An A-ha Moment re Michael Pollan, Dan Barber, and America's Food

September 30, 2015 0 Comments
Tuesday night I was lucky enough to be gifted with tickets to see food writer Michael Pollan. Anyone who is into the food movement knows he is the author of The Omnivores Dilemma, a groundbreaking book on the impact of food and the American diet. 

 During his talk Pollan discussed nutritionism. This is where Americans have learned to look at food in terms of nutritional components instead of as just food.  For instance, calories, proteins, probiotics, etc. instead of beef, broccoli, and beans. And that we categorize them into good and evil - gluten, carbs are bad; omega 3s are good. In the late 70s is when we started to piece apart nutritional components trying to find the magic good ones and nasty bad ones that we need to eat or avoid.

 The other landmark book on food has been last year's The Third Plate, written by Dan Barber who will happen to be here next Tuesday, exactly one week after Pollan. 

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The Pear Bridge Dinner Celebrates Farm-to-Fork

September 28, 2015 0 Comments

While all the hoopla was going on with the Tower Bridge Dinner downtown, I had a lovely evening on a picturesque bridge on the Delta. The Pear Bridge Dinner was put on by the California Pear Advisory Board on a small wooden bridge in Walnut Grove. 

 The bridge used was one built in 1951 to connect to Dead Horse Island. The local farmers used to take their old, worn out workhorses to the island to live out their final days free and easy. 

 Before I show pictures, I had some thoughts about this dinner and the month long farm to fork celebration. It occurred to me, as I sat among the local delta farmers and pear growers, that there needed to be more bridge dinners like this. 

The Tower Bridge Dinner has become such a show piece with tables gobbled up by sponsors and VIPs and only a handful available to the public, only to be bought up in mere seconds. Here I was for an intimate dinner with farmers and I thought, what if each county or farm community put on its own bridge dinner? That way the people who really should be celebrating, the farmers, could enjoy this sort of harvest celebration together. It would also make more tickets available to pubic in different areas.  Have one in El Dorado County, Placer County, one on the historic covered bridge in Nevada County, with the almond growers down in Ripon and one with the rice farmers in Woodland. What if, on the same night as the Tower Bridge Dinner, there were a dozen other bridge dinners throughout the region? 
I think such an idea would better embrace the farm-to-fork spirit and give more people the opportunity to participate. There are smaller farms that can't afford to be a part of the Farm to Fork Festival or donate money or product to some of the large events. But if there was a dinner in their own community shared with their neighbor farmers on a smaller scale, it would be easier for them to participate.

 On to the dinner...

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Food 101 - Local education

September 21, 2015 0 Comments
I'm honored to be asked to be a part of Food 101, a fun series of events put on by Lucca Restaurant and their sister business, Lucky Dog Ranch. Over the next few weeks they will be holding a series of "classes" with different topics and speakers. Check out the schedule below.  What's great is that the events all include food! 

As for mine, feel free to comment if there are some topics or ideas you might like me to cover in my session.

First one is this Saturday with Burgerjunkies!
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School is back in session and Lucca Restaurant is hosting a multi-date event entitled “Food 101.” The event is a five-class course featuring five different speakers, each with a distinct realm of expertise in the culinary world who will share their knowledge during a casual lunch at Lucca. Classes begin on Saturday, September 26, and are taught every other week. A broad spectrum of topics will be covered, such as: Burgers, Food Photography, Food Industry Trends, Wine, and Innovative Culinary Techniques. Each speaker will work in collaboration with Chef Ian MacBride to create dishes for the lunch that accompany the discussion and enhance the learning experience. All classes will take place in a casual setting at Lucca Restaurant, 1615 J Street, Sacramento, CA.

Event Line-Up:

Saturday 9/26/15 (11 a.m. – 1 p.m.) Rodney ‘@BurgerJunkies’ Blackwell -- the founder of the Sacramento Burger Battle and creator of the blog, "Burger Junkies." He has built a lifestyle traveling around the world, experiencing & rating hundreds of burgers. His topics may include: the best burger preparation techniques, home recipes, what’s new in the burger scene and even Instagram tips.



Saturday 10/10/15 (11 a.m. – 1 p.m.) Debbie Cunningham – a contributing photographer for Sacramento Magazine & Edible Sacramento who specializes in food & restaurant photography.  She has worked with countless top restaurants and been published in numerous other venues. Her topics may include:  how to take the best food pictures, composition lighting and editing -- all ranging from using a professional camera to a mobile phone.





Saturday 10/24/15 (11 a.m. – 1 p.m.) Catherine ‘@Ms_Munchie’ Enfield – the creator of the Sacramento Food Film Festival; Have an Offal Day; her blog, Munchie Musings; and the owner of SacFoodTrucks.net. Her topics may include: upcoming trends & predictions of the culinary industry and food trucks,  tips for amateur food bloggers, community involvement of local food bloggers.






Saturday 11/7/15 (3 p.m. – 5 p.m.) Mike Dunne –the writer of a weekly wine column for The Sacramento Bee and The Bee’s former food editor, wine columnist and restaurant critic.  His topics may include:  tasting, pairing and writing about wine; as well as touching on observations and predictions of the California wine scene.

Saturday 11/21/15 (11 a.m. – 1 p.m.) Hank Shaw – the creator of the blog, Hunter Angler Gardener Cook; author of the books, Hunt, Gather, Cook: Finding the Forgotten Feast, and Duck, Duck Goose: Recipes and Techniques for Ducks and Geese, both Wild and Domesticated; and an award-winner from both the James Beard Foundation & the International Association of Culinary Professionals. His topics may include: innovative & unique methods of preparing seafood, wild game and sausage.

Event Details:
  • Tickets are $30 for each class
  • Each ticket includes cuisine that enriches the educational experience
  • Classes are limited to 50 seats

Tickets are available for purchase online only. To buy tickets and for more information, visit http://www.food101.brownpapertickets.com
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Why it's great that the International Food Blogger Conference is coming to Sacramento

September 20, 2015 0 Comments

We just got some news that I think is great for Sacramento. One of the best (and my favorite) food bloggers' conferences is coming to Sacramento in July 2016. Next year's theme: Farm to Fork (big surprise). That means about 500 of the nation's top food bloggers (and a few international) will be coming to town.

 The International Food Blogger Conference (IFBC) is one of the top in the country.  I love it and I've gone to IFBC four times myself. There are many reasons.

 First is the content. The sessions are actually helpful and educational. Whether it's about improving search engine optimization (SEO), food photography, or pitching book deals, you will come out having learned something. Second would be the speakers. Over the past few years the speakers have included documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, famed food critic Jonathan Gold, Saveur editor Joel Oseland, and famed food photographer Penny De Los Santos. Finally is the camaraderie with food blogging friends made over the years from across the country.

 What does it mean for Sacramento?  500 or so food bloggers in town? Promotion! Promotion of our food scene, farm to fork, and all the wonderful things our area has to offer in terms of agri-tourism.

 One thing IFBC does is offers food bloggers a huge conference discount as long as they write three posts devoted to IFBC. While some will be writing about the conference, many will be writing about their visit, the restaurants they ate at, the events they attended. Again, great promotion for Sacramento.

 The Friday is always pre-conference activities. This will include tours and so I can picture visits to farms, orchards, breweries, or wineries in the area. Then Friday and Saturday evening events are a showcase of the bounty of the region with samplings of food and drink from purveyors and local restaurants. After that, bloggers will be descending on restaurants around town.

 To promote Farm to Fork across the U.S. and attract visitors to come, you can't ask for a better promotional opportunity than for IFBC's hundreds of food bloggers to spread the word.  





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