Posted on June 9th, 2008
The winners of the 2008 James Beard Foundation Awards announced Sunday night, June 8th, include:
Restaurants and Chefs, National
Outstanding Restaurateur: Joe Bastianich and Mario Batali, Babbo Ristorante e Enoteca, New York
Outstanding Chef: Grant Achatz, Alinea, Chicago
Outstanding Restaurant: Gramercy Tavern, New York (Danny Meyer)
Outstanding New Restaurant: Central Michel Richard, Washington (Michel Richard)
Rising Star Chef: Gavin Kaysen, Cafe Boulud, New York
Outstanding Pastry Chef: Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson, Tartine Bakery, San Francisco
Outstanding Wine Service: Eleven Madison Park, New York
Oustanding Wine and Spirits Professional: Terry Theise, Terry Theise Estate Selections, Silver Spring, Md.
Outstanding Service: Terra, St. Helena, Calif.
Chefs - Regional
Best Chef: Great Lakes - Carrie Nahabedian, Naha, Chicago
Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic - Eric Ziebold, CityZen, Washington, DC
Best Chef: Midwest - Adam Siegel, Bartolotta’s Lake Park Bistro, Milwaukee
Best Chef: New York - David Chang, Momofuku Ssam Bar, New York
Best Chef: Northeast - Patrick Connolly, Radius, Boston
Best Chef: Northwest - Holly Smith, Cafe Juanita, Kirkland, Wash.
Best Chef: Southwest - Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson, Frasca Food and Wine, Boulder, Colo.
Best Chef: South - Michelle Bernstein, Michy’s, Miami
Best Chef: Southeast - Robert Stehling, Hominy Grill, Charleston, S.C.
Best Chef: Pacific - Craig Stoll, Delfina, San Francisco
Books
Cookbook of the Year - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, “The River Cottage Meat Book”
Cookbook Hall of Fame - Paula Wolfert, “Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco”
Asian Cooking - Niloufer Ichaporia King, “My Bombay Kitchen: Traditional and Modern Parsi Home Cooking”
Baking and Dessert - Peter Reinhart, “Peter Reinhart’s Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor”
Cooking from a Professional Point of View - The French Culinary Institute with Judith Choate, “The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Cuisine”
Entertaining - Trish Magwood, “Dish Entertains”
Americana - Jean Anderson, “A Love Affair with Southern Cooking”
General - James Peterson, “Cooking”
Healthy Focus - Jean Harvey-Berino with Joyce Hendley and the editors of EatingWell magazine, “The EatingWell Diet”
International - Anne Willan, “The Country Cooking of France”
Reference - Rowan Jacobsen, “A Geography of Oysters: The Connoisseur’s Guide to Oyster Eating in North America”
Single Subject - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, “The River Cottage Meat Book”
Wine and Spirits - David Wondrich, “Imbibe!: From Absinthe Cocktail to Whiskey Smash, a Salute in Stories and Drinks to ‘Professor’ Jerry Thomas, Pioneer of the American Bar”
Writing on Food - Barbara Kingsolver, “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life”
Photography - Photographer: France Ruffenach, “The Country Cooking of France” by Anne Willan
Also ….
Television Food Segment, National or Local: The Victory Garden, PBS
Television Food Special: Top Chef Holiday Special, Bravo
Television Food Show, National or Local: Gourmet’s Diary of a Foodie, American Public Television
Website Focusing on Food, Beverage, Restaurant, or Nutrition: Epicurious.com, Tanya Steel
Multimedia Writing on Food: Josh Ozersky and Daniel Maurer, nymag.com, “Grub Street”
Posted on April 17th, 2008
We just, I mean literally just the other day posted about ten new food shows coming on the Food Network and wham we found yet another one. This time we found it through the casting call pages. The current working title of the show is Food: True Life and would be on FN via Al Roker Productions, so you can guess who the host of the show might be. From the casting call:
Food Network is looking for amazing food related stories for a groundbreaking new series! (Just so you know, really, this was originally in all caps the entire sentence and had three exclamation points after it. It really did.) Do you or someone you know have an amazing food related story to tell? Do you know someone who has gone from being homeless to the owner of their own restaurant, makes pop art out of pineapples, or eats nothing but peanuts? Do you know someone who is battling food fears or phobias? Has food helped to cure an illness, changed the course of your life, or helped to inspire you in some dramatic way? We are looking for all types of stories even those that are odd or humorous to feature on and upcoming series for the Food Network. Casting is underway, so Email a brief description of your story with your contact information and picture of yourself ASAP to michaelraptis@alroker.com
In other news, “Jamie Oliver has beaten his culinary competition to be named the most iconic British chef of all time.” From the Manchester Evening News:
The 32-year-old TV chef and scourge of the Turkey Twizzler is now a bigger name than chefs of the past, who have changed the way Britons cook, as well as his contemporary rivals. Delia Smith, 66, whose reputation as the nation’s cookery queen began to crumble when she advocated tinned mince and frozen mashed potato in her latest TV series, ranks second in the poll. Gordon Ramsay’s foul-mouthed reputation does not stop the 41-year-old restaurateur and Kitchen Nightmares star from scooping third place.
In case you’re wondering the list when like this: 4. Rick Stein, 5. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, 6. James Martin, 7. Nigella Lawson, 8. Keith Floyd, 9. Nigel Slater, and, 10. Elizabeth David. And if you would like to know who made 11 through 20 and in what order … go read the article.
