KC Flavor Champion: Lisa Feldman

Lisa Feldman

Lisa Feldman, senior director of culinary, menu systems & impact strategy at Sodexo, credits her second consecutive Kitchen Collaborative win, in part, to a fateful conversation she had during the trip to Dubai that had been the prize for the 2025 winners. She’d been on the fence about repeating her participation until she found herself “in the back of an SUV on a very bouncy ride through the desert” talking with Megan McKenna, senior director of marketing and foodservice, National Watermelon Promotion Board, a Kitchen Collaborative sponsor.

“She started talking about how the USDA was about to officially assign a nutrition profile to raw watermelon rind. A normal chef might have thought, ‘Oh, that’s nice,’ but my team is mostly made up of dietitians.” The lack of standard has become a point of contention, she says, as consumers are gaining a greater awareness about the nutrient values of different foods and recipes, and the data is essential in segments like K-12 school foodservice and healthcare.

“Upon hearing her news, the Thai-Inspired Root-to-Rind Watermelon Panzanella dish popped into my head almost fully formed. That cemented my decision to participate in Kitchen Collaborative again,” says Feldman, completely thrilled that it’s this dish, recognized in a blind judging process, which will send her to Mendoza, Argentina, with the other winners of this year’s competition. “How nice is it when one person’s geeky technical information inspires someone else’s geeky desire to take that knowledge and run with it?”

And Feldman ran far. The dish features compressed watermelon and pan-fried watermelon rind layered with crispy lentil panisse “croutons,” makrut lime leaves and fresh herbs. Those elements are tossed in a bold hot honey-lemongrass-watermelon-chili crisp jam. It’s finished with a pineapple-teriyaki-watermelon rind relish, chimichurri flatbread crumbs, fried shallot, garlic and roasted peanuts. “It’s a sweet-heat, crunchy salad that celebrates the whole fruit,” Feldman sums up.

In addition to the watermelon, she tapped several other products in the sponsor kit: lentils from Lentils.org, Traditional Flatbread from Damascus Bakeries, Creamy Fire Chimichurri Sauce from Good Foods and Teriyaki Baste & Glaze with Honey & Pineapple from Kikkoman. She also blended Chili Crisp Hot Honey Sauce and Lemongrass Chili Hoisin Sauce, both from Lee Kum Kee, which turned out “highly complementary,” she reports. “It’s a sensory bomb that didn’t require the purchase of 15 single-use ingredients to make.”

I love to conceive dishes that are deeply personal to me, using culinary techniques that are replicable in high-volume establishments and are rooted in today’s trends. At the end of the day, I want the dish to feel authentically mine with some familiarity for a guest, while allowing sponsors to better position their products on menus in ways that are relevant and delicious.

—Lisa Feldman

Total utilization of the watermelon was goal No. 1. “Eradicating food waste is core to my sensibility as a chef and my values as a human on this planet,” says Feldman. She also wanted to encourage greater use of the fruit among her peers. “I think more chefs would showcase watermelon if they understood how versatile it is,” she continues, adding that it’s also important to know how to process it for high-volume operations. “Once it becomes an ingredient in a chef’s repertoire, working various parts of watermelon into dishes in ways that are surprising to a consumer is just smart business practice.”

Feldman enjoyed exploring different culinary techniques to make the most of the fruit. She discovered she could successfully pan-fry the rind, which turned golden brown with the texture of fried squash. She played with compressing the fruit, driving out the juice and subsequently firming up the texture of the flesh. Another experiment was grating the watermelon skin on a microplane and pickling it using the teriyaki glaze as the base for the brine.

She credits the overall success of the dish to the contrast found in its abundant flavors and textures: fresh, crunchy, soft, crispy, sweet, spicy, salty, savory, cool and hot—all in one bite. “It’s a killer.”

WHY THIS PLATE PREVAILED

Feldman’s concept “goes so far beyond the watermelon-feta salad commonly found on menus,” credits the National Watermelon Promotion Board’s McKenna. “It feels like something fun and refreshing for summer, but also lends itself to other seasons with its texture play and heat.”

She was impressed by the choice to riff on a panzanella, a traditional salad that is seeing a resurgence on menus. Its reliance on leftover bread was perfectly aligned with the goal of minimizing food waste by using the whole watermelon, she notes. Adding the Asian sauces to the build was also particularly inspired: “Their savory-sweet combination lends itself to watermelon’s refreshing pop.”

Of course, it’s the proof of watermelon’s versatility that earned this concept the highest marks. “Each use of the watermelon adds its own flavor, texture and color to the salad,” McKenna adds. “The look alone makes you want to dive in and build that perfect bite.”

FLAVOR FORWARD

Launched in 2020, Kitchen Collaborative is a menu ideation program created by Summit F&B in partnership with Flavor & The Menu. Each year, chefs push the boundaries of flavor innovation while highlighting their passion and talent. A competition element was added in 2025; this year’s winners will venture to Mendoza, Argentina, for an unforgettable culinary expedition.

Feldman is eager for the upcoming trip and the opportunity to explore “thousands of years of culture and experience a cuisine in its birthplace,” she says. But of equal value is sharing the journey with the other winners. “The Dubai trip last year was special because the chefs that participate in competitions like Kitchen Collaborative are really thoughtful about food—and joyful about sharing experiences.” Getting to know the other winners through Flavor’s series of profile articles is another plus. “It’s nice to meet fellow chefs with some context,” she says. “Then, it’s like traveling with a group of old friends.”

