Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The format for this show was quite simple — two overstuffed leather armchairs, a couple of microphones along with some microbrews… and they were off to the races covering a wide variety of topics including Eric’s disdain for Gordon Ramsey as well as Bourdain’s blunt, if not coarse, dislike of Guy Fieri, mocking his penchant for wearing his sunglasses backwards. Alice Waters took a few hits along the way as did the Olive Garden. They tackled overfishing and factory farmed options, genetically modified foods, nose to tail philosophy and the school lunch program.

When asked how to overcome access to low cost good food, Bourdain suggested there’s a lack of real street food in this country unlike many countries he’s visited and we need a combination of more chefs, simple food, and food trucks/carts as one way to service this gap rather than settle for $1.99 fast food crap. Additionally, Ripert suggested that more developed countries have grown too dependent on meat proteins every day and that perhaps less meat and more fruits and vegetables were in order.

Last but not least, a young girl asked what they each wanted to be when they grew up. Bourdain admitted he wanted to play base for Parliament Funkadelic and Ripert revealed that in addition to chef, he seriously looked at becoming a Park Ranger as a profession but for the rigorous schooling that was required…

All in all, a wonderful evening. A special sidenote: Clowes Hall looked packed and I was amazed and heartened to see so many people in attendance. Thanks to the Indiana Humanities, Food for Thought series for bringing them to Indy — such a treat. I look forward to Spirit & Place and many more conversations around my favorite topic… FOOD!

One of the concepts that crystallized during the Web 2.0 evolution is that of the “ideagora.”  With the advent of two-way conversations utilizing the internet as mechanism or means (ie. being able to upload as well as download or being able to push content as well as pull or consume content) a couple of companies pushed the concept of “marketplace” to a new level. Profiled in the book, Procter & Gamble and Eli Lilly & Co., two midwestern giants, who quite frankly I wouldn’t have thought to be likely candidates for cutting edge Web 2 stuff.

Nonetheless the demands of the market and the easy access to the internet as a tool gave birth to Innocentive.com and yet2.com. What made these portals unique wasn’t really commerce, but an exchange or matchmaking service of ideas. Both companies realized they could employ every researcher or scientist on the planet and it would still take years to get their projects off the ground — a highly impractical approach to getting products to market quickly.

Rather they decided to look at the pyramid structure of their traditional organizations and “open” up to an alternate, flatter structure. They posted outstanding research projects online (giving up some intellectual property along the way) in hopes of attracting contractors, retirees, etc. for short-term projects in which they had a specific expertise. The portals were instantly successful. A win-win all around and now these portals are open to many businesses matching ideas and expertise in a free, online marketplace.

I know you’re wondering why this post is on a food blog — I’m finally going to get to the point — I wondered if there were ideagora’s in the food industry. While I didn’t stumble onto a plethora of options I did encounter an ideagora focused in the northwest called “FoodHub — where deals are done daily.”

according to the site –

“Whether you buy or sell fruits, vegetables, meat, seafood or specialty items, FoodHub accommodates multiple distribution strategies and various order sizes. It’s easy to use and a great place to meet and do business over food.”

As the local/regional food movement continues to unfold, the concept of ideagora offers a new “tool” to connect and shorten the deal to market. More open than a co-op and “scale neutral” as the site says, FoodHub’s ideagora is yet another option for producers to connect to the market.

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… Rank: wait… Traffic: wait… Price: wait… C: wait…

Books

• Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant
  ISBN#1591396190 (this is actually a re-read) In a nutshell: Just who would jump into an ocean (aka existing market) with Walmart? Don’t bother, create your own. Starts out with the story of Cirque du Soleil, fascinating.
• Plenitude, ISBN#1594202540 This was a dry start for me but the author lays the groundwork for the current economic crisis and maps a way out that I can totally buy into including self sustaining lifestyle changes which free us up to all sorts of possibilities — I really like this book.
• Forgotten Cooking Skills, ISBN#1906868069, by Darina Allen, founder of the Ballymoe Cooking School offers up 700 recipes along with all sorts of tips for getting back to basics. Everything from making butter to prosciutto (something I’ll be doing here shortly involving the leg of a pig, several pounds of salt and lots of patience, about 18 months worth)

Movies

• Food Inc, a best-selling DVD on Amazon, would be a great Christmas gift to everyone you care about. An examination of the industrial food system we all participate in.
• Fresh, the movie while not available for purchase or in wide distribution, check out the website for a screening close to you or sponsor a screening yourself! Picking up where Food, Inc leaves off, Fresh introduces us to some visionaries in the food system that are making a creative difference
• David vs. Monsanto, a short documentary of the Percy Schmeiser story. A film that lays out all that’s at stake for farmers and the people they feed — posted here on modestbounty.com

Television

• Fresh Food Fast, the Cooking Channel, yes, I know, it’s the BAM! man, but happy to see he’s tackling relevant, useful recipes with all the right priorities
• French Food at Home, another Cooking Channel gem, I have to say this one speaks to my heritage and the recipes are great — simple french food, traditional recipes with a little twist — love this series.

I mean no disrespect to the other establishments I enjoyed, because I ate my way through New Orleans and each meal was truly delicious. I started with Emeril’s (a great Pinot, incredible soft shell crabs, and a double cut pork chop served on a bed of cinnamon sweet potatoes — hearty, burly, commanding), then a Brennan establishment Saturday (I don’t remember which one) that began with an incredible crab claw appetizer, moved to a shrimp entree I can’t pronounce (tch-something) and then finished with bananas foster and we wandered after a long hot day into that one. Incredible.

