Taste this! Only a handful of amazing visions to be seen at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen 2009, Average Betty and I have taken our best shots and embedded them into a slideshow. We schmoozed with the best of them: Celebrity chefs Michael Chiarello, Giada De Laurentiis, Mario Batali (and his clogs), Top Chefs Hosea Rosenberg, Stephanie Izard, Richard Blais, and Fabio Viviani, David Chang, Ming Tsai, Michael Symon, Jacques Pépin and his daughter Claudine Pépin, Joe Bastianich, José Andrés, Gail Simmons, Tom Colicchio, and several of the Best New Chefs. Here’s a just a tiny taste of the amazing experience. Enjoy!
Every year in June in beautiful Aspen, Colorado, the Food and Wine Classic boasts the brightest stars in the culinary and vintner sky. Here are some of the chefs that will be shining this year: Mario Batali, José Andrés, Jacques Pépin, Ming Tsai, Mario Batali, Richard Blais, Top Chefs Stephanie Izard and Hosea Rosenberg, Tom Colicchio, Giada De Laurentiis, Bobby Flay, Mario Batali, Michael Nischan, Danny Meyer, Michael Chiarello, Michel Richard, Nancy Silverton, Michael Symon, Steven Raichlen, and Mario Batali!
3 days of absolute foodie bliss, and together Average Betty and I will be working with Plum Tv to bring you the delicious inside scoop! And recently we found out that Chef John from Food Wishes will be in town to bring even more fun to the mix! (Apologies for the severe overuse of exclamation points but it cannot be helped!) We will keep you posted as the event begins on June 19th!
For a chef, a James Beard Foundation award is considered the most distinguished and prestigious honor of culinary recognition. Referred to as the “Oscars of the food world” by Time Magazine, the event is presented once a year in the Spring in New York City. Not limited to chefs and restaurants, the awards extend to broadcast media, books, journalism, and restaurant design among others. Entries begin in the Fall prior to the event. Any chef may enter to be considered for an award, and the process is as follows: First, a committee selects up to 20 semi finalists in each category. Second, the semifinalists are narrowed down by over 400 judges, who then choose 5 nominees in each category, who are announced in March. Thirdly are the final awards presented in May. Enough already, who won you say? The 2009 winners in the Chefs and Restaurants categories may be viewed here!
Darling Amanda Tice from Chic Tv attended and produced a great series of short video interviews that we love. In addition to the foundations president Susan Ungaro and restaurateur Drew Nieporent, she interviewed a delicious array of chefs. Here is a taste of her chef lineup: Daniel Boulud, Todd English, Ming Tsai, Eric Ripert, Jacques Pepin, and Thomas Keller.
Pebble Beach Food and Wine is quite possibly THE epicurean event of the year, and we’re not there! And most likely neither are you if you are reading this. Sigh. So, for those lacking the time, resources, or ability to attend these 4 days of delicious celebrating with over 250 wineries and 60 celebrity chefs, we’re providing an opportunity to live vicariously through video!
Among the chefs participating: Our beloved Eric Ripert, Thomas Keller, Tom Colicchio, Rick Tramonto, Masaharu Morimoto, David Myers, Cat Cora, Daniel Humm, David Kinch, and our culinary hero, Jacques Pépin!
A note on the first featured clip: this video was played in the motorcade en route to the Founders’ Dinner, and displays an assortment of attendees and the wines that they brought to the event.
The second video includes snippets of the festival from Chef John Mitzewich from Food Wishes. It’s great to see how a chef views the festival as an attendee, and he is amusing as always!
Food trends can be fickle and short lived, and what was trendy, hip, and smoking hot yesterday can be as washed up and stale as cold leftovers today. So, what’s currently hot in the culinary world?
Every year in October, the National Restaurant Association surveys professional chefs to find out their culinary forecast for the upcoming year. This year, over 1600 chefs responded, rating over 200 foods as a “hot trend”, “yesterday’s news” or a “perennial favorite.” We found a great video summarizing the results and you may read or download the full pdf report here. What made the list? Healthy, nutritious, fresh locally grown foods, superfruits and exotic fruits, artisan cheeses, free range meats, sustainable seafood, organic wine, smaller portions and mini foods such as tapas and dim sum. Overall a refreshing focus in general and very healthy trends, let’s see if they prove to be true in the months to come!
We also found this list from top experts in the hotel and restaurant industries, with current hot food ingredients including:
– Ricotta cheese and comfort foods
– Asian noodles in broth
– Flat iron and flank steak (due to it’s affordable cost)
– Ethnic flavorings for poultry
– Breakfast foods any time of the day ( we love this one!)
– And the trendy spice for 2009 = Tarragon.
Food and travel writer Lisa Rogak authored this article with chef insights on food trends, and her list reinforces the local food, smaller portions, and affordable meat trends, in addition to tea infused foods, and savory cocktails such as Chili Serrano Martinis ( hangover anyone? ).
Other hot alcoholic beverage trends according to Epicurious include Ginger cocktails and Ginger beers. Says editor in chief Tanya Steel, ““One of the areas people are not cutting back on is liquor, people are drinking more.”
What do the Brits think of the issue? Well for one, that foodies rule, as we already are aware! Check out their predictions from the Guardian for the new year here, or watch a great video from The Food People here.
What trendy foods for 2009 does Bon Appetit see in their crystal ball? You can read the wrapup here, or the full report in the January issue, but a top trend is “Luxury for Less”, including affordable substitutions, such as eye of round for prime rib, and truffle oil instead of truffles. Peruvian food is climbing it’s way to the top of the ethnic ladder, and their top dessert ingredient of the year is peanut butter.
We’d love to know your thoughts, or if you have any predictions of your own, let us know in the comments!
(Note: Also see our newer post with additional updated food trends.)
Taste this! Only a handful of amazing visions to be seen at the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen 2009, Average Betty and I have taken our best shots and embedded them into a slideshow. We schmoozed with the best of them: Celebrity chefs Michael Chiarello, Giada De Laurentiis, Mario Batali (and his clogs), Top Chefs Hosea Rosenberg, Stephanie Izard, Richard Blais, and Fabio Viviani, David Chang, Ming Tsai, Michael Symon, Jacques Pépin and his daughter Claudine Pépin, Joe Bastianich, José Andrés, Gail Simmons, Tom Colicchio, and several of the Best New Chefs. Here’s a just a tiny taste of the amazing experience. Enjoy!