Foodista Blog » Events

The 2,000 Pound Rib Feast

Yuna — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:40:12 +0000

Don’t play with your food, you say? Jennifer Rubell didn’t hear you. For the opening of Performa 09, Rubell staged a “Creation” themed food installation featuring 2,000 pounds of honey-drenched ribs, 2,000 pounds of peanuts, and 2,000 pounds of ice – all mounded in tall piles. For dessert, Rubell brought in chopped down, fully mature, fruiting apple trees. They lay toppled on their sides with red apples scattered on the ground of the installation space. If the intention of this spectacle was to make a statement about mass consumption, Rubell has done just that. Guests circled her food piles, cringing slightly at the exorbitant display. Rubell is unapologetic about any offense her installation might cause, saying “I wanted people to be forced to examine why they’re so concerned about killing an apple tree.”

What do you think? Art for art’s sake or do Rubell’s antics make you question your relationship with food?

photo from 16 miles of string

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Tonight Chef and Mixologist Kathy Casey at Nightschool

Melissa — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:42:01 +0000

Nightschool’s Drinking Lessons continues with celebrity chef and mixologist, Kathy Casey tonight at 6 p.m. and again at 8 p.m. at the Sorrento Hotel’s Hunt Club bar. Considered a pioneer of the bar-chef movement, Kathy will educate and entertain 24 lucky attendees while serving up what’s hot in cocktail culture. Kathy is the owner of Kathy Casey Food Studios® and Liquid Kitchen™. She is the author of nine cookbooks, including the James Beard Award-nominated Kathy Casey’s Northwest Table.

Nothing could coincide more perfectly for the cocktail revolution happening today than her most recent release, Sips and Apps, a sexy cocktail and appetizer cookbook.

Follow along on Foodista and Nightschool Twitter and on the Nightschool Blog for real time reporting of Kathy’s creations. All the cocktail recipes Kathy shakes up tonight will be available on Foodista.com.

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Waiting by the River at Dawn

Barnaby Dorfman — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:02:22 +0000

Christopher Kimball threw down the proverbial glove and issued a “Wiki vs. Test Kitchen Challenge” on October 15th. I publicly accepted within hours, but after 3 weeks, we still haven’t heard back. I left blog comments, @tweets, and submitted a private message via Cook’s Illustrated. I’ve seen no additional announcements, and though others accepted publicly, none came from a Wiki. Further, it’s clear that his post was in response to The New York Times and TIME Magazine articles about recipe Wikis that featured Foodista and quote both of us.

Dueling Pistols image courtesy of Nfutvol

Though the idea of this challenge seems to have fallen by the wayside, the resulting discussion has been fascinating. I’ve observed a lot of confusion about how the Web works and what a Wiki is vs. a blog, a search engine, or other types of web technologies. This is the first in a series of posts where I will share some of what I’ve learned from 13 years of building large scale websites and a prior career in cooking.

So what exactly is a Wiki? Well, the whole concept is less than 10 years old and there are a number of definitions, but they all share these elements:

Is accessed via a Web browser
Facilitates easy creation and publishing of web pages
Enables large numbers of people to edit the SAME page
Links between pages
Reports on who edited what pages and when

Print has been a medium used to convey knowledge for thousands of years, including recipes. Indeed, some of the earliest surviving cookbooks date back to the Romans, including De re coquinaria, from circa the 4th century. Gutenberg later used technology to create a new medium: mechanical printing. Replacing legions of scribe monks, his press had a major impact on the business of the printed word when it massively reduced the cost of each additional copy produced. Cookbooks quickly grew to be a significant part of the overall printing industry. Over time, more mechanization continued to lower costs to the point where hundreds of pages can be had for pennies.

