The Strathmore Speaker Series’ Spring 2018 season concluded with an afternoon with Adam Sudmann, founder of My Lucky Tummy – a multinational popup food court – and program director of With Love – a teaching restaurant and entrepreneur incubator. Adam was joined by two of his My Lucky Tummy chef colleagues. The event was held on Sunday, May 6th at the Onondaga Park Firebarn.

About Adam Sudmann (by Adam Sudmann)

I grew up in food. Mom studied under Julia Child. I remember nights of after school prep, peeling quail eggs (badly) & stuffing a million mushroom caps (groggily). I captained my first wedding the summer I turned 16.

Later I went to grad school for Critical Theory (too recherché), then got into events in NYC, running big, splashy soirees for Gucci & Bentley & Krug. In the months I wasn’t working for the $50,000 handbag crowd I’d disappear to Cameroon, Cambodia, Morocco, India, Nicaragua, Turkey, etc. indulging a yen for travel.

One day I met a waitress with dark brown eyes. We hatched a plan to move upstate to raise a family. I had this long-simmering dream of building a multinational food court, stalls run by people from all over, making what they knew, what they loved. My therapist warned me off moving up north, far from polyglot NYC. Where would we find talented people arrived from all over, bearing recipes & whisks & well-loved stockpots?

(My therapist – usually right – was wrong this time.)

About My Lucky Tummy and With Love

My Lucky Tummy is a multinational popup food court held twice a year in Syracuse. The event feature global dishes prepared by home cooks and restaurant owners – most of whom arrived in Syracuse as refugees.

With Love is a teaching restaurant and entrepreneur incubator located in Syracuse’s Little Italy District. The restaurant operates in conjunction with Onondaga Community College’s culinary program – OCC students prepare the food and manage front of house operations. Every six months the restaurant features the recipes of a different local entrepreneur, with the goals of exposing Syracusans to new cuisines and helping to launch new food-related businesses. To date, the restaurant has feature the cuisines of Pakistan, Burma, and Savannah.