Food is Life, Food is Health

Wednesday, May 6, 2026, 7:45 AM - Friday, May 8, 2026, 2:00 PM, Culinary Institute of America at Copia, Napa, CA

Food is Life, Food is Health is a summit bringing together chefs, physicians, allied healthcare professionals, nutrition scientists, healthy lifestyle researchers, sustainability experts, and food and foodservice business leaders. United by a shared mission to transform the future of personal and planetary health, attendees will learn and work side-by-side across disciplines, fostering collaboration and innovation to advance deliciousness and culinary insight as catalysts for positive change.

At its core, the summit represents a groundbreaking collaboration between the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) and Stanford Medicine. Bridging culinary arts, nutrition, healthcare, medicine, and sustainability, the gathering seeks to redefine how we understand and act upon the connections between food and health. It is a unique and impactful forum where evidence-based science meets culinary creativity, and where sustainable practices align with strategies for improving patient outcomes and public well-being.

The summit is more than a conference—it is an experiential opportunity to engage with next-generation approaches to healthcare. Through immersive discussions, expert cooking demonstrations, and hands-on exploration of global food cultures and sustainability practices, participants gain insight into culinary strategies and techniques that make healthier food choices not only accessible, but also truly appealing.

Registration for all healthcare providers and participants: please click HERE

AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™ (16.75 hours), AAPA Category 1 CME credits (16.75 hours), ACPE Contact Hours (16.75 hours), ANCC Contact Hours (16.75 hours), CDR Continuing Professional Education Units (16.75 hours), Non-Physician Participation Credit (16.75 hours)

1. Explain the scientific evidence linking dietary choices to both personal and planetary health.
2. Integrate sustainability science (EAT-Lancet, Menus of Change, behavioral economics) into menu design.
3. Translate current nutrition and food sustainability science into practical guidance for patients.
4. Define nutrition’s role in supporting patient health and human performance across diverse populations.
5. Connect culinary strategies to disease prevention, chronic care, and optimized performance.
6. Assess the role of sustainable, plant-forward, minimally processed dietary patterns in preventing chronic disease and promoting performance and longevity.
7. Design healthcare-based culinary therapeutic approaches that integrate food is medicine into clinical and community settings.
8. Describe how global food cultures and flavor traditions can inspire healthier and more sustainable menu design.
9. Leverage culturally diverse foodways to deliver more personalized, relevant, and effective patient care.
10. Collaborate effectively in cross-disciplinary teams to address the intersection of healthcare, food systems, and culinary practice.
11. Identify strategies for accelerating positive systemic change in healthcare and food systems through interdisciplinary models, including referrals to other healthcare professionals.
12. Apply evidence-based culinary strategies to meet diverse patient needs.
13. Recognize how chefs and healthcare professionals - in combination - act as key change agents in transforming food culture for a healthier planet.
14. Demonstrate how emphasizing deliciousness can overcome the taste barrier and serve as a public health strategy to advance healthier, sustainable eating patterns.
15. Create actionable, flavorful, accessible, and sustainable solutions that enhance well-being while aligning with best practices in healthcare and foodservice.
16. Apply practical, flavor-forward strategies to address food and nutrition insecurity and other social determinants of health, across diverse care and foodservice settings, integrating culinary techniques, nutrition guidance, and feasible operational approaches to better meet patient needs.

In support of improving patient care, Stanford Medicine is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team. 

Credit Designation 
American Medical Association (AMA) 
Stanford Medicine designates this Live Activity for a maximum of 16.75 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits^TM.  Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. 

Accreditation Council of Pharmacy Education (ACPE) 
Stanford Medicine designates this knowledge-based activity for a maximum of 16.75 hours. Credit will be provided to NABP CPE Monitor within 60 days after the activity completion. UAN JA0000751-0000-26-009-L99-P

American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) 
Stanford Medicine designates this Live Activity for a maximum of 16.75 ANCC contact hours.  

American Academy of PAs (AAPA) 
Stanford Medicine has been authorized by the American Academy of PAs (AAPA) to award AAPA Category 1 CME credit for activities planned in accordance with AAPA CME Criteria. This live activity is designated for 16.75 AAPA Category 1 CME credits. PAs should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation.

Commission on Dietetic Registration (CDR)
Completion of this RD/DTR profession-specific or IPCE activity awards CPEUs (One IPCE credit = One CPEU).
If the activity is dietetics-related but not targeted to RDs or DTRs, CPEUs may be claimed which are commensurate with participation in contact hours (One 60 minute hour = 1CPEU)
RD’s and DTRs are to select activity type 102 in their Activity Log. Sphere and Competency selection is at the learner’s discretion.

Cancellation Policy

Please see the cancellation policy located here

Stanford University School of Medicine reserves the right to cancel or postpone this program if necessary. We are not responsible for other costs, such as non-refundable airline tickets or hotel penalties.

Accessibility Statement
 Stanford University School of Medicine is committed to ensuring that its programs, services, goods and facilities are accessible to individuals with disabilities as specified under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Amendments Act of 2008.  If you have needs that require visual, auditory, cognitive, or mobility accommodations, including dietary concerns, please contact the CME office.

Cultural and Linguistic Competency
The planners and speakers of this CME activity have been encouraged to address cultural issues relevant to their topic area for the purpose of complying with California Assembly Bill 1195. Moreover, the Stanford University School of Medicine Multicultural Health Portal contains many useful cultural and linguistic competency tools including culture guides, language access information and pertinent state and federal laws.  You are encouraged to visit the Multicultural Health Portal: https://laneguides.stanford.edu/multicultural-health

For activity related questions, please contact
     Name: Kristen Rasmussen, MS, RDN
     Title: Assistant Director - Health & Sustainability Programs
     Email: [email protected]

For CME general questions, please contact 
     Email: [email protected]

Mitigation of Relevant Financial Relationships

Stanford Medicine adheres to the Standards for Integrity and Independence in Accredited Continuing Education.

There are no relevant financial relationships with ACCME-defined ineligible companies for anyone who was in control of the content of this activity, except those listed in the table below. All of the relevant financial relationships listed for these individuals have been mitigated.