(Editor’s note: We’re thrilled to welcome New York-based food lover, Seth Knight, as a contributing editor to Foodista.)

If you have ever watched the Food Network, added herbs to a whole chicken, used olive oil, or hell, eaten out in the last 50 years, you must take a moment to give thanks to James Beard, the father and patron saint of American cooking. Beard understood the American palate preferred something familiar but also yearned for new and exciting all at the same time. Recently, I attended a symposium in New York City hosted by The New School celebrating the life of this food industry giant (literally, he was 6’4), and I found myself longing be a part of the club; whose members were taught by and touch by “Jim.”

James Beard was born in 1903 in Portland, Oregon and was raised by his mother who ran a boardinghouse.  Beard was a sickly young child and it was then that he was able to experience the joy of food though his mother and their Chinese cook. He was often fed chicken jelly, a mixture of chicken broth, with the whites of an egg and its shell mixed, chilled and strained into gelatinous globs. James would later reminisce that “The Chinese have the perfect palate.” Beard indeed remembered every meal he ate with extreme detail and clarity, which spurred his ability to create in the kitchen. After failed attempts to become an Opera singer and Broadway actor, James opened a catering business Hors D’Oeuvre Inc in 1937. It was then he also wrote his first book Hors D’Oeuvres and Canapés. His book went against America’s growing addiction to “fast, easy and cheap.” Science had replaced fresh picked berries with JELL-O and homemade bread took a backseat to Bisquick.

Beard’s books were the first to cross from a list of ambiguous instructions to a narrative. Betty Fussell, author of The Story of Corn recalled, “He was the middle man. Jim bridged my eighth grade home economics class and the select gourmets of the world. His books were “straight-talk” and were written the way Americans spoke.  And they were personal, as if to say, If I could do it, so can you…And now we’ll do it together.” She continued, “He was also from the west, a cowboy…so he cooked with that adventurous spirit.”

According to Cinema Studies Professor Dana Polan, James Beard also sought to extend the pleasure of cooking beyond the housewife. As the host of the first stand-alone cooking show “I Love to Eat,” his primetime segment would encourage “man duties” such as stuffing a raw chicken or grilling. He even suggested that men be in charge for garnishing dishes, for they are the best decorators (we’ll get to that later).

James Beard was a born teacher and loved having people around.  Judith Jones, who worked with everyone from Langston Hughes to Julia Child remembered, “Jim loved to get together with aspiring cooks and get close and instruct them. He would run to the telephone and field calls from women in Iowa, and instruct them on how to calibrate their ovens. And if anyone ever questioned the direction he was talking the recipe, he’d say, “We’re Americans, we can do as we please.”

The always outspoken food writer extraordinaire Barbra Kafka, summed-up James Beard the best, saying, “Jim was gay! A lot of people fail to mention that. He was uncompromisingly gay, as was everything he did. His books were uncompromising, his life was honest, and his cooking was real.”

Possibly Related Posts:

• What Celebrity Chefs Are Making for Thanksgiving
• The 2,000 Pound Rib Feast
• Tonight Chef and Mixologist Kathy Casey at Nightschool
• Waiting by the River at Dawn
• A Chance to go to the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen

While at the Sundance Film Festival I had the pleasure of sitting down with Bethenny Frankel, celebrity chef and co-host of Chefdance, the culinary “Alt Dance” of the Festival. But she doesn’t stop there. In addition to being a natural food chef she’s also taken the time to pen her new book Naturally Thin: Unleash Your SkinnyGirl and Free Yourself From a Lifetime of Dieting (on shelves in March 10) and launch both her low-cal cocktail line SkinnyGirl Margarita (coming soon) as well as her low fat, wheat, dairy, and egg-free line of baked goods BethennyBakes. She also happens to star in Bravo’s reality T.V. show The Real Housewives of New York City and was a contestant on Martha Stewart’s The Apprentice.

Phew! Did you catch all that? This woman is not only charismatic and smart, but obviously possesses the energy and metabolism of a hummingbird; she’s so petite I could fit her in my pocket.

Bethenny started to co-host Chefdance (along with Kenny Griswold, Founder and President) five years ago, selecting the chefs, lending a hand in planning the four-course menus and attracting the celebs. The normally 10-night event (this year is was five nights due to her hectic book tour schedule) features 10 celebrity chefs and a cast of celebrity dinners. This year the likes of Mike Tyson, Hugh Dancy, Amy Irving and Brittany Snow were amongst the guest list.

Before the event began that evening we sipped our Chardonnays and talked about her new book. The premise of Naturally Thin is so simple it will make you question why you never ate like this before. As she puts it, “Check yourself before you wreck yourself” or “Taste everything but eat nothing.” To me that makes perfect sense: don’t overload at the hors d’oeuvres table, but enjoy a bit of each offering. She says that food isn’t our enemy and that we should view our daily intake as a bank account. If we only have, say, 1500 calories for that day and we snarf down a cheeseburger at lunch, then we need to deduct those calories from our “account” and eat something healthy for dinner, like a salad. It’s not new science, by any means, but I like the way she encourages us to not beat ourselves up for what I previously referred to as “falling off the wagon.” I also appreciate the fact that I can eat whatever I’d like as long as I keep track of it and keep it in check. No one likes to diet, and weight loss is achieved more easily if we just learn to balance.

Her goal is to democratize health, meaning she believes everyone deserves to live a healthy and balanced life. We all can’t afford private chefs or even organic foods, and some of us simply lack the education, but she wants to inform people on how they can stock their fridge, live a green life and maximize their health in quick and easy ways.

I tell you, it’s great motivation to get dietary advice from a tiny celebrity in a cute little knit dress. I enjoyed my Chefdance meal immensely and followed her rules to the letter. And you know what? It felt darn good.

Stay tuned as I’ll be writing more on Bethenny’s new book on March 1o – there’s a lot more you’ll want to know and learn!

Possibly Related Posts:

• The 2,000 Pound Rib Feast
• Tonight Chef and Mixologist Kathy Casey at Nightschool
• Waiting by the River at Dawn
• A Chance to go to the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen
• Oktoberfest

Food and film go hand in hand. “Date Night” for many usually means dinner and a movie. This last week at the Sundance Film Festival we saw a lot of movies (14!) and managed to squeak in a few good dinners. While wandering around Main Street between films we stumbled upon the Bon Appetit Supper Club. I gasped! How did I miss this culinary event!? I’d never heard about it before in my seven years of attending Sundance.

Wanting to get in the loop I walked over to the building and found that the event was being hosted by Bon Appetit magazine’s executive chef Cat Cora, who was there to feed the celebrities attending the Festival. Didn’t Bon Appetit know that celebs don’t eat? They nibble. It’s us foodies who eat! And take the time to write about it and share it all with you, dear reader.

Maybe next year I’ll have something more to give you.

In the meantime, my new friend Jane Clark from Reuters was lucky enough to sit down with the Iron Chef and dish about some of her favorite things; like how this Greek-bred, Southern raised chef cooks at home. Read her article here.

Possibly Related Posts:

• The 2,000 Pound Rib Feast
• Tonight Chef and Mixologist Kathy Casey at Nightschool
• Waiting by the River at Dawn
• A Chance to go to the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen
• Oktoberfest