Still, printing has a number of limitations relative to a Wiki. Here are a few points of comparison:

Print

Cannot be changed once produced
Expensive:
- Additional cost to every copy
- Cost increasing, especially when considering the environmental impact
Slow to produce and distribute
Invisible editorial process
Disconnected, getting more information/context is difficult

Wikis

Pages are continuously improved
Inexpensive and getting cheaper, cost of each copy is close to zero
Fast to produce, publishing is instant
Open and transparent editorial process
Connected, more detail is just a click away

This is not meant to be an attack on print, in fact I have a large and treasured cookbook collection. However, I feel it is also important to point out some of cost/benefit issues missing from the debate.

Upcoming Post: Quality and Accuracy in Wikis

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A Chance to go to the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen

Melissa — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:53:46 +0000

Normally I don’t enter a ton of cooking contests, mostly because I don’t make the time, but PAMA Liqueur sent us an email about about “Cooking with PAMA Contest” with the Grand Prize winner receiving a trip for 2 to the 2010 FOOD & WINE Classic in Aspen. Which, if any of you have heard about the Food & Wine Classic, it’s pretty foodie-tastic.

If you are feeling ambitious and like pomegranate liqueur-here is the nitty gritty:

-Create a recipe of your own using at least 3 tablespoons of Pama pomegranate liqueur. It can be in an appetizer, dessert or drink.

-Get official rules and submit your recipe and photo to Pama Pomegranate Liqueur on their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/pamaliqueur

-Enter by November 16

Above Photo by Joe M500

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Oktoberfest

Melissa — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 20:21:38 +0000

I used to work at a German pub and instead of celebrating Oktoberfest every fall, we celebrated it all year round. Patrons would sit at long wooden tables, drinking steins of beer in a quaint pub that reeked of slow cooked sauerkraut and hot pretzels, and to every regular at the bar, they wouldn’t have it any other way.

Of course things always got a little crazier at the end of September and the beginning of October when the entire pub was decorated in blue and white checkered signs and the owner would don lederhosen and tap a wooden barrel keg of beer to celebrate Oktoberfest.

Now, since I am no longer a bar maid, I get enjoy a bratwurst with a tall pilsner on the other side of the bar for a change. Perhaps I’ll even make my own soft pretzels and perfume my house with slow cooked sauerkraut to celebrate! Suddenly my mouth is already watering thinking about the tang of vinegary cabbage.

Feeling inspired to celebrate?

German Fare You Can Make at Home

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When Foodies and Photographers Come Together

Melissa — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 22:15:42 +0000

Last Friday, a group of 75 passionate food lovers, photographers, chefs and food stylists came together for FoodSnap! an event put together by Keren Brown Media and Foodista.

It didn’t matter if you only had a point and shoot camera or zero experience behind the lens, eight other photographers and food stylists were right there holding reflectors, white cards and offering tips to help you capture the best shot. Chef Wayne Johnson from Andaluca catered lunch for the event and several other vendors provided delicious offerings, including Kathy Casey who provided the attendees with two FoodSnap! signature edible cocktail gelees; pomegranate rosemary and elderberry and cucumber. The gelees were just as beautiful as they were delicious.

Here is Keren Brown holding a tray of Kathy Casey’s Pomegranate Rosemary Gelees

Guest of honor, Lou Manna, educated, entertained and inspired us all to take better pictures in general, not just of our dishes.

Pictured above is Karlyn, Sheri, Lou, Barnaby, Keren and Melissa

Lou started us off with his basic recipe for food photography (excerpted from Food Arts – July/Aug 2007 issue):

Start with a full helping of the camera manual. Lou says your camera’s manual is like a cookbook that will help you find the key ingredients of your camera.
Think grey. Your camera’s light meter is calibrated to measure grey, so using a grey card to meter the reflected light or an incident meter to meter the light falling on the subject will help give you the correct exposure.
Think white. Be aware of the White Balance setting on your camera. Do your photos often have that yellow, green or blue tint? Auto White Balance doesn’t always work; you can set it manually or take a Custom White Balance to brighten the color of your photo.
Think Right. In the Western world we read from left to right, so it makes sense that our eyes also scan a photo the same way. Lou says there are some simple rules of good composition: a spiral composition that leads your eye clockwise; and the Rule of Thirds, where you divide your frame into a tic-tac-toe design and place your subject at one of those intersecting points.
Serve with the proper resolution. Use some type of photo editing software, such as Adobe Photoshop, and as Lou puts it, “cook” your photos to enhance their “visual flavor.” Set the digital oven to 300dpi with an image size of at least 5×7 in a jpeg format. “Don’t forget to meta tag your photos, use keywords, write captions, and use a descriptive file name.”

