2026 President’s Dinner by Chef Shane Chartrand
March 21 @ 6:00 pm - 10:00 pm
Chef Shane Chartrand
President’s Dinner – Celebrity Chef
Not often does one have a Celebrity Chef preparing their meal…
With traditional Indigenous flair, blended with modern techniques (and of course lots of wild mushrooms) Chef Chartrand has created a wildly unique menu for this year’s President’s Dinner.
Who is Chef Shane Chartrand?
This Red Seal chef has appeared on nine TV shows and two documentaries, including Top Chef Canada, Iron Chef Canada, Chopped Canada, Fridge Wars and Wall of Chefs. He grew up in Central Alberta, where he learned hunting, fishing and gardening which formed the basis of his respect for food.
“Food is all he knows, and he wants to learn, see, know, cook and eat……more!”
Menu
Cash Bar: Mushroom Infused Cocktails – Wine – Highballs
Course I: The Garden
Mini soil garden, heirloom carrots, celery, beech mushroom, trumpet mushroom and porcini powder dressing
Course II: The Forest Floor
Grilled truffled portabellas on bone marrow and rosemary jam
Course III: The Mushroom Expression
Three ways: Button mushroom pavé, Grilled lion’s mane soup, Shiitake toast
Main Course: The Hunt
Lamb rack, chanterelle duxelles – morel demiglace, carrot puree, roasted fingerlings, mushroom tartare
Dessert/Accompaniment
Bannock with maple white mushroom butter
President’s Dinner Presentation
You know the name. But do you REALLY know the mushroom?
Overview: Fungi are intriguing and truly amaze us. And, as a result of convergent evolution, many may puzzle or confuse, as well as fascinate us upon learning their evolutionary histories. This lecture will discuss the evolution of life on our planet…and in particular the evolution of fungi. (They do things no other organisms do.) Completely unfamiliar with how evolution has shaped life on earth? This lecture is for you. Think you already know everything there is to know on the topic? It’s likely you will find out a few surprises.
A popular evangelizer on all things fungal, Britt has given more than 250 invited lectures to academic and popular audiences across North America and beyond. He has been featured on the BBC World Service’s Newshour, NPR’s All Things Considered, PBS’s NOVA and Wisconsin Foodie television programs; and interviewed or quoted in Discover magazine, The Atlantic, National Geographic, Vox, Vogue, Forbes, Saveur, Eating Well, Hobby Farm, Women’s World, and other magazines and newspapers.
Britt has collected fungi and lectured throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia. Annually, he leads mycological expeditions throughout the world. One such expedition, was the subject of an award-winning documentary film “Look Down Not Up” (2022), produced by documentary filmmakers Alok Siddhi Tuladhar and Dusty Shiva Panthi of Kathmandu, Nepal.
Britt has authored several books, including The Lives of Fungi (2022; Princeton University Press) which is sold all over the world and translated into Italian, German, Spanish, and Chinese languages. Additional titles include Fungi of the World: A Guide to All Phyla (2026; Princeton University Press), Atlas of Fungi (2026; Princeton University Press), Fungi Decoded (2025; Penguin Random House), The Little Book of Fungi (2024; Princeton University Press), The Beginner’s Guide to Mushrooms (2021; Quarry Books), Amanitas of North America (2020; The Fungi Press), and
Mushrooms and Macrofungi of Ohio and Midwestern States (2012; The Ohio State University Press).
Coming in 2027: Fungi: A Practical Field Guide (Quarry Books).
Britt has served as Executive Director of the Telluride Mushroom Festival since 2014 and was awarded the “Dr. Emanuele Salzman Award” for service to the Telluride Mushroom Festival in 2024. In 2021 he was awarded the Gary Lincoff Award “For Contributions to Amateur Mycology,” by the North American Mycological Association—NAMA’s most prestigious honor for American mycologists.