What a fab time at the Emp State Book Fest!  I loved getting the chance to chat a bit before, during and after with Cathy, David, Gesine and Louisa. How often do you get to hang out with the authors of the books you’ve just read? In my experience, close to zero. And I finally had a good reason to use my NY State cookie cutter.

"Cooking the Books" in Albany (unfortunate panel title)

My Empire State Alfajore, complete with fictional fault line from Oswego to Binghamton

If you’re in the general area of New York State’s capital tomorrow, there’s no reason not to stop by the free, first annual Empire State Book Festival. I’ll be moderating a panel called “Cooking the Books” where Cathy Erway, David Sax, Louisa Shafia and Gesine Bullock-Prado will talk about their books.  See the program and author meet & greet schedule for details.

For some reason, the New York Times‘ Lawrence Downes decided in March 2010 to write about an erstwhile public television cooking show that first aired in 1981. Why on earth anyone would want to write about old cooking shows is beyond me, but I guess it takes all kinds. Anyway, I found his description of “Cookin’ Cheap” intriguing, because it was unknown to me, so I took a gander at the YouTube clips posted with the editorial. I urge you to do the same. If you are reading this blog and this far into this entry, you must have some interest in erstwhile public TV cooking shows, so I feel pretty certain that you’d enjoy Larry and Laban, two Southern, droll, amateur cooks and their cross-dressing counterparts the “Cook Sisters.” Always fun to see the erstwhile kitchens, too.

Larry and Laban of "Cookin' Cheap"

Just when you think, “Seriously, can we take another one?” there’s still more in the culinary reality show pipeline. As reports have it, there are a few more on deck for CBS, NBC and Fox. Launching a new food reality show seems to be as risky as launching a new restaurant, except that with TV, millions will witness your fall. Food writer Kat Kinsman rounded up a few crashed and burneds here. Let’s hope the new Bobby Flay vehicle,  “America’s Next Great Restaurant,” doesn’t DiSpirito him.

The words typed about cooking shows never cease. In this Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, former restaurant critic Frank Bruni offers us a six-page-click story about Katie Lee Joel, self-proclaimed “hillbilly princess” and ex-wife of piano man Billy Joel (why he keeps marrying women who’ve never heard his music is a perennial mystery). Bruni presents her as an emblem of today’s food celebrity – one often unencumbered by professional credentials but who genuinely loves food and cooking and is blessed with good looks and charm. Having a famous ex-husband doesn’t hurt a bit. Bruni’s sass is as fun to watch as the melting American cheese in the video below where Joel makes her famous West Virginia patty melts.

In the other corner, we continue to see and hear regular, non-princes and princesses pop up on these very cyberwaves, showing their cooking stuff. Those who are not waiting to be invited by the Food Network to host a show are taking the reins and doing it themselves. We keep saying this is the future of cooking instruction, this Internet. But are you really able to turn your head from a pretty someone cooking something perfect in a dream kitchen? I dare you. I think you and me, we want both – the messy + real as well as the pretty + perfect. There’s no shame in admitting it, but you don’t even have to admit it at all. Just enjoy it. And don’t assume that Katie Lee Joel can’t show you a thing or two.

Have a look at what Krishnendu Ray has to say about food TV (just the most recent comments in his substantial body of work on the subject) in this Salon interview, “How food television is changing America.” I am especially interested in comments like this: “What’s interesting to me is that these [competition-style shows] have become very established genres and they’ve become very predictable and tedious. ….So much of American food entertainment is derived from ["Iron Chef"]. To find something different we need to look to other countries — like Indian TV, or South Korean TV. Centers of empires do not produce cutting-edge genres and formats, margins do.” At the Roger Smith Food Writers Conference that I’ve been going on about, he spoke more in depth about this concept. You can watch the panel here.

Clever, smart, girl-next-door

If you live in New York City, here’s a place you should go to eat:  Roberta’s.  It’s a skip hop from the Morgan Ave. stop on the L train in Brooklyn and well worth the trip even if you live many miles away like I do. They make great pizza in their wood-burning oven, support local farms, have their own garden and serve the kind of meat we (non-vegetarians) can feel good about eating. Roberta’s lot is also the physical home (actually housed in two shipping containers) of Heritage Radio Network, an internet-based radio station featuring a growing crop of interesting shows related to food, drink, earth, culture, etc.  Remember, I told you about it last year? I was a guest on “A Taste of the Past” today, hosted by Linda Pelaccio. Linda was one of the people involved in the early days of the Food Network (then TVFN) and is well-versed in food media and culinary history. You can listen to our conversation here. Don’t forget to check out the other great shows on HRN, too. And a trip to Roberta’s will not disappoint.

Perhaps you’ve heard this already, but the time is drawing near when you will have the opportunity to really and truly surround yourself in 24-7 cooking programming. Presumably, there’s such a craving for food and cooking on TV that one channel isn’t enough. So Scripps is rebranding its Fine Living Network (already pretty strong in the food dept.) as the Cooking Channel. If you’re one of those people who calls the Food Network the Cooking Channel already just because you’re silly, you might want to consider an alternate naming scheme.

Just like MTV needed MTV2 to get back to its roots, so the Cooking Channel promises to lean more in the instructional direction, the path that many complain the Food Network has increasingly veered off in the last decade.  Some of the Food Network’s familiar faces will appear on the new channel (hint: Bam!). The current plan is for the channel to premiere on Memorial Day, just as we’re all digging out our grills and lawn chairs and looking for some inspiration.

See Flay and Ray, et al in May

In the previous post, I told you about the Roger Smith Food Writers Conference that took place on Feb. 13. Today is the day after, and I’m still buzzing. (In fact, I keep absently-mindedly – or perhaps fittingly – referring to the event as a “concert.”) What a wonderful, energetic, sassy, helpful, generous, smart group of people if ever there was one. It was my version of the Green Room at the Emmys. So many gifted and accomplished food writers, historians and media people were in the house, and I got to meet a bunch of people whose books I’ve read or whose comments I’ve pored over as a listserv lurker. Everyone I spoke to agreed it was the best conference ever. On the panel I chaired, “TV and Beyond,” Joe, Geof, Dana and Krishnendu brought the house down! You can see the full video (as well as 3 other excellent panels) here. A lot of the talk on the panels was about blogging, and just as Anthony Bourdain predicted (see p. 250, WWWE), blogging is where it’s at and where it’s going. I learned of so many interesting blogs yesterday, like Irena Chalmers’ book blog, Food Jobs, Elissa Altman’s Poor Man’s Feast, Gary Allen’s On the Table (where he includes a big list of food blogs) and Laura Weiss’s Food and Things. Needless to say, I was inspired.

Thank you to Andy Smith, Ria Boemi, the fantastic staff at the Roger Smith Hotel, and the rock stars of the “TV and Beyond” panel.

Bonus: French macarons from Lily's served at lunch

This Saturday, Feb. 13, a whole bunch of people whose lives depend on food in more ways than one will be gathering at the Roger Smith Food Writers Conference at the Roger Smith Hotel in NYC.  I’m told the conference registration is sold out, but four of the panels will be webcast (here, too), including the one that I’ll be moderating, “TV and Beyond: The Future of Food and Cooking in Broadcast Media.” Look who’s talking: Joe Langhan (creator of the Food Network), cooking show producers Geof Drummond and Kate Rohmann, and NYU scholars Krishnendu Ray and Dana Polan. Food historian Andy Smith organized the event which will also include food writing workshops on Feb. 12 and 14 where there’s still space available. For more information, see the conference web site.

People who love to talk food and theater are never at a loss for conversation. - James Beard