The opening reception at this year’s Certified Angus Beef Annual Conference featured the things you might expect: ribeyes, strip steaks and tomahawk chops. There were also some things that you might not expect, like swords, pitchforks, dangling pineapples and fire. Lots and lots of fire. The dinner was designed to do more than just please the taste buds. The flames, the smoke, the smells and sounds of cooking meat — it was a meal designed to appeal to all the senses, and it showed off the creativity of today’s independent chefs.
The annual Certified Angus Beef event took place at the Grove Park Inn in Asheville, N.C., on September 23-25. It brought together people from across the beef supply chain, from producers to processors to distributors to retailers and foodservice professionals. The three-day event included numerous educational sessions about beef trends, as well as a new products showcase by CAB-certified processors. Guest speakers included NFL Hall-of-Famer Morten Andersen and former Blue Angels pilot John Foley. The star of every meal, though, was beef, and the opening reception showed that a good steak and a creative chef are a perfect combination.