Feed Your Brain at This Weekend’s Spoon University Conference

Erica Gonzales
·Food & Travel Intern
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Over 300 young food aficionados gathered at the first Brainfood conference last year. (Photo: Becky Hughes)

Budding chefs and foodies, gather round.

This Saturday, Spoon University — the famed inter-collegiate food blog network — will host Brainfood 2015, its second annual food and networking conference for young people to learn more about the industry.

Whereas last year’s event focused on a number of fields, from tech to media, this time around the focus is on young people innovating and changing the food world, according to Spoon cofounder and CEO Mackenzie Barth.

Attendees will learn from the experts on topics like food technology, startups, sourcing, and entrepreneurial women in the business. Presenters include Yahoo Food’s Editor in Chief, Kerry Diamond; Daniel Holzman of The Meatball Shop; editorial director of Brutal Magazine Gheanna Emelia; Reserve’s VP Anneke Jong; Gotham Greens’ CEO Viraj Puri, and many more.

“We have a lot of different perspectives. We have a little start-up thing, we have other entrepreneurs who have been successful,” Barth said. “It’s a whole range of different things that will give people a holistic understanding of what’s actually happening in the food world so people, when they graduate, will see that there isn’t one path you can go down.”

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Young foodies attend a demonstration at the International Culinary Center during Brainfood 2014. (Photo: Becky Hughes) 

Oh, and have we mentioned attendees will be eating all day? Breakfast will be provided by Mamma Chia, lunch will be catered by organic eatery Sweetgreen, Pops by Haley, The Meatball Shop, and Luke’s Lobster. There’ll also be snacks, cooking demos, and a unique eating experience by Michael Cirino of A Razor/A Shiny Knife (the group that turned an NYC subway car into a gourmet restaurant a few years ago, guerrilla-style). The first 50 people registered will get to attend a free Williamsburg SoulCycle class across the street from the venue.

At its inaugural installment last year, Spoon attracted over 300 attendees for the two-weekend conference. Food was catered from Doughnut Plant, Oren’s Coffee and more. There were featured speakers like Melissa Ben-Ishay of Baked by Melissa and Eater’s Editor-in-Chief, Amanda Kludt. And it was all planned in a month.

Brainfood 2015 will take place at Villain in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Regular tickets ($40) and Procrastinator’s tickets ($45) are still on sale. Registration ends at 4:00 p.m. today, July 24.

Take a look at last year’s recap and get ready to be inspired:

Read more from Spoon University:

The Best Restaurants in College Towns Across America

What Does Your SoulCycle Instructor Eat?

Millennial Eating Habits That You and Your Friends Totally Understand