Writing About Food
The usual torrent of cookbook review copies has recently slowed to a trickle but it’s been replaced by a steady stream of new periodicals, reprints, and new books of food writing. The pile of preferred reading materials on the far side of my bed has just changed topics rather than size. There are two new food periodicals to pore over. First, there’s the mainstream publication, Williams-Sonoma Taste, from San Francisco cookware maven Chuck Williams. Taste is a big, glossy quarterly that features food essays, restaurant stories, recipe features, travel pieces, a focus on artisan food producers around the country, and plenty of beautiful full-color photography. Check out the spring issue of Taste with Vermont’s finest artisan cheeses on the cover and a Deborah Madison story about farm fresh eggs, featuring Austin’s own beloved Boggy Creek Farm. Next up is the more scholarly quarterly Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture published by the University of California Press, Berkeley, and edited by Darra Goldstein. In her opening remarks, Goldstein describes Gastronomica‘s mission to “renew this connection between sensual and intellectual nourishment by bringing together many diverse voices in the broadest possible discourse on the uses, abuses and meanings of food.” Lofty goals indeed, and in keeping with them, the premiere issue offers scholarly essays, poetry, history pieces on the origins of turtle soup and cooking vessels, book reviews, and notes on vintage volumes plus opposing opinion pieces on the benefits and dangers of genetic engineering in the food supply. Both new magazines are available by subscription. Williams-Sonoma Taste ($20 per year) should be on newsstands with other food magazines, while issues of the more expensive Gastronomica ($40 per year) are more likely to be found in libraries.
Bocaditos
If it’s spring in Austin, it must be time for the annual Texas Hill Country Wine & Food Festival (329-0770). This year’s fest is scheduled for the weekend of April 5-8 at the Four Seasons Hotel (98 Red River, 478-4500) with a focus on the foods and wines of Spain. Seminars and gala dinners will be held at the hotel itself, and winemaker luncheons, smokers, cooking classes, and other events are scheduled at various restaurants, wineries, and venues around the area. This event is always a sellout, and tickets for popular components such as the Friday night “Stars Across Texas” dinner sell out first, so if you’re interested in attending and haven’t received a brochure, call the festival office now for information… On Monday, March 26, Granite Cafe (2905 San Gabriel, 472-6483) chef Sam Dickey teams up with Dallas guest chefs Garreth Dickey of Jeroboam, Marc Cassel of the Green Room, and pastry chef Shannon Swindle of Abacus to present the second in his wine dinner series. Dinner is $75 exclusive of tax and tip, and reservations are necessary. Locals may remember the last time the Dickey brothers teamed up in Austin was a mutual stint downtown at the Bitter End Bistro & Brewery (311 Colorado, 478-2337) before Sam departed to work at Cafe Annie in Houston and Garreth left for Star Canyon in Big D… Central Market resident chef Roger Mollett joins forces with Dr. Louis Waldman of the Art School of the Austin Museum of Art to present an evening of fine wines, elegant cuisine, and a brief history of the art and food of Tuscany on Thursday, March 22, from 6:30-9pm at Central Market. To make the necessary reservations for Renaissance & Ribollita, call 458-3068 or 323-6380.
This article appears in March 16 • 2001.