But August was deliberate and I had made reservations before we headed south to dine there on Mother’s Day — this one was just for me. The menu posted online was enough of an enticement, but when we arrived a little early for cocktails the ambiance only added to my anticipation. The bar is richly paneled in wood and is seperated from the main dining area by beautiful antique glass doors. I ordered a French 75 (first ever) and was not disappointed. The diner next to me inquired about my cocktail and soon was ordering the very same.

We moved into the main room which is not particularly large — cozy with exposed brick, high ceilings and windows and chandeliers, elegant but not imposing. Our wait staff couldn’t have been nicer or more informative, guiding us every step of the way. No, I am not accustomed to dining in such establishments often. I settled on a warm crawfish salad from the tasting menu and then a sugar and spice duck entree. Before I could get started an amuse arrived at my table — a kind of garlic infused sabayonne with a garlic crouton, melt in your mouth perfection. Now I’m anxiously anticipating the next course.

The salad with a garlic aoili was simple, delicious and very pretty to look at — not an overwhelming chop but a delicate display and just enough, again, to get me anticipating the next course. The star of the evening, by far was my duck, perfectly roasted and served on a bed of the creamiest polenta I’ve ever had with a little foie, greens and candied quince to complement the main course. It was a great balance of flavors and looked beautiful on the plate.

I wasn’t about to leave August (who knew if I’d ever be back … are you kidding me … hooked … planning a return this summer with my daughters) without experiencing dessert. A kind of salty brittle napoleon with a layer of chocolate mousse and a layer of genoise topped with what I think was some type of hazelnut ice cream. I don’t know, I was so far gone at that point I just remember closing my eyes and shaking my head. I finished my meal with a local coffee and floated out of the restaurant.

A great big thank you to the chef, the staff, the farmer producers and my french heritage for a meal I will never forget. You don’t know what you don’t know until you taste it. And then you know great food.

Notable culinary moments for me:

Orange Stoly Cosmopolitans at Jacks — we had a little time to kill before the show and peaked in the window at Jacks. When we hopped up to the bar, John the bartender welcomed us with a thick Irish brogue and we knew we had picked the right place. My cousin Annie introduced us to her favorite way to drink a cosmopolitan, and, what can I say, it was love at first sip.

B.Smith’s Restaurant — we ordered from the prix fixe menu and found it to be a delicious, affordable dining experience! We had a microgreen salad, pumpkin ravioli in a creamy sage sauce, along with a bread pudding with bourbon sauce! Each course served with a different wine — a pinot, a merlot, and a port. Our actor/waiter was more than affable and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Pret a Manger — we don’t have Prets in Indiana. Turns out, unless you live in New York or England, you don’t have them either! They seemed to be everywhere we were in New York and on our last day we popped into one to purchase food for the trip back to Philadelphia. Am I glad we did — creative sandwiches, coffees, baked goods and soups and all with a great mission. All freshly made on site, as organic as possible and what they don’t sell they donate, daily.

Now that I’ve been, I can’t wait to go back — the tents were up in Bryant Park (and while I didn’t know this at the time) for the last time, so I was glad to taken some pictures for my daughter, a fashion major at DAAP. My first night we wandered around and found ourselves at Grand Central Station, awestruck by enormity, the architecture, the smell of great food… and everywhere we went, everyone was really friendly and helpful. Did I mention I can’t wait to go back?

I’ve chosen my first review to be a book that embodies both food and garden, written by a progressive thought leader in organics, farm to table, and school nutrition. Jamie Oliver’s “Jamie at Home” is a combination of gardening and cooking through the seasons. A companion to his television series, also named “Jamie at Home,” both book and program take us to the beginning, his lush and abundant potager, where he selects the topic for the episode/season and then it’s into the kitchen to prepare meals with the simplest and freshest of ingredients.

Not limited to veggies only, there is a section devoted to eggs (he keeps chickens and takes on factory farming), all forms of meat and poisson, even a section devoted to hunting and game. He’s fairly passionate about barbecue (the season of summer, natch) and spends some time on the topic of fire building including the wood oven he had built in his garden. He shows that off in his chapter on pizza!

Along the way, Jamie reinforces the idea that simple food combinations utilizing quality ingredients will always yield a meal that not only looks inviting, tastes delicious, satisfies the diner and cook alike, knowing it came from the farm in a sustainable, responsible way.

While I have not cooked my way through the book, I’ve made two recipes that were deliciously wicked “proper chicken caesar salad” — don’t let the name fool you. You roast the chicken on top of the croutons and the bread soaks up the chicken fat (decadent) I’ve also made the pappardelle with slow-braised leeks and crispy porcini pangrattato (family voted 8 thumbs up, that’s out of 8 possible thumbs…)

I linger over this book whenever I pick it up. The images are beautiful and well, English country & idyllic and yet, having just had a taste of the garden to table life, I understand the strong pull. Since I’m relatively new to a proper garden, having just built a raised garden this year and planted my first veggies, I’ve actually used the book as a reference, synchronizing planting and trying veg that I wouldn’t have ordinarily. The section called, “useful stuff” is really, really useful — chocked full of resources.

“Jamie at Home,” more than a cookbook. If the series is available in your neck of the woods I highly recommend it as well. My thumbs, both of them, are way up!

www.jamieoliver.com
ISBN 978-1-4013-2242-7