25-Feb-2008
Two incredible women giving special presentations are new to the BB&T Charleston Food + Wine Festival. They've written books, won awards and shine on their television shows. They shouldn't be missed.
Ruth Reichl, editor in chief of Gourmet magazine, will be part of a conversation about Southern cooking during a Picnic Lunch With the Stars on Feb. 29 at Marion Square.
Gale Gand, executive pastry chef and partner of the acclaimed Tru and Cenitare restaurants and host of the television show "Sweet Dreams" on the Food Network, is doing a demonstration in the Culinary Village's tent March 1. Gand also is the author of six cookbooks, owner of a root beer company and winner of a James Beard award in 2001 for outstanding pastry chef.
There doesn't seem to be anything Reichl doesn't want to know about if it is about food and food lovers. She went from being a cook in a commune to restaurant critic to food editor in Los Angeles, and then was propelled across the United States to
be a restaurant critic at The New York Times. Today, she is Gourmet's editor, as well as host of public television's "Gourmet's Diary of a Foodie," author of three sequential groundbreaking memoirs, and editor of Gourmet's massive and seminal cookbook.
Along the way, she has breathed new life into a magazine that had become a bit stodgy, and drawn a whole new audience to PBS, winning a James Beard award in the process. Her memoirs have foodies giggling and gossiping about her life and the food she has cooked, eaten and reviewed.
Reichl was food editor for the Los Angeles Times when I wrote for the L.A. Times Syndicate, so I was fortunate enough to meet her for lunch in the 1980s. The conversation ranged from duck's tongues to dacquoise, pigs feet to profiteroles, and beyond. I never learned so much about what I didn't know in an hour.
She spent many summers on Kiawah Island vacationing with her family, which helped lead to the dedication in January of a whole Gourmet magazine to Southern food, including homage to the legendary Edna Lewis.
This extraordinary issue of Gourmet is going to be the theme of a conversation with Scott Peacock, co-author with Lewis of "The Gift of Southern Cooking." Peacock also is chef of Watershed restaurant in Atlanta, and one of the South's greatest cooks.
Including a picnic lunch of Southern food presented by Jimmy Hagood, this is one of the must-see events.
Tickets are $50 and can be purchased at the festival's Web site, charlestonfoodandwine.com.
This recipe of Reichl's is from her book, "Garlic and Sapphires." It's an easy one for any family meal. I dress it up with a bit of chopped parsley from my herb garden, even if it is not usually done. I figure if she can change pork jowl to bacon, and insist (I suspect she is right, but why did I think otherwise?) that cream has no place in a carbonara sauce, I can take liberties, too.
In Reichl's words, "Contrary to the recipe so often used in restaurants, real carbonara contains no cream. The real thing also uses guanicale, cured pork jowl, but to be honest, I like bacon better. I think of this as bacon and eggs with pasta instead of toast. It's the perfect last-minute dinner, and I've yet to meet a child who doesn't like it."
If you go
Tickets are available for a few events at the BB&T Charleston Food + Wine Festival, Feb. 28-March 2.
The events are the Opening Night Party on Thursday; the Culinary Village, Picnic Lunch with the Stars, Upper King Street Sip and Stroll, the Beermaster's Brew School and Anson and Sienna dine-arounds on Friday; the Culinary Village and Chardonnay wine seminar on Saturday; and the Culinary Village and BBQ & Blues on Sunday.
Visit charlestonfoodandwine.com to purchase tickets.
No children or guests under 21 are allowed.
