seen and heard: Anthony Bourdain really "doesn't give a fuck"...until he does.

Nearly two weeks later, my taste buds are still processing the New York Wine & Food Festival's Grand Tasting event, a rambunctious and nearly overwhelming tornado of food tasting and celebrity chef sightings. After methodically making the rounds to each of the up-and-coming restaurant's tables - stuffed to the gills and eager to take a break from the Tasting - I took a seat for the live chef demonstrations, watching cooking demonstrations by Alton Brown, Michael Symon and Morimoto - as well as an interview with Anthony Bourdain.

On such a gluttonous, indulgent occasion (the proceeds of which, ironically, go to support the Food Bank for NYC and Share Our Strength) I was hardly expecting the crowd - or the celebrity chefs - to be talking about health and nutrition.  Yet the topic seemed the leitmotif of the culinary demonstrations.  The crowd asked questions about salt, fats and chefs' personal health regimes.  Michael Symon, a notorious pork (and pork fat) aficionado, voiced his healthful aversion to processed food: "I don't eat anything from a box, bag or can...other than canned beans and tomatoes".  But the most outspoken, unexpected (and almost unintentional) health advocate was the self-professed, post-"bad boy" Anthony Bourdain.

If you like Anthony Bourdain, it's probably because you can count on him to be honest to a fault (and at the most inappropriate times).  He's has gotten quite a lot of flack these days, most notably for his comment regarding Paula Deen. And since his network has been taken over by Scripps Networks Interactive, he's found himself in a bit of a tough spot.    But at the NYCWFF, ironically, his "I don't give a fuck" attitude served to highlight something more meaningful than his media-inflicted "bad boy" persona.  Because when it comes to obesity and the new obsession with watching food TV...well, Tony does "give a fuck".

In the full mastery of the Bourdain style, Tony told us what we already know, but had perhaps not yet considered:

• Diabetes and obesity are not funny; if it "takes 10 minutes for you to get out of your car" he doesn't think that's a laughing matter.
• The obsession with Food TV is a relatively new thing.  And TV Chefs should be compared -not to professional chefs in restaurant kitchens - but to Julia Child.  She encouraged people to get smarter and better, not to feel complacent about themselves (or glorify excessive use of butter, deep frying, etc. in the middle of an obesity epidemic)
• As a former restaurant chef, he feels strongly about certain things, like "how to cook a steak" and whether or not we should be able to "order a hamburger medium rare".  And he's disappointed by the decisions of those [TV Chefs] who say it's "OK to buy a pre-chopped onion".

And Bourdain's straight-talkin' rolled right on through other topics, like fatherhood, food writing and the relationship between food and culture.

• His daughter is never going to see him doing jello shots out of the a stripper's belly button. "Daddy doesn't do that", it's just not going to happen.
• If you're writing about food, there's only so many adjectives you can use before you are creatively exhausted.  And by eating in a lot of restaurants, your perspective on a "good meal" changes dramatically.  No great food writer was ever a snob.  What the NYTimes does, rotating people out after 2-3 years is smart, because once you lose your sense of "awe and wonder" you're past your food-writing prime.
• On food in second and third-world countries: "Food is important, food tells a story...about what they are eating, but also what they are not eating".  It is amazing what people do "with nothing"; taking what little you have, paying attention, and putting in the time to make it delicious, "that is cooking."
• He spends a lot of time in Middle America.  Rather than sneering down on people in our own country who we don't agree with, why not treat them with the same cultural interest that we give other countries?  "Empathy is a good thing...Understanding your enemy is a strategically wise thing to do".

Essentially, it all came down to one central message.  In the middle of a crowd of food worshipers (who had basically just engaged in a hedonistic food ritual), Bourdain was reminding us that food matters.  What we eat and why we eat it matters.  And not only does it matter, but it tells a story about who we are and the culture we live in.

I don't think I have to say the obvious: I have the utmost respect for Anthony Bourdain and the practical, cultural lens through which he views food.  I'm sure he'd reject the word "activism" or the term "raising awareness", because frankly, he "doesn't give a fuck" and he's just trying to ride out the crazy adventure of his fame for as long as he can.

But no matter where it came from, thank you Tony - for giving enough of a fuck, if only by accident...maybe.

eater's digest : New York City Wine & Food Festival

Let's get ready to rumble. On Twitter, the New York City Wine & Food Festival quickly became #nycwff (seemingly to the credit of the Twitter-happy Andrew Zimmern).  Something about this abbreviation immediately made me think of professional wrestling, and – considering the crowds I combated at this Sunday’s Grand Tasting – the comparison is not entirely undue.

If this were a culinary wrestling match, the heavy-hitters were certainly there to show off their signature moves.  I saw Alton Brown saber a champagne bottle and Morimoto massacre a heap of live crabs.  Michael Symon waxed rhapsodic on both pork products and healthy living, while Anthony Bourdain reassured us he really, really doesn’t “give a fuck”.

And somewhere in the midst of these high-stakes culinary games, I entered into the “ring” myself: the Grand Tasting.  This signature NYCWFF event was held at Pier 57 for the first time this year, an ingenious move that offered waterside breezes and easy Highline access to the Tasting’s ambitious attendees.  The Grand Tasting essentially consisted of two rings: (1) an “outer ring” of up-and-coming restaurants and (2) an “inner ring” of major sponsors including Nutella, Buick and Bertolli.  I quickly decided that eating anything from the “inner ring” would increase my risk of over-saturation, so I focused solely on the up-and-comers.

