For its 13th edition, Worlds of Flavor conference at the Culinary Institute of America in Napa has chosen Japan, Flavors of Culture as its theme.

Here are some highlights of the program:

"Japanese fine dining restaurants claim top tier ratings, and Japanese flavors and culinary aesthetics influence the menus and ambience of even non-Japanese restaurants. At the same time, Japan is often less familiar to Americans than Italy, France or other European countries. American food professionals sense that we are only at the beginning of our discovery and understanding of the "gold standards" of Japan and Japanese food culture.

Participating chefs from Japan will represent a variety of Japanese regional culinary traditions and types of cooking from casual to high cuisine and from traditional to modern. American chefs and operators will discuss how they are adopting and translating Japanese flavors for a range of new-generation U.S. foodservice concepts. Highlighted themes will include traditional Japanese techniques for farming and fishing, the Japanese heritage of preserved foods from soy sauce to miso and nori, the world of Japanese noodles from soba and udon to ramen, sushi and sashimi traditions, Japanese cooking techniques from tempura to the Japanese live fire kitchen, an insider's view of the legendary kaiseki kitchens of Japan, the philosophy and art of Japanese cooking and food presentation, Japanese kitchen tools."

One of the featured speakers will be Elizabeth Andoh who I had the pleasure to interview for A Kansha Kitchen Conversation with Elizabeth Andoh, Using Vegetables from Head to Toe which highlights some of the cultural differences the Worlds of Flavor program alludes to.

Japan, Flavors of Culture opens today (November 4) and runs until November 6, 2010.

Food as part of culture for Tokyo Thursdays # 164

Previously: Erotic Art of 17th to 19th Century Japanese Bedroom, Poem of the Pillow and the Floating World