The Food Seen

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, H. Alexander Talbot, half of the cherished blog Ideas in Food, a culinary consulting business (with Aki Kamozawa), that shares catered skillsets for creativity with chefs. It started as a digital notebook to record their work restaurant kitchens. What it’s become is a starting point for many culinary round tables; how to concept an idea and give it the structure and clarity it needs. As seen in their book, IDEAS IN FOOD, they cultivate thought through classic techniques and innovative approaches … cook inquisitively and eat inspired. This episode is sponsored by White Oak Pastures. “I think language often guides, or misguides us, in the development of ideas. So someone that does a ‘deconstructed’ clam chowder, I suppose it’s more ‘analyzed’ clam chowder. . . Its still clam chowder, it’s just your version of it.” –Alexander Talbot on The Food Seen

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, we preview the forthcoming Roger Smith Cookbook Conference, being held THURS FEB 9 – SAT FEB 11, 2012, in NYC. We’re joined by Bruce Shaw and Adam Salomone of The Harvard Common Press to discuss the current state of cookbooks, from creating your own, to concepts for new platforms (e-books, apps) . . This episode is sponsored by Fairway Market. “Recipe content is everything that is around us whether it is online or in print or in another form” –Adam Salamone on The Food Seen .

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, Kelly Carambula is a graphic designer by day, a maker/baker/blogger by night. She publishes the independent food magazine Remedy Quarterly, in which familiar stories and their kindred recipes co-mingle with artful typography and playful page layouts. Also find Kelly’s musings at eatmakeread.com and mixing cocktails for her seriouseats.com “Drinking in Season” series. This episode is sponsored by Fairway Market. “I love the idea of passing on recipes from generation to generation or just from friends and knowing how special that is.” –Kelly Carambula on The Food Seen

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, Chef Amanda Cohen of Dirt Candy, treats vegetables like meat. From faux-gras to finding the fat in flora, she’s redefining vegetarian cuisine from the root up. Amanda believes, “any can cook a hamburger, but leave the vegetables to the professionals”. The salad days are over! This episode was sponsored by Hearst Ranch. “When I was 15, I became a vegetarian to rebel against my family.” “I wanted to find some taste sensation [with foie gras] that vegans and vegetarians could experience. “If you don’t do something great with a carrot, then there’s no point!” –Amanda Cohen on The Food Seen

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, the collector/curator behind Elephant Props, Michele Michael, and maven of Elephants Ceramics, brings her ware wisdom on how to best set a tabletop, throw a plate, and take a cue from the coastal colors of Maine. This episode is sponsored by Cain Vineyard & Winery. “For me, finding props is always an ongoing process and that is what keeps it exciting for me . . .and then it’s so fun to see [these things] being used in a national publication.” –Michele Michael on the Food Seen

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, Nissa Pierson, the herb aficionado behind Ger-Nis Culinary & Herb Center, a multi-faceted space which serves as an importer and educational hub for fresh herbs and ideas, advocating for organic and fair trade communities from all around the world, and committed to supporting local chefs, farmers & artisans in our own backyards. This episode was sponsored by White Oak Pastures. “I believe that people, with the more true information they have, can make better choices.” –Nissa Pierson on The Food Seen

On the first episode of THE FOOD SEEN in 2012, Caren Alpert, a San Francisco based photographer, takes a closer look at food … a much closer look. She uses a scanning electron microscope for her “terra cibus” project, magnifying the surfaces of food between ten and a thousand times, abstracting their textures, making them seems as if they were bird’s eye views of otherwordly landscapes. Table salt looks like ice floes, cauliflower resembles a canyon/chasm, fortune cookies turn into tributaries, and my favorite, cake sprinkles. This episode is sponsored by S. Wallace Edwards & Sons “I thought why not take a closer look at what we eat every day…Sugar looks otherworldly under the microscope.” –Caren Alpert on The Food Seen

On THE FOOD SEEN, Charlie Grosso, half of Baang and Burne gallery, and photographer, spans the globe, having explored food markets in over 20 countries and 70 cities around the world. Her “Wok the Dog” photo expose, brings the tastes, smells, and sights, from her childhood in Taipei, to our local streets. This episode is sponsored by The Barterhouse.