So Jamie gets the position of “Top Chef”, but it’s Gordon Ramsay who the people want for Mayor of London! A recent poll of who besides the two actual candidates running would Londoners like to see had Ramsay come in at an amazing 31 percent (which is as high or higher than what the real candidates running currently have in the real polls.)
Little Britain star David Walliams came in a distant second, with almost 15 percent of the votes, whilst the former Mrs McCartney, Heather Mills, took the title of ‘Least Desirable Celeb Mayor’ with less than one percent of the vote:
Kate Moss: 4.05%, Kelly Osbourne: 7.05%, Prince Harry: 13.87%, David Walliams: 14.68%, David Beckham: 7.05%, Heather Mills: 0.92%, Madonna: 3.35%, Gordon Ramsay: 31.21%, Hugh Grant: 7.40%, Other: 10.40%
Other celebrities nominated by public: Richard Fairbrass, David Tennant, Katie Price, Stephen Fry, Prince William, Gary Barlow, Mick Jagger, Richard Madeley, Paul McCartney, James Nesbitt, and Jeremy Clarkson.
Posted on March 26th, 2008
Ok, so what exactly is going on there in England when it comes to cooking? Basically, as with cooking in other parts of the world, Canada, America, Australia, France … The whole “organic” movement is taking root. Organic and artisan and free-range poultry and local veggies grown in a local farm or your back garden (we see this exemplified by television shows shown in the US such as Chef’s Afield on Public Broadcasting or UK’s own Jamie Oliver’s Jamie at Home on the Food Network, or the show Manic Organic on one of the Discovery Channels, or this summer’s Emeril Green.
Back to England now, and we’ve seen Jamie who keeps saying use free-range chicken and in every one of his recipes they no longer start off with “two eggs” they always start off with “two organic, free range eggs” and even more than he, chef Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall has wept openly over hens pleading for the nation to stop on several occasions. And between those two chefs alone, well, see my previous post: Thanks to Chefs, UK Food Industry ‘Runs A Fowl’ of Ready Supply.
So with all of this laying down the landscape, giving you the “bead” of the land, world wide to some extent, and really dramatically in England … in steps the woman who is pretty much to England what Julia Child was to America. Consider her the returning elder leader, the matriarch of UK cookery, Delia Smith who does what? Turns everything on it’s ear. Here’s an example I mentioned previously.
Ok, so what’s she done now? Basically while the UK about her is all tuned into the organic, free-range movement and chefs are all pontificating how not to eat tortured animals and such, she’s telling folks how to open a tin of meat and some potato flakes and freaking out the food world there. The Restaurant’s Raymond Blanc (the program known in the US as Last Restaurant Standing has — quoting TV Scoop” “already had a go, saying that he has lost all respect for Delia and feels that she has sold out.”
Or look at this headline in The Times: “Delia Smith has sinned against the foodie priesthood” the article goes on to say:
Delia’s sin in her new book and series is to stray from the organic orthodoxy preached by the priesthood of celebrity chefs. She champions cheap and quick recipes using (the horror!) frozen and tinned food, and has offended the Green and the Good further by insisting that battery chicken is necessary to feed hard-up families.
Here comes the interesting thing though, TV Scoop ponders, is this grand mother of English cooking the only rebel?
Watching the show left me with one major question: Is Delia the only real rebel in cookery? Seriously. Think about it. Jamie Oliver may play the drums and have a camera man who is a little unsteady on his feet, and with that, has gone on his crusades to save us all from Belly’s Gonna Get You … and Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall has wept openly over hens, soothing their hock burns with his tears… but who is the only one in the maelstrom saying ‘y’know what? Stick your lofty notions, some people can’t cook to save their lives and if taking a few short-cuts is gonna kick-start a love affair with the hob, then here’s the big F.U!’ It’s Delia that’s who.
There isn’t a show on the box that shows people how to start cooking. Ramsay et al are useful for people like me who aren’t afraid to have a go in the kitchen… but if you’re nervous about the difference between flours or how rare a piece of beef can be, then this new Delia show might just be a godsend.
Posted on March 9th, 2008
Not one, but three stories revolving around Jaime Oliver this week.
In the United Kingdom, celebrity chefs have crazy, mad followings. I mean what in America Oprah can do for a book sale, chefs there can do the same for food. For instance, when Gordon Ramsay made a live meal on television where people where to cook along with him a month or so ago the supermarkets in England ran out, completely ran out of the meal’s ingredients. So when chefs talk there, people follow in overwhelming droves.
With this in mind and therefore in the better watch out what you say department, telvision chefs Jaime Oliver and — even more so — Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall have been pushing for free range chickens so hard, people listened — big time. Slight problem: there’s not enough to meet the demand. In short people have literally stripped many stores bare of whole free-range chicken and this had caused major repurcussions in the food industry there:
From Farmer’s Weekly Interactive UK:
what was worrying was that the free range cuts were imported from France. Such is demand that retailers are being forced to look further a field, which will have serious consequences on the British sector if it becomes a long-term fix, as highlighted by the NFU.
So has the push resulting in consumers trading up to imported free range products inadvertently increase food miles and threaten British companies? After all, there was still plenty of high quality, intensively produced British chicken on the shelves.
The TV chefs don’t understand that the UK industry cannot increase supplies like turning on a tap.
