The campus is quiet this week as the students enjoy the winter break. It's that time of year when we begin to reflect on the past 12 months and plan for 2025.

We wrap up the year with a genuinely outstanding conversation with visionary chefs. Savor: Open Kitchens - Transforming Food Service through Community, Culture, and Ethical Leadership welcomed Chefs Norma Listman Sanchez and Saqib Keval owners of Masala y Maiz in Mexico City, and Chef Santana Diaz, executive chef at UC Davis Health. Their thought-provoking insights challenge us to explore food as activism, art, tradition, and a way to disrupt inequitable food pathways. Please watch the event recording as we continue with a season of food traditions.

If you want to hear more from Chefs Sanchez and Keval, check out the Esculent podcast from our partners, Thinking Food at the Intersections Initiative, which helped facilitate the chefs' participation in Savor. The chefs were also recently featured on the hit series Chef’s Table on Netflix.

In November, I was honored to join the Cal Aggie Alumni Association (CAAA) on a trip through French wine country as part of the Aggie Adventures Travel Program. It was a once-in-a-lifetime trip from Paris, through Burgundy, and beyond while experiencing classic French wines over beautiful meals and connecting with others in the group. Read the trip article on our blog.

Another program from CAAA is the Aggies Uncorked Wine Club, which highlights wines crafted by UC Davis alums who are winemakers and/or winery owners. It's a great way to explore new wines, meet fellow alums and supporters, and participate in live and virtual events with the winemakers. It can be a truly unique gift as well!

Finally, there are two upcoming conferences in January. The Global Tea Initiative will host its 10th Annual Colloquium with the theme, Tea and Peace: Bringing Communities Together. The UC Davis Hub for Sensory and Consumer Science will bring two days of programming to campus for its Sensory Hub 2025 Conference Days.

I wish you a wonderful holiday season and hope you can gather around the table with friends and family to celebrate the year.

Cheers,

Ned Spang
Director, Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science
Associate Professor, Department of Food Science and Technology

View the entire December 2024 newsletter.