The Sun Valley Culinary Institute has a three-tiered mission: provide culinary education to students, cooking classes for the public, and an event space.
ROLAND LANCE LANE/Courtesy of Sun Valley Culinary Institute
The Sun Valley Culinary Institute was founded in 2019.
Courtesy of Sun Valley Culinary Institute
Training culinary professionals to help provide the local restaurant community with a desperately needed workforce is of the utmost importance.
Courtesy of Sun Valley Culinary Institute
The Sun Valley Culinary Institute has a three-tiered mission: provide culinary education to students, cooking classes for the public, and an event space.
ROLAND LANCE LANE/Courtesy of Sun Valley Culinary Institute
Ketchum plays host to many annual festivals that give attendees the chance to rub elbows — figuratively and literally — with celebs within those realms, from the Wellness Festival to the Food Festival to the Trailing of the Sheep. Joining in this tradition with its own inaugural event is the Sun Valley Culinary Institute and its Food & Wine Celebration taking place March 1–4. Like any good culinary event, this one will feature high-profile chefs, cooking classes, and, of course, a chance to eat some delicious food. But unlike say, the Aspen Food & Wine Classic, this event will remain intimate in the way that all Sun Valley festivals are and that keeps people coming back.
Founded in 2019, the Sun Valley Culinary Institute (SVCI) is a relative newcomer to Ketchum. The institute has a three-tiered mission: provide culinary education to students, cooking classes for the public, and an event space. Training culinary professionals to help provide the local restaurant community with a desperately needed workforce is of the utmost importance during this time, and the SVCI Food & Wine Celebration will help to raise funds just for this purpose.
Executive Director Karl Uri has been dreaming of this festival since the Institute’s inception, but 15 years working in foodservice and retail marketing in Seattle gave him enough business savvy to recognize that he should wait until the organization had its bearings before taking on larger events. After doing small fundraising and community events, in addition to community cooking classes, Uri and the organization felt it was time to launch the Food & Wine Celebration.
“This has been an idea of mine for a while,” says Uri. “We’re definitely starting small. We want to know that we’re doing it right — right for our community and our audience.”
The event is starting moderately, with only 66 VIP passes available and a select number of individual tickets available.
One of the main draws to the event will be the award-winning chefs in attendance: James Beard Award winner Jonathon Sawyer, Food and Wine Best New Chef All-Star Ethan Stowell, Chopped champion and Beat Bobby Flay winner Brittany Rescigno, and James Beard Award Winner Jason Wilson. The guest chefs will prepare a gala dinner at Trail Creek Cabin and present two cooking classes in pairs: Cooking Class I will be taught by Chefs Stowell and Wilson and demonstrate cooking gnocchi and geoduck chowder while Cooking Class II will be taught by Chefs Sawyer and Rescigno on yet-to-be-determined foods. All are welcome — even non ticketholders — to mingle with the chefs at an Après Ski party at Apple’s in Warm Springs with DJ Alex.
“I want to make sure attendees have the opportunity to be up close with the chefs,” says Uri. “That’s why we’ve structured the event this way. I’ve been to other food and wine events across the nation, and you see the chefs on a stage and maybe at a dinner, but they’re always away from you. I really want them to be part of the mix in this event.”
In addition to these events, holders of the $1,500 VIP passes will also be able to attend an opening VIP reception with appetizers created by SVCI’s new culinary director, Andy Floyd, and his team; wine from Rodney Strong and others; and beer provided by the Warfield Distillery & Brewery. A closing VIP reception at the Warfield will include charcuterie boards with an assortment of gourmet, house-made bites and special cocktails from Warfield mixologist Jordan Koch.
A limited number of individual event tickets are now on sale on the Culinary Institute’s website.
“We’re delighted and thrilled to launch this event with these incredible and talented chefs who are the cutting edge of today’s culinary arts world,” says Uri. “This event would not be possible without the support of donors and sponsors, who are contributing to this celebration and the new avenues and possibilities that the Institute offers SVCI students and the Wood River Valley community for many decades to come.”
