The Food Seen

On today's episode of THE FOOD SEEN, Jeremy Faber found himself in the expansive acreage of Washington's Mt. Rainer, foraging with the belief that one day wild foods could save the world. He founded Foraged and Found Edibles, with this faith, and has been collecting mushrooms, berries and herbs ever since. Adam Stettner is the east coast sales manager, and even in the fall & winter seasons, supplies chefs products with the same sentiment as Faber, proving that the reach of wild foods is bigger than where they're foraged from. The Food Seen is powered by Simplecast

On today's episode of THE FOOD SEEN, haute cuisine takes cues from haute couture with famed fashion designer Zac Posen. When he's not on Project Runway, he's often on his parent's Pennsylvania farm, tending the garden, or dreaming up dinner parties with color and textures to match the season's collection. In his book, Cooking with Zac, Posen proves that he's just as creative in the kitchen as he is in his atelier; using influences from his Jewish background to travels in Japan. Though he grew up wanting to be a butcher, an internship with Nicole Miller changed it all! Imagine what those aprons would have looked like though?!

On today's episode of THE FOOD SEEN, how can a centuries old city be considered "new?" Well, Lindsey Tramuta, moved to Paris in 2006, and for the past decade, has been privy to its retro-renaissance, which somehow, anachronistically, brought it forward into the future. For years, her blog Lost in Cheeseland has documented a side of Paris that was developing; it's now full prospered, and her book, The New Paris, is your guide to all the best brasseries, bistros, cafes, coffee roasters and craft cocktails, that have made Paris feel anew. Ooh la la!

On today’s episode of THE FOOD SEEN, Soli Zardosht captivates us with stories of her Iranian upbringing, and Persianesque cooking. With years as a menswear fashion designer, her critical eye brings creativity to the plate, reinventing the form of classic dishes like Kookoo Sabzi, a green herb frittata, Kufte Tabriz, a fruit & nut filled meatball, and the epic centerpiece, Tahdig, a crispy rice casserole that’s inverted onto a platter with a signature “flip”. It’s certainly about the food, but more so, the presentation of herself, and her heritage’s cuisine, in a new light, that’s bright and beaming, in efforts of bringing the warm glow of Persian culture to the world.

On today's episode of THE FOOD SEEN, we're charmed by Mira Evnine, a culinary polymath, whose Bay Area nature comes through as the cultural center of her work. The kitchen has always been her favorite room in the house, which she realized at an early age, using her comprehensive understanding of cuisine as a currency, from trading school lunches, to working with such luminaries in the industry like Alice Medrich, June Talyor, and Eli Zabar. Her educational background (at RISD) may have been in architecture, but Evnine's firmly put herself at the intersections of food and design, as a food stylist, a prop stylist, florist, and experience designer and consultant. In other words, Evnine can do it all.

On today's episode of THE FOOD SEEN, Desmond Tan was born and raised in Burma, known as “exotic place full of gold pagodas and smiling Buddhist monks - or a country that puts activists in jail”. He and his family left for San Francisco in the 1970's, and in search of Burmese food during the tech boom, he found his home on Clement Street at Burma Superstar, where he was first a customer before buying the restaurant in 2000. He rid the menu of Egg Foo Young, Mongolian Beef, Southeast Asian Chicken Salad, replacing it with laphet, the fermented tea leaves for their famous Tea Leaf Salad (which can now be shipped nationally), Tan's favorite dish, mohinga, a chowder-y catfish noodle soup, traditionally eaten for breakfast, and samusa, hand wrapped dumplings that can be deep fried and served in a soup or salad. He worked with writer Kate Leahy to document the unwritten kitchen recipes of his homeland, creating a cookbook that archives the culture Burma's past, present, and hopeful future.

On today's episode of THE FOOD SEEN, Jessie Kanelos Weiner left her colorful past working in New York City's costume design industry, finding herself overseas with colored pencil in hand. The Franco Fly blog documented her illustrated journey of being an American through Paris. Years of touring around les marchés with her water color paints, Jessie began to create an activity book based on her vibrant drawings. These dawdle turned into the doodles you see in Edible Paradise: A Coloring Book of Seasonal Fruits and Vegetables, capturing a cornucopia of fruits, fresh herbs and honey, ready to take away in harvest baskets worth carrying home.

On today's episode of THE FOOD SEEN, we gather around the smoldering embers emanating from Mettā, a cozy wood fire restaurant that brings chef Norberto "Negro" Piattoni Argentine-inspired, nouveau-gaucho cuisine to Brooklyn's Fort Greene. He and owner Henry Rich work without gas to create an atmosphere lit up by menu highlights like: Slow Roasted Lamb, Smoked Carrots, Charred Beets, Short Rib Steaks with Chimichurri and a Sweet Potato dessert cooked in ash. Once the smoke clears, you'll also find gamut of complex and layered flavors developed through exploratory forms of fermentation, pickling and curing, constructing a whole new power source for their food and glowing aura.