For more information and workshops check out and join Lou’s social network DigitalFoodPhotography

If you’re looking for an excellent, informative photography book, check out Lou’s Digital Food Photography book available on Amazon.com:

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Next Up for Drinking Lessons Robert Hess

Melissa — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 22:34:10 +0000

Drinking Lessons, a Night School event continues this Sunday, September 20th with Robert Hess behind the bar at the Sorrento Hotel in Seattle. At 6 p.m. and again at 8 p.m. Hess will mix, muddle and stir for 24 lucky attendees sitting around the smooth mahogany bar at the Hunt Club that is inside the swanky Sorrento Hotel.

Seattlite Robert Hess is founder of the Chanticleer Society, author of The Essential Bartender’s Guide: How to Make Truly Great Cocktails and operator of Drink Boy.com.

Want to go? Email nightschool@hotelsorrento.com for reservations.

Can’t go but want to follow via the virtual bar? Go to http://www.foodista.com/nightschool/ on Sunday night!

Cheers!

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Lights Camera Action

Melissa — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 13:00:33 +0000

We are counting down the days to FoodSnap! an all-day food photography and food styling event happening this Friday, September 18th at George Town Studios in Seattle, Washington. The event has sold out, but you can follow along with us on Twitter the day of the event and stay tuned for a FoodSnap! round up blog post with highlighted tips and secrets we will have learned from the pros that you can implement at home with a simple point and shoot camera.

Here’s the list of food photographers and food stylists who will be sharing with us their magic bag of tricks!

Lou Manna
Lara Ferroni
Rina Jordan
Barry Wong
Charity Burggraaf
Kevin Fry
Tyler Rebman
Danielle Leavell
Jonathan Shmidt
Kathryn Barnard

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Friday Fun Links

Melissa — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:28:13 +0000

FoodSnap! is officially sold out! We’re looking forward to a full day of learning about food photography with Lou Manna and other great photographers.

The American diet is the elephant in the room in regards to real health care issues- Michael Pollan responds to Obama’s health care speech in the New York Times.

12 more reasons to eat local 100- Mile Diet

Al Dente blog gives us another reason to take advantage of seasonal blueberries with Norene Gilletz’s Blueberry Crumble Cake

Who knew the bread knife was so versatile? The Kitchn shows us five other ways to use a bread knife, it’s not just for slicing bread!

Good magazine asks readers to rethink how we visit a farmer’s market.

Planning a trip to Portland, Oregon? Get the latest scoop on all the new mobile food carts here.

Ben & Jerry speak out on gay marriage in Vermont and launches Hubby & Hubby ice cream.

If Food Inc. opened your eyes, check out Serious Eats 10 food movies to add to your list.

Careful with that cookie! Studies reveal that biscuits can hurt more than your waistline

Above Photo by Summerrunner2009

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FoodSnap Food Photography Workshop

Sheri Wetherell — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:56:33 +0000

Foodsnap! – a collaboration between Foodista and Keren Brown Media – is a full-day food photography workshop lead by Lou Manna, www.LouTheMan.com, award-winning Olympus Visionary and New York Times photojournalist, commercial photographer, educator and author of Digital Food Photography with over 30 years of experience.

Lou will lead the workshop with the professional assistance of Seattle’s top food photographers, Lara Ferroni – www.platesandpacks.com and Rina Jordan – www.rinajordanphotography.com, as well as other well-known Seattle photographers and stylists.

Tickets are now available on Brown Paper Tickets. Register before it’s sold out!

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