Richard Blais To Highlight Plastics And Sustainability At Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival

Top Chef All-Stars Winner and Plastics Make it Possible® Team Up to Demonstrate Creative Food Prep and to Promote Recycling

News provided by

American Chemistry Council

Oct 03, 2012, 08:05 ET

WASHINGTON, Oct. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Top Chef All-Stars winner Richard Blais is teaming up with Plastics Make it Possible^® at this year's Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival presented by FOOD & WINE to highlight the integral role plastics play in food preparation, packaging, and sustainability. Blais' live demonstrations on TV shows and at the Plastics Make it Possible^® booth will showcase the versatility of plastic products in professional and home kitchens, underscoring how plastics make cooking and entertaining easier and more creative, while also contributing to sustainability.

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An irreplaceable fixture in food preparation, storage and entertainment at home, plastics are also widely used in restaurant kitchens—from floor mats to sous vide and squeeze bottles to cling wrap.

"In my kitchen I use all sorts of plastic gadgets, from your standard spatulas and spoons to more unexpected tools like pipettes and syringes," Blais said. "Plastics give me the durability and versatility I need in order to be creative in the kitchen, so I rely on them to develop new recipes. And my fridge is filled with resealable plastic containers to keep ingredients, sauces, and leftovers fresh and organized. Plastics are an iconic part of any professional chef's kitchen."

From appliances to food prep surfaces to beverage bottles, plastics are evolving into the new material of choice in the kitchen due to their durability, flexibility, low weight, and shatter-resistance. Innovations in minimalist food packaging made with plastics allow pro and amateur chefs to do more with less, leaving a lighter environmental footprint. And plastics recycling continues to expand, along with kitchen products made with recycled plastics that close the recycling loop.

To encourage recycling at the event and beyond, the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival has chosen Plastics Make it Possible^® as the official Recycling and Sustainability Partner for the 2012 Festival. Plastics Make it Possible^® will help coordinate the onsite collection of recyclable plastics and other materials, supply recycling bins, and train the recycling station staff.

"Richard Blais is admired for his creativity, so he's the perfect chef to highlight the creative uses of plastics at the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival" said Steve Russell, vice president of plastics for the American Chemistry Council, which sponsors the Plastics Make it Possible^® initiative. "We hope that his star power will encourage folks at the Festival and at home to recycle more plastics and to buy products made with recycled plastics."

Celebrating its fifth year October 11–14, the Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival presented by FOOD & WINE has raised $5 million to date to benefit the Food Bank For New York City and Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry^® campaign. The four-day Festival brings together everyone's favorite celebrity chefs, renowned culinary icons, winemakers, and spirits producers to Eat. Drink. End Hunger! Tickets and more information about the Festival can be found at www.nycwff.org.

Richard Blais has played an influential role in hospitality for the last 15 years. In 2000, Blais first moved to Atlanta to oversee a local seafood concept. His wildly creative approach to cooking and cuisine led to the establishment of Trail Blais, a forward-thinking culinary company that has consulted on, designed, and operated some of Atlanta's most popular eateries, including multiple outposts of Flip Burger Boutique and HD-1. He recently launched The Spence, a new restaurant concept in Midtown Atlanta, and his debut cookbook, Try This At Home: Recipes From My Head To Your Plate, will be published by Clarkson Potter in February 2013. He will be starring in the new Bravo project Life After Top Chef slated to air beginning October 3 at 10 p.m. EST.

To learn more about sustainable plastic packaging and cooking tools, click here.

About Plastics Make it Possible^®Plastics Make it Possible^® highlights the many ways plastics inspire innovations that improve our lives, solve big problems, and help us design a safer, more promising future. This initiative is sponsored by the plastics industries of the American Chemistry Council. For more information, visit www.plasticsmakeitpossible.com, check out our Facebook page and follow us @plasticpossible on twitter at www.twitter.com/plasticpossible.

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The American Chemistry Council (ACC) represents the leading companies engaged in the business of chemistry. ACC members apply the science of chemistry to make innovative products and services that make people's lives better, healthier and safer. ACC is committed to improved environmental, health and safety performance through Responsible Care^®, common sense advocacy designed to address major public policy issues, and health and environmental research and product testing. The business of chemistry is a $760 billion enterprise and a key element of the nation's economy. It is the largest exporting sector in the U.S., accounting for 12 percent of U.S. exports. Chemistry companies are among the largest investors in research and development. Safety and security have always been primary concerns of ACC members, and they have intensified their efforts, working closely with government agencies to improve security and to defend against any threat to the nation's critical infrastructure.

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SOURCE American Chemistry Council