At the risk of not doing justice to wide array of chefs that were present at the event, I have decided to highlight –high school yearbook superlative style – the standouts.  (A full list of Sunday’s restaurants and purveyors can be found HERE).

Best Braised Meat: Marble Lane at Dream Downtown, Guinness-Braised Kobe Short Rib This Guinness braised meat had deep, complex flavor that kept evolving with every chew. (5 Ninth’s Oxtail Ragu – like a gourmet philly cheesesteak – was a close second).

Best Soup:

Salinas, Codorban Gazpacho Crunchy, garlic-y, and spicy – it was as much an elevated Virgin Bloody Mary as a soup.

Best Pasta:

Vai Spuntino Bar, Burrata Ravioli I love burrata anything, but it was the incredible, ever-so-slightly-undercooked texture of the fresh pasta that blew my mind.

Best Presentation: The Hurricane Club, Crab & Avocado Corn Cake Served in a convenient little bamboo boat, this was a surprisingly light and stylish corn cake.

Best Re-Vamp of a Classic: Millesime, Lobster and Pumpkin Bisque with Tarragon Foam Lobster Bisque has always been a personal favorite, and the lobster-pumpkin blend with an herbaceous kick was an intelligent (but not over-thought) revision of a classic.

Most Unusual Dish: Danji, Spicy Whelk with Watercress and Buckwheat Noodle Salad Simultaneously spicy and refreshing, like a Pan-Asian spin on escargot

Most Surprising Dish: Spice Market, Shaved Tuna with Chili Tapioca I’ve never tasted savory – let alone spicy – tapioca, but the translucent reddish pearls married beautifully with the refreshing raw tuna and crunchy bits of near-raw ginger.

Friendliest Service: Armani Ristorante, Quail Egg Ravioli with Sheep’s Milk Ricotta & Shaved Black Truffle This unctuous ravioli underscored the never-ending pleasure of a runny egg yolk, and the chefs’ personalities were as pleasing as the food.

Restaurant I’m Dying to Try: Aureole, Ruby Red Shrimp in Coconut Lemongrass Broth with Asian Pear and Cilantro In a sea of braised meat, ravioli, and raw fish, the carefully layered flavors of this exquisite dish were more than memorable.

Smartest Dish: Commerce, Korean Braised Pork Belly with Vidalia Onion Marmalade served on a Pork Rind I’m “so over” the pork belly craze, but the contrasting textures in this dish were ingenious!

Most Disappointing Dish: Plein Sud, Boudin Blanc with Carmelized Onion and Apple Mustard on a Baguette The boudin was a bunch of floating meat particles that were not “set” properly underneath the casing – the texture was greasy and just wrong all around.

Best Single Bite: Talde, One-Bite Perilla Leaf Salad with Bacon, Tamarind Carmel, Toasted Peanut, Candied Chili and Dried Shrimp This was a flavor-packed “one-bite”, and despite being my final morsel in more-than-filling afternoon, it still stood out as the most attractive, intriguing and flavorful dish of the day.

We’ve all watched enough TopChef to know that these large-scale, salon-style events are not easy, and I was truly blown away by the majority of the food I tasted.  There was a significant amount of braised meat, raw fish and pasta, and no restaurant that I saw chose to take on dessert.  But apart from the obvious irony of stuffing your face to end hunger (all proceeds from the New York City Wine and Food Festival benefit the Food Bank for New York City & Share Our Strength), the Grand Tasting was a surprisingly successful and worthwhile event.

catch of the day: the family meal

In the publicity video for Ferran Adrià's The Family Meal (his soon-to-be release cookbook based on the communal staff meals preceding dinner service at El Bulli) he says, "For me this isn't a book, it's almost a way of understanding life".  As a writer aiming to link the culture and values of food markets with a larger life philosophy, I was immediately intrigued. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSpBzXQorWg

This book also sparked my interest because it is published by Phaidon, a publisher whose food and travel texts I find so gorgeous, so tantalizing as objects (let alone the content inside) that I even once applied for a position in their intense one-year "graduate scheme".

The timing for the book's release really couldn't be better, as the concept of the "family meal" is right in line with numerous trends in contemporary food culture.  Given the influx of communal tables at restaurants (from chains like le Pain Quotidien to smaller, trendier ventures), the increased acknowledgment in the food world of restaurants serving "low-brow" cooking, and the fact that we're all a little (or a lot) more strapped for cash - cheap, efficient and delicious dining is the quintessential embodiment of this moment in food history.

Surprisingly, I've found only a few pre-reviews of the cookbook, which officially goes on sale October 1st.  But the preview photos on Phaidon's website reveal everything I needed to know.  It is clear that the soul of this cookbook is best revealed in the photos of the kitchen staff, slurping down Adrià's delicious makeshift grub before the dinner rush.  Chins nearly on the table, nearly double-fisting their meal, they are the essence of conviviality, comradery, and "pre-game" excitement.

And if that isn't enough to intrigue you, perhaps Grub Street put it best, "If you didn’t score reservations for ElBulli’s final season, you can finally taste the dishes that wouldn’t have been served to you even if you had gotten in".