On today's episode of THE FOOD SEEN, Dawn Perry has long been creating menus, and trends, as a recipe developer, and all around food stylista. From food editor at Martha Stewart's Everyday Food and Bon Appétit, to driving culinary content at Marley Spoon's meal kit delivery service, to the food director at Real Simple, Perry is able to wrap her head around the many expressions of a single ingredient, taking careful consideration and culinary know-how, to compose something both complex, and approachable. Her latest project, Short Stack Editions: Cucumber, illustrates just that; Perry takes the humble gourd and shows its scope as Cucumber-Celery Agua Fresca, Spicy Cucumbers with Beef & Black Vinegar, Butter- Baked Cucumbers, Cucumber Panzanella with Horseradish & Mint, Grilled Cucumber Guacamole, and Cucumber & Honeydew Paletas. You'll never look at an ordinary cucumber the same again!

On today's episode of THE FOOD SEEN, pastry chef Stella Parks charmed a sweet tooth constituency in in Lexington, KY, for sweets and scribing on her blog BraveTart. She wasn't necessarily reinventing dessert, instead fortifying them with plenty of sugar, butter, chocolate ... leading her to document the history Chocolate Chips Cookies (which precede Ruth Wakefield's 1938 "Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookies"), cakes, pies, doughnuts, snacks (learn how to make your own "Fauxreos"), puddings, and candy bars, all documented in her book project "BraveTart: Iconic American Desserts". She also runs pastry program for Serious Eats, reconditioning dessert and something to seek, rather than just wait until the end of a meal.

On today's episode of THE FOOD SEEN, storied West Village chophouse The Beatrice Inn, was first a New York prohibition-era speakeasy in the 1920's, then a 50-year run as an Italian red-sauce joint, then becoming the legendary nightclub, later revived by Vanity Fair's Graydon Carter. It's fabled fate seemed at it's end in recent years, well, that was until Angie Mar came aboard with grandiose visions of a meat-centric Mecca. Mar's training in whole beast butchery and her time as sous chef at The Spotted Pig with April Bloomfield, helped her dream up dishes like 45-day Dry Aged Burger, Champvallon de Tête, Roast Duck Flambé, Smoked Rabbit for Two, 160-Day Whiskey-Aged Tomahawk Ribeye, and for dessert, a Bone Marrow Créme Brûlée ... because Mar does say, "at the end of the day, vegetables are never going to replace meat."

On today's episode of THE FOOD SEEN, Julia Sherman, an artist in her own rite, muses through candid conversations about people's creative procesess, strikingly similar to how we talk to chefs about composing dishes. Her blog turned book "Salad for President", documents the likes of photographer William Wegman (and his famed Weimaraners) while making Charoset, how to transpose leftover lettuce to breakfast tacos with Alice Waters, what belongs to be eaten out of a bowl with Yui Tsujimura, a ceramaicist from Nara, Japan, and how a Mizuna Salad with Konbu Tea Dressing tacitly comes from one of the loudest bands you've ever heard. There are also Sherman's salads, which range in reference to her travels throughout Mexico, Austria, countryside France and even backyard barbecues (Soft Eggs Avocado Radish and Peanut-Pasilla Salsa, Toast with Styrian Black Pumpkin Seed Oil and Parsley Mint Salad, Sardine Niçoise, Grilled Peach Panzanella with Almond Essence and Purple Basil). Sherman shows us that a salad ca

On today's episode of THE FOOD SEEN, we substitute prose for poetic form, enkindled by Nicole Gulotta's blog, now book, "Eat This Poem", praising food in meter and verse. Hear how inspired instructions from Food Network stars like the Barefoot Contessa, prompted Gulotta to put together a collection of poems, and complimentary recipes, that will have you baking blueberry muffins during holiday, foraging mushrooms for Truffle Risotto with Chanterelles, and consider all the parts of a potato pre-compost. Even "A Pot of White Beans" can conjure up pebbles on a shore; transporting and tasty, these balladries will fill your pantry with relish and great enjoyment.

On today's episode of THE FOOD SEEN, we extend our concept of seasonal produce, by adding two seasons (consider summer divided into Early Summer, Midsummer & Late Summer). Chef Joshua McFadden of Ava Gene's and Tusk in Portland, OR, delivers Six Seasons: A New Way with Vegetables, by way of east and west coast farming practices through the scene of Roman and Middle Eastern cuisines. At the core of better vegetable preparations, you must have indispensables like good olive oils & vinegar, and a well-stocked larder of dried pasta, cheese, canned tomatoes, pickles, preserved fish, olives and capers. It also helps to have an acumen for knowing what's fresh when; in spring we celebrate artichokes, asparagus, English peas, fava beans, lettuces and radