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Opening Session- Food DNA: Finding My Roots Through Food with Carla Hall

Saturday, October 11, 2025

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Music City Center, Karl F. Dean Grand Ballroom BC

Track: Culinary Trends, Foodservice Innovation, & School Nutrition

CPE: 1.0

Description

For Carla Hall, two-time Top Chef finalist, discovering her DNA history was an important part of understanding family lineage that had previously been lost to slavery. An unexpected bonus was insight into her own food cravings and palate. The table is traditionally a place where people come together to share their similarities, and in America, our diversity of food traditions also makes the table a place where we can celebrate our differences. Carla will share stories from her journey across the Southern states to learn the American food traditions shaped by the African Diaspora. These food stories allow Carla to illustrate that African American contributions to American cuisine are greater than what they have historically been given credit for.

Carla’s insights will inspire RDNs and NDTRs to approach food and culture with greater cultural humility and professional curiosity, bringing authenticity and equity to the table, one plate at a time.

Learning Objectives

  • Explain how food traditions connect to family history, cultural identity, and community.
  • Identify at least two African American contributions to American cuisine and describe ways RDNs/NDTRs can respectfully engage with diverse food traditions.
  • Develop one action plan to incorporate cultural humility, authenticity, or a new food story into nutrition education, client care, or community engagement.

Keynote Speaker

  • Carla Hall photo

    Carla Hall

    Chef, Author, TV Host

    Carla Hall first won over audiences when she competed on Bravo’s “Top Chef” and “Top Chef: All Stars” and shared her philosophy to always cook with love. She is a trained chef who has worked in several professional restaurant kitchens in and around the Washington, D.C. area and believes food connects us all, a belief she strives to convey through her work, her cooking, and in her daily interactions with others. Carla spent 7 years co-hosting ABC’s Emmy award winning, popular lifestyle series “The Chew”, and is currently featured as the Host of “Chasing Flavors” on Max, and on the Food Network as a judge on competition shows such as “Harry Potter: The Wizards of Baking” and the “Summer, Holiday and Halloween Baking Championships”. Her latest cookbook, Carla Hall’s Soul Food: Everyday and Celebration, was published in 2018, landing on annual "Best Cookbook" lists across the country and receiving an NAACP Image Awards nomination. Carla is also currently being honored by Les Dames d’Escoffier as Grande Dame, a lifetime achievement award and honorary title given to members in recognition of extraordinary contributions within the fields of food, beverage and hospitality. She has published a children’s book, Carla and the Christmas Cornbread (2021), a heartwarming tale loosely based on Hall’s childhood growing up in Nashville, TN and her second children’s book Carla and the Tin Can Cake will be available October 2025.

Moderator

  • Deanne Brandstetter photo

    Deanne Brandstetter

    President, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics

    Deanne Brandstetter, the Academy’s 2025–2026 President, retired in 2025 after serving as vice president of nutrition and wellness at Compass Group North America, a global foodservice company where she had worked since 1996. She is a graduate of Miami University and earned an MBA from Pace University.

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