Posts Tagged ‘chefs’
Endless Feasts Cover.
Endless Feasts — Sixty Years of Writing from Gourmet
- Ruth Harkness munching on exotic pheasants left in a Tibetan Lamasery by monks fleeing the Chinese invaders in 1944 because that’s all the food she had.
- Novelist Pat Conroy in Umbria rediscovering the food and sights through the eyes of his new mate.
- The demise of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in New York as told by Louis DiaGou, the chef who was ran the kitchen in 1910 when the hotel opened and was still there when it closed in 1950.
These are just three of the 41 narratives from the late, great Gourmet magazine. My grandmother wrote a few articles for Gourmet in the 1940s-early 50s.
I wonder…. do travelers possess innately complex palates that drive them to sample the world’s cuisines? Or, does travel expose people to exotic — perhaps fresher — ingredients, unusual preparations and intriguing cultural traditions?
The interplay between food and travel is logical. Go traveling and you’ll be foraging, whether at the street market in Ho Chi Min City, the Ritz in Paris, a Bayou gumbo shack, or at Havana, North Dakota’s community run Farmer’s Inn.
Travelers do develop faith in food; a meal is reward for a long day or night’s journey. Sometimes the story is how grand that meal; other times, how bad, and the aftermath. These stories are nearly all about the great meals and the iconoclasts who cooked them. A few stories include recipes.
Details on the book: Edited and with an introduction by Ruth Reichl. Modern Library, 2002. 401 pages, no index, $24.95
A similar version of this article appeared in the Bloomsbury Review.
edible Communities publications connect local small-scale food producers with customers. The magazines are linked to regions or urban centers and feature interviews with organic farmers, recipes, talks with chefs, vendors and regulators. Gorgeous design, graphics and photographs enhance the edible Communities publications.
http://www.ediblecommunities.com/content/ — Check out Edible Radio!
Nationally, the Edible Community of sustainable food and organic farming advocates represent a significant audience of good food enthusiasts.
I met the co-founder, Tracey Ryder, years ago in one of the food writing workshops I teach for the University of California, Los Angeles. At the time, she featured Edible Ojai in the portfolio of publications. Marvelous to watch the concept grow and the audience for organic farm food expand exponentially.
Thank you, Tracey and colleagues, for your efforts to promote farmers and the pleasures of food. The James Beard Foundation Award, 2011 is well-deserved.
Congratulations!
Les Dames d’Escoffier is a world wide philanthropic society of professional women in the fields of food, fine beverage and hospitality.
Membership is invitation-only to the 27 individual chapters in the United States and Canada. Les Dames d’Escoffier reflects the diverse aspects of contemporary gastronomy and hospitality.
The Washington DC chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier http://www.lesdamesdc.org/
From garden to table.
No White Food 