Spend the weekend fueling your creativity and expanding your knowledge alongside a dynamic community of dietitians and health professionals. This one-of-a-kind conference brings nutrition science and the culinary arts together, empowering you to translate your expertise into practical guidance and culinary strategies you can use in client counseling and nutrition education.

By combining evidence-based education, culinary demonstrations, and case-based discussion, this conference is designed to help you broaden your skill set and become a more adaptable, confident professional in today’s rapidly evolving nutrition landscape. Sessions will explore a diverse range of timely topics, offering fresh ideas and valuable takeaways regardless of your practice setting. You’ll leave with new perspectives, meaningful connections, and concepts you can continue to build on well beyond the weekend.

​

What to Expect:

Our expert speakers will cover a wide range of timely, relevant topics, ensuring there’s something for everyone, no matter your specialty or area of interest.​

This virtual event will be hosted live on Zoom from 12:00-5:30pm ET on both days, with recordings available for 6 months. You are able to earn 8 CEUs whether you watch live or watch the recordings! Recipes for cooking demos will be shared ahead of time for those who want to cook along in real-time! 

​

Conference Agenda:​
 

Saturday, May 30th | 12:00 pm ET - 5:30 pm ET

• More Protein, More Plants: Rethinking the Modern Plant-Based Plate
  with Nisha Melvani, MS, RDN
  In this session, Nisha Melvani takes a closer look at how plant-based protein quality has been historically evaluated and why it is often misunderstood or undervalued. We’ll examine the research behind protein quality, explore the broader nutritional benefits that plant proteins offer, and discuss how these insights can reshape the way we think about plant-forward eating patterns. You’ll also gain fresh ideas for helping clients distribute protein intake more effectively throughout the day while maintaining a strong emphasis on whole plant foods.

​

• From Prompt to Plate: Harnessing AI for Culinary Innovation
  with Chrissy Carroll, MPH, RD
  Artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping every industry, including the culinary nutrition field. Discover how AI tools generate responses, examine AI adoption trends and use cases, and develop strategies to enhance culinary creativity and efficiency, from recipe development to meal planning. This session will also examine ethical considerations - including accuracy, bias, transparency, and intellectual property - to support responsible use. 

​​

• Growing & Preserving the Harvest: Reducing Waste and Enhancing Nutrition from Garden to Kitchen 
  with Sherry Coleman Collins, MS, RDN, LD, FAND
  In this session, Sherry Coleman Collins, MS, RDN, LD, FAND explores how growing food and preservation skills—from container gardening to home canning—can support nutrition, sustainability, and behavior change across a variety of settings.
  Using a suburban homestead as a case study, Sherry will share how to start a successful garden and demonstrate how this can be adapted for clients in small spaces, including urban environments with limited access to fresh foods. Participants will gain an evidence-informed understanding of how growing and preserving food can improve dietary quality, support mental wellbeing, and build food literacy.
  The session includes practical applications for counseling, along with a live demonstration of safe water-bath canning. Attendees will leave with realistic, actionable ways to incorporate food skills into patient education, whether their clients have a backyard, a balcony, or just a kitchen.
   

Sunday, May 31st | 12:00 pm ET - 5:30 pm ET

• Food Positivity: How Modeling, Messaging, and Moments Shape a Child’s Relationship with Food
  with Dani Leibovitz, MS, RDN
  Every child grows up learning about food, but much of that learning happens through an invisible curriculum we never knew existed. 
  While nutrition education often focuses on nutrients and food groups from a health-focused adult perspective, children interpret food experiences through a developmental lens shaped by how they think, feel, and grow. Everyday interactions - how adults talk about food, respond to requests at the grocery store, or navigate moments at the table - quietly shape what children come to believe about food, bodies, and themselves.
  In this session, Dani Lebovitz introduces the Invisible Curriculum™, a framework describing how children learn through everyday experiences shaped by Modeling, Messaging, and Moments. Participants will explore how common communication patterns or the way we position food, can unintentionally lead to guilt, fear, and shame. Drawing from developmental psychology, neuroscience, and responsive feeding research, Dani shares real-world scenarios, practical language shifts, and a live food exploration demonstration to help participants translate these insights into developmentally appropriate strategies that support whole-child well-being. You’ll leave ready to spark curiosity, build confidence, develop capability, and create connections that lay the foundation for a positive relationship with food and bodies for life.

​

• The Role of Culinary Nutrition in Trauma Informed Nutrition Therapy + Healing
  with Stefanie Sacks, MS, CNS, CDN
  ​In this presentation, Stefanie Sacks, MS, CNS, CDN, will explore nourishment as more than nutrients—framing it through the lens of attachment, and examining how trauma, particularly Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), disrupts a person’s relationship with food. She will highlight how these early imprints shape eating behaviors in ways that traditional nutrition counseling alone often cannot address.
  Stefanie will then introduce culinary nutrition as a practical, sensory-based bridge between clinical recommendations and lived experience. Through a trauma-informed lens, she will explore how food and culinary skill-building can restore safety, trust, and connection to nourishment, moving beyond compliance-driven care toward meaningful, sustained healing.
  Participants will leave with a deeper understanding of trauma’s impact on eating behaviors, along with actionable strategies to integrate culinary nutrition into trauma-informed nutrition therapy.
   

• Heart Health Update: Case Studies and Lab Insights
  with Michelle Routhenstein, MS, RD, CDCES, CDN
  Join Michelle for an engaging heart health update, where she will guide you through the latest trends in cardiovascular wellness. Michelle will share case studies and lab insights, separate fact from fiction, debunk common heart health myths, and provide actionable tips you can apply to your nutrition counseling. She will also lead a live cooking demonstration featuring heart-healthy meals that are both delicious and easy to make. By the end of the session, you will feel more confident interpreting advanced lipid and cardiometabolic labs, translating them into clear, individualized nutrition strategies, and guiding patients toward meaningful, sustainable improvements in cardiovascular health.

​

**The 9th Annual Culinary Nutrition Conference awards 8 CPEUs in accordance with the Commission on Dietetic Registration’s CPEU Prior Approval Program.**

​

Student and group tickets available. For discounted group tickets (for 10 or more registrants), please contact us directly at info@culinarynutritioncollaborative.com