana and perfected her English by watching reruns of Julia Child’s The French Chef. She has earned acclaim for her fearless culinary approach.
Based in San Diego, 2019 James Beard Best Chef West semifinalist Claudette Zepeda is known for her bold approach to regional Mexican cuisine. As a chef at VAGA, Zepeda explores the border town’s diaspora through food with an inclusive approach to spices. “There are Mexican influences, and I add fresh curry leaves to my green mole with smoked shanks, served with a Malaysian-style paratha,” she says.
In September 2021, Zepeda made her first appearance at the Food & Wine Classic. For a cooking demo, she made her signature birria tacos but stuffed the meat into bao buns instead of tacos. “It was a real full-circle moment for me in my career,” Zepeda says. “I used to carry around the magazine 20 years ago, so it was surreal to be standing next to a sign [at the Classic] with my name on it.” This year, during her seminar “Acid Trip: The Art of Aguachiles” (June 17, 3PM), she’ll have a few surprises for attendees. “Think birthday pinata party meets cooking class,” she says.
In 2019, Zepeda founded Viva La Vida to help single mothers in Mexico establish microbusinesses to import heirloom ingredients. “In the coming years, VLV’s efforts will focus in our backyards, helping women in our community get ahead—immigrants, refugees, victims of domestic abuse, teen mothers,” she says. “As a daughter of immigrants, teen mom, domestic abuse survivor, I know what it feels like to be in the system.”
While Zepeda has earned acclaim as a chef—she has competed on both Top Chef Mexico and the U.S. version of the show, and during her tenure as executive chef and partner at San Diego’s El Jardín, the restaurant received a glowing review from The New York Times—Zepeda has been frustrated at gender inequity in the restaurant industry. One of the biggest challenges of her career? “Being labeled ‘difficult’ or ‘militant’ when that is exactly what men receive praise and accolades for,” she says.
She’s thrilled to see the F&W Classic embracing diversity, equity and inclusion. “I absolutely believe diversity and inclusion is huge in festivals,” she says. “How else do we help the next generation of cooks see themselves and aspire to get there one day—as I did?”
HOST OF FOOD & WINE’S PASTRIES WITH PAOLA; JAMES BEARD-NOMINATED EXECUTIVE PASTRY CHEF; CO-FOUNDER OF BAKERS AGAINST RACISM
Executive pastry chef Paola Velez has leveraged her considerable skills in the kitchen to do good.
When Paola Velez got the call that she was named a Food & Wine Best New Chef and was invited to bring 2,000 mini bite-sized pastries to a Grand Tasting at the 2021 Classic, she cried. And it wasn’t tears of joy. “It was like the 17th nomination or win I’d gotten,” she says. “It was such an honor, but I was just so tired!” In 2020, Velez was nominated for a James Beard Rising Star Chef of the Year award and named Pastry Chef of the Year by Esquire.
This summer in Aspen, Velez will present a seminar called “No-Bake Pastries” (June 18, 3PM), sharing recipes that are decadent but not fussy. “My biggest goal is making it accessible to people so they have fun with it,” she says.
At 19, Velez was working as a line cook in New York. “Often I was the only woman in the kitchen, so I was relegated to pastry work,” she says. But when she went to Le Cordon Bleu, she was told she wouldn’t survive as a pastry chef. Though she’s fully trained as an executive chef, she has embraced the sweeter side. “I find a lot of joy and pride in manipulating butter or flour and sugar in the ways that I do,” she says.
In 2017, Velez was interviewing for executive pastry chef jobs. When she arrived for in-person interviews, the interviewer’s demeanor would change. “They’d look at me, and they’d tell me the position was filled before I could even sit down.” Heading into her 10th interview, this time with Iron Gate, she was on the verge of giving up. “I saw that the interview was turning left, and I course-corrected,” Velez says. “Just look at my Instagram!” It was essentially a portfolio of hundreds of her desserts. “He was like, ‘Can you start today?’”
Velez was born in the Bronx, but her roots are in the Dominican Republic. “I identify as Afro Latina. Racially, I’m Black, but ethnicitywise, I’m Dominican/ Latin,” Velez says. “I never imagined there would be a world where you can Google ‘Dominican pastry chef’ and my name pops up.” She thinks the industry still has much work to do. “It’s only been recently where people are excited to see diversity and representation,” she says. “I think you can probably count on your hand all the Black James Beard nominees and winners.”
During the pandemic, Velez was furloughed from the now-shuttered Kith/Kin in Washington, D.C. In the interim, she launched Doña Dona, a socially distant Latin American doughnut pop-up shop benefiting Ayuda DC, a nonprofit supporting the restaurant industry’s undocumented workforce. “I’m the daughter of an immigrant,” she says. “I felt like I had to do something.” Soon after her last pop-up, George Floyd was murdered. “It was so heartbreaking and devastating,” she says. She co-founded Bakers Against Racism, a worldwide bake sale that went viral, raising more than $2.5 million for organizations supporting Black Lives Matter and racial justice. More recently, she rolled out a Bake for Ukraine fundraiser.
Photography by: From Top: PHOTO BY ALYSSA VINCENT; PHOTO BY DANIEL RIVERA; PHOTO BY DANIEL BROWN; PHOTO BY JUSTIN TURNER; PHOTO BY ALYSSA VINCENT; PHOTO BY DANIEL KLOPFENSTEIN; PHOTO BY HOPE LEE; PHOTO BY HECTOR VELEZ
