The November 22 issue of The New Yorker is the special food issue. Here is a peek at a few of the articles on April Bloomfield's gastropub revolution, the White House cuisine during Franklin Roosevelt's presidency, the underground pickling movement, and more. More
Reading Joseph Wechsberg's wonderful profile of the great French chef Fernand Point, originally published in the New Yorker in 1949 and reprinted in (at least) two New Yorker food writing anthologies, I was astonished to find a reference to "serious eaters," complete with a lengthy definition. More
"Pumpkin Cloud" by Wayne Thiebaud. The November 23 issue of The New Yorker is the special food issue. Here is a peek at some of the articles: Taste Makers: How do the flavors of Snapple, ice cream, and gum get manufactured? A profile on a real-life Willy Wonka named Michelle Hagen who works at Givaudan in Cincinnati, the largest flavor and fragrance manufacturer in the world. Lunch with M: A special look into the rating process of the Michelin guide. For the first time in history, the company allowed a journalist to chat with an anonymous inspector at a three-star Michelin-rated restaurant (Jean-Georges in New York City). Only 26 three-star restaurants exist in France, and only 81 in the... More
The New Yorker: "If you think of Red Bull, with its glorified but dubious ingredient, taurine, as in some ways emblematic of the housing boom, then here, perhaps, was something grounding to take a day trader's eye off the relentlessly correcting ticker. The canned version, which is billed as an 'anti-energy drink' and an 'extreme relaxation beverage,' will do nothing for your congestion; its active ingredients are melatonin, rose hips, and valerian root. (The homespun stuff works best with codeine and promethazine.) 'Eight ounces really puts you to sleep,' a publicist said. Each can contains sixteen ounces: a Rip Van Winkle special. It tastes like a faintly carbonated grape Kool-Aid, with hints of Dimetapp."... More
In this week's New Yorker food issue, the cartoon caption contest involves a man holding a big turkey under his arm. Got a good caption idea? According to a Slate piece earlier this year, you want to get inside the man's head and make sense of his bird-holding beliefs and intentions. Finalists for this week's cartoon will appear online Monday, December 1 and in the December 8 print issue.... More
A couple tidbits from his interview in this week's New Yorker: "On a television show, precise acting isn’t the order of the day," he said to me. "It’s a sitcom. The idea is to hit certain beats, and we do it cleverly. But, you do a television show, you become a pastry chef. I’m a pastry chef now; I’m not the big chef at the big restaurant. I’m not Daniel"—a brief pause, then he jutted out his lips in a way that was familiar from his movies, and almost shouted the next word—"Boulud. You know?""I always think, What if you just took your hand off the wheel, and slowly, over time, it all went away, and your life became about,... More
In this week's New Yorker, Adam Gopnik muses on the role food and cooking play in fiction. Gopnik is a very smart fellow, loves food, and is often a lovely, affecting, clear-eyed writer (I remember a wonderful story he wrote about his late mentor Kirk Varnedoe teaching his kids to play football in Central Park), but for the life of me I can't figure out what he's trying to say in this piece. Maybe I'm not well-read enough. So if anybody else can figure it out, please comment.... More
From Steven Shapin's Vegetable Love, in last week's New Yorker: "The history of vegetarian (and anti-vegetarian) thought neither adds up nor goes anywhere, except in the sense that it goes everywhere that people disposed to reflection have explored when asking what it means to be human and to be good. It’s a history of human morality, but it’s no less a history of human ingenuity in moral argumentation." Great long piece exploring Tristram Stuart's new book The Bloodless Revolution: A Cultural History of Vegetarianism from 1600 to Modern Times, which looks like a solid, thoughtful read for vegetarians and dedicated carnivores alike.... More
"More love and more joy than age or time could ever destroy." Smokey Robinson My friend Johnny Apple died this past Tuesday, and in his honor I went to the Shake Shack and had a triple dip sundae with hot caramel AND hot chocolate sauce. Johnny's great passion for food extended from frozen custard to foie gras. Of course if Johnny had been there with me we would have ordered so much more. Johnny Apple was all about MORE; more deliciously, obscenely rich food, more drink, more knowledge, more stories, and more heart and soul than I'd ever seen in one person before. I first met Johnny five or so years ago when we both served on a committee. I... More
I can't say I know Calvin Trillin well. But as one of my writing heroes I'm happy to say that we do break bread together a couple of times a year. Yes, he's as funny as you think he would be, and he really loves and knows good food. Trillin, as many people know, lost his beloved wife and muse Alice Trillin on September 11, 2001 (yes, that September 11th). Last week, a little less than five years after her death, Trillin wrote one of the longest, most beautiful love letters ever written, to Alice in the New Yorker. It rang so heartbreakingly true and was so emotionally resonant for so many of us I just can't get it out... More
