Nutrition Adventure aims to clear beef industry misconceptions, connect dietitians with producers and provide applicable science and skills to dietitians nationwide. This three-day Beef Checkoff-funded program, held May 23-25, is co-hosted by the Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Missouri state beef councils.
Dietitians spanning from California to New York to Florida to Nebraska came to Kansas City for programming centered on beef, food inclusivity and food styling. Attendees were diverse in their specialties, ranging from university dining services to social media influencers.
Kansas Beef Council’s Abby Heidari, Nebraska Beef Council’s Mitch Rippe and Oklahoma Beef Council’s Sheri Glazier gave a presentation on “What is Cool about Beef?” on the first day. This presentation was a crash course on the cattle industry and beef. Topics covered included beef nutrition, the meaning of various labels on beef products and the different beef cuts available. The day concluded with a “Chopped”-style culinary competition, where participants made meals featuring skirt and flank steaks.
Day two focused on connecting attendees with the beef industry directly. Participants started the day with a presentation about beef sustainability by Dr. Tryon Wickersham, a ruminant nutritionist and professor at Texas A&M University. Then, local beef producers from Leavenworth County joined the group for lunch before heading to Tailgate Ranch.
At Tailgate Ranch, Kirk Sours led a farm tour sharing the history of the land, current management practices and how drought has affected his operation. Afterward, a panel consisting of Shawn Tiffany, COO of Tiffany Cattle Co.; Dr. Angie Siemens, Vice President of Food Safety, Quality and Regulatory at Cargill; Dr. Dan Thomson, Veterinary Professor at Iowa State University; and Kirk Sours, cow-calf producer and owner of Tailgate Ranch sat down to have an open conversation with participants.
This panel was open to all questions from attendees. Topics included an explanation of how beef is processed, the panel’s thoughts on alternative meat products and family involvement in the operation.
On the post-event survey, one participant noted they were comfortable recommending beef because they got to see first-hand how passionate producers and those in the beef industry were about raising cattle.
“I know colleagues when I get back are going to ask ‘is [large scale cattle production] really sustainable’, and the answer is yes,” Breana Killeen, a participant from Vermont, said. “It was unbiased, with a lot of different perspectives, and they told us the truth.”
Participants at the end reported feeling more comfortable with and knowledgeable about cattle management practices and beef nutrition.
To cap off Nutrition Adventure, attendees headed to Kauffmann Stadium for a food styling workshop with Jenn Davis. After the event, state beef council staff stayed to get a more in-depth lesson on styling burgers and steaks in hopes of improving consumer-focused efforts.
“What I really enjoyed about his event was that there were so many hands-on opportunities,” Elise Compston, a participant from Alabama, said. “It was so informative and really went above and beyond other conferences that we as dietitians go to.”