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, John Winterman, Maitre D’ of the 3 Michelin Star restaurant Daniel in New York City, stops by to explain exactly what a Maitre D’ does. Literally meaning “master of the”, John oversees the waitstaff, manages the dining room, handles reservations, and in all, is there to ensure customer satisfaction. He’s also a certified sommelier, an expert in artisanal cheese, and quite a dashing fellow. “I like the idea of working for the eccentric chef-owner”, John Winterman, Maitre D’ of Daniel

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, multimedia artist Jeff Scott and Chef Blake Beshore come together to form Tatroux, the publishers behind “Notes from a Kitchen: A Journey Inside Culinary Obsession”, a re-envisioned take on the modern cookbook. Compiled of hand written ephemera and cinematic clips, the Scott and Beshore follow around renowned chefs like Sean Brock (McCrady’s, Husk), Johnny Iuzzini, Michael Laiskonis, George Mendes, Zak Pelaccio and many more, eliciting a visceral response that reveals their culinary passions and obsessions. This episode was sponsored by Whole Foods Market.

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, we’re graced with Paul Lowe, the styling genius behind Sweet Paul magazine, who brings his Nordic nuances to the table. In his latest issue, Winter 2011, he lives true by his subtitle, “chasing the sweet things in life”. Making old traditions anew, Paul teaches us how to make our own wrapping paper, and few interesting iterations of the standard wreath. Oh, and there’s cooking too, from hearty greens to larger than life cookies. Listen in to learn the luscious tricks of the trade. This episode was sponsored by Cain Vineyard & Winery.

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, Aliya LeeKong brings her multi-national home (Indo-Pakistani, Tanzanian, Trinidad, Hong Kong) to the forefront through her video series, Exotic Table. Though she travels to far off lands like Turkey, Goa, and South Africa, she also finds flavor inspiration here Staten Island where a band of grandmothers run the kitchen at Enoteca Maria. Aliya is also the Culinary Creative Director at Junoon, a restaurant highlighting South Asian cuisine, where she blends spices as she does cultures. This episode was sponsored by Fairway Market.

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, Michael Colameco embodies the name of his preeminent guide book “Mike Colameco’s Food Lover’s Guide to New York City”. He is not only a NYC food lover, but a stalwart of the city’s past/present dining lore, working for a multitude of classic chefs and institutions, as a radio host, his own TV show, all while blazing the way for the future of food media.

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, sibiling design team Salli Swindell and Nate Padavick, also know as Studio SSS, curate the user submitted website TheyDrawAndCook.com. It’s filled with a new type of food art: illustrated recipes. In their recently published cookbook of the same name, THEY DRAW AND COOK, see how a community of artists prove, how in the kitchen, the pen may be as mighty as the sword. This episode was sponsored by Heritage Foods USA.

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, the duo behind Eleven Madison Park, Chef Daniel Humm and GM Will Guidara, leaf through the pages of their new magnum opus, Eleven Madison Park: The Cookbook. We’ll be joined on air by their food photographer, Francesco Tonelli, to discuss the process, plating, and photography, behind such a tome. This episode is sponsored by Whole Foods Market.

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, Anita Lo, chef/owner of Annisa restaurant in the West Village, is one of the most “revered female chefs in the country”. Of Chinese-American ancestry, a midwest upbringing, and an affection towards french technique and Paris, Anita blurs cultural lines but coalesces them all through in her prudent perspective. Author of the new boundary breaking cookbook, “Cooking Without Borders” with Charlotte Druckman, hear how this collection of recipes came together through a personal history of worldly influences.

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, Michael Hearst, the talented musician from One Ring Zero, comes to talk about his book/album release, The Recipe Project. He and Leigh Newman of Black Balloon Publishing, discuss the finer points in pairing music stylings with food. “Recipe songs” from such notable chefs like [David Chang](>Tom Colicchio,

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN David Massoni and John Bush pair up to bring Thistle Hill Tavern to Park Slope. David’s background in the Batali empire, and John’s punk rock days as a photographer ( NOFX‘s Fat Mike is actually a proprietor at THT), have the neighborhood singing the praise of it’s locally-sourced seasonal produce, dairy and meat, and sustainable seafood. Their next project Talde, with Top Chef’s Dale Talde opens next month with an Asian-American menu which will span the flavors of Southeast Asia. But how’d they piece up the pieces (“ American Pickers” style)? This episode is sponsored by Heritage Foods USA‘s No Goat Left Behind initiative.

THE FOOD SEEN welcomes Jane Black and Brent Cunningham, a wife and husband duo writing a book on Huntington, WV, the site where Season 1 of Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution TV show occurred. They’re there in hopes to promote a healthier food culture, one that is no longer plagued by obesity and diabetes, but upon recognizing that it may not be a matter of price and access, and more so of convenience and taste, they wonder if food nostalgia can change for the better?

On today’s THE FOOD SEEN, chefs Julian Medina and Pichet Ong bring their multi-cultural cooking backgrounds to Coppelia, a 24 hour Cuban dinner, reinforcing the idea that Manhattan’s melting pot is not just American like apple pie (or chocolate chip cookies) anymore. Travel the world through tastes and techniques from Mexico to Thailand and find fusion everywhere!