Inspired by Saveur’s April edition where Roman food was key, I decided to host my own empire styled meal using recipes from Anya Von Bremzen’s article. The results were fantastic, and not nearly as complicated as I thought.
The menu for my feast: Spaghetti alla carbonara, fagioli e tonno (white beans with tuna), finocchio con latte al forno (fennel baked in milk), and broccoli strascinati (broccoli with garlic and hot peppers).
The other day I got a postcard in the mail from the now defunct Gourmet Magazine (RIP) informing me that they would be making up the end of my subscription with the inferior Bon Appétit rag. No, they didn’t call BA inferior, but it is. This sparked my anger at Conde Nast for their ridiculous decision to end Gourmet after almost 70 years of quality food reporting. Here was this great food publication, highly respectable, really well done, and now? Nothing. Just gone because Conde Nast didn’t want to wait for the recession to end. So what if newsstand sales were down 25 percent this year? Give it a chance to bounce back! There are tons of food publications out there, but Gourmet was the crème de la crème.
The 2008 James Beard Foundation awards took place this past weekend. A shout out to some of the journalists in the winners circle:
Newspaper feature writing without recipes: David Leite for The New York Times, “In a ‘64 T-Bird, Chasing a Date With a Clam”
Newspaper feature writing with recipes: Katy McLaughlin for The Wall Street Journal, “A New Taste Sensation”
Magazine feature writing about a restaurant or chef: Howie Kahn for GQ, “The Wandering Chef”
Magazine feature writing with recipe: Betty Fussell for Saveur, “American Prime”
Magazine feature writing without recipe: Manny Howard for New York Magazine, “My Empire of Dirt”
Writing on spirits, wine or beer: David Darlington for Wine & Spirits Magazine, “Postmodern Deliciousness: The World According to Clark Smith”
For a complete list of winners check out the website by clicking here!