The chef is also gracious in crediting the Flavor & The Menu team as key contributors to her Kitchen Collaborative success. “Once I knew what ingredients were in the sponsor kit, I turned to the writers at Flavor as a source of inspiration. It’s basically like having my own highly skilled research team,” she says.

Feldman cites “The Next Texture Frontier” as particularly helpful in finding her way into this year’s winning menu concept. “It made me think of dish design differently—not just texture as crunchy, but also as silky, slippery, chewy and creamy—and how that could make for ‘multisensory, maximalist experiences,’” she explains. “While the core of this concept was borrowed from another chef, in reading this article, I wanted to play with dialing it up to an 11.”

MORE INSPIRED TAKES

Clearly, Feldman doesn’t shy away from complex menu builds that bring together multiple ingredients to produce layers of flavor. Here are two more looks at her “go big or go home” approach.

Penne Frittatina a la Fontina

“I love gooey fried things. Who doesn’t? And more than I love gooey fried things, I love gooey fried things with a killer cheese pull. This dish is as if arancini al telefono and the best mac and cheese got married and had a baby,” says Feldman of her craveable pasta concept, which features products from several Kitchen Collaborative sponsors.

“The fun part of this program is you really don’t know what’s going to show up in the kit. When I first saw the Al Bronzo Penne from Barilla for Professionals, the Fontina from BelGioioso and the Caramelized Onion Gruyère Spread from Good Foods, I thought of mac and cheese. But then I found the Smoky Pepper Paste from SupHerb Farms. It was a product I was unfamiliar with and loved on first taste—and then the whole dish turned left.”

Feldman’s pivot stars golden-fried penne frittatina filled with the cheese-and-onion spread and melted fontina, plus chopped pieces of seasoned Ground Beef Burgers from sponsor Thomas Foods. It’s finished with herby chimichurri breadcrumbs made with Traditional Flatbread from Damascus Bakeries and Creamy Fire Chimichurri Sauce from Good Foods. Her take on frittatina, a Neapolitan street food classic, is served with a smoky pepper tomato sauce (which also featured the chimichurri), along with a fresh tomato-and-fontina Caprese salad with a vinaigrette (made with more of the chimichurri).

Feldman has an unabashed love of Barilla pasta products and was thrilled to receive the penne, “which makes bomb mac and cheese, because all of the sauce runs into the penne.” She also calls out the pasta’s impressive performance. “This was a dish that had to be put together in stages. The pasta had to be cooked and cooled. Then the mix for the frittatina had to be made and chilled again before forming, Then the formed balls go through another chilled cycle before breading,” she explains. In total, it meant two thermal and three cooling cycles—and it came out “completely perfect.”

The chef’s entire family is somewhat obsessed with BelGioioso’s fontina, she reports. “I use it regularly because it has such a balanced flavor where it is somehow both sweet and tangy. And it melts beautifully,” notes Feldman. She had to post sticky note warnings on the cheese in the refrigerator so her wife and kids did not take any nibbles before she’d finished testing her Kitchen Collaborative concepts.

Given the combination of influences and endorsements, the dish was bound to succeed. “It’s classic Italian street food reimagined with indulgent fillings and elevated flavor layering, plus texture contrast. It’s the definition of craveable success,” says Feldman. “That and maybe a little bit of street swagger. And gooey, gooey, cheesy goodness.”

Homerun Snack Attack Cookie Pizza

“You gave me an Otis Spunkmeyer Snickerdoodle Cookie Pizza, and I went all in. I mean, a warm Otis cookie with ice cream? Come on!” To Feldman, “all in” is probably an understatement. Her uber-indulgent dessert concept sees the skillet cookie loaded with a baseball-shaped scoop of buttered popcorn ice cream, cheddar popcorn, tiny pretzel twists, mini M&Ms, hot honey chili crisp peanut brittle and a chocolate shell. It’s finished with a drizzle of hot honey chili crisp salted caramel.

In addition to the cookie pizza, Feldman found further inspiration in the Kitchen Collaborative sponsor kit. “The second I tasted the Chili Crisp Hot Honey Sauce from Lee Kum Kee, I wanted to blend it into both peanut brittle and salted caramel,” she recounts. “I have a friend who makes the most ridiculously delicious, shatteringly airy peanut brittle every year for the holidays, and I thought replicating it with some Chili Crisp Hot Honey would amp it up even more—and I was right.”

The swicy sauce blended with salted caramel also earned a chef’s kiss. “Next level. It’s not overly spicy, but it gives this amazing boost to the caramel and is a great foil for the ice cream,” says Feldman.

The over-the-top build is an homage to her sports-loving family. “This cookie pizza was me imagining what the perfect dessert would be for all of us,” she continues. “It has all of my kids’ favorite snacks. There’s a nod to my mom’s love for Garrett Popcorn, plus my wife’s love of warm cookies and cold ice cream. And it leverages the sweet-heat craze that seems to be everywhere—as it should be, because yum.”

While intensely personal, Feldman’s concept intentionally leans into the current fascination with hyperbolic, shareable desserts. “This is a high-impact, social media-driven dessert built for experience as much as flavor,” she notes. “People might be hesitant to take on something decadent by themselves. But when it’s put in a shareable format? All bets are off. When positioned right, these large-format, decadent desserts cross generations and create opportunities of unmitigated joy.”

More crave-worthy Kitchen Collaborative menu concepts are on tap throughout the rest of 2026.

Kitchen Collaborative Project Management: Summit F&B
Thai-Inspired Root-to-Rind Watermelon Panzanella photo: Photography: otysonphoto.com // Food Styling: Peg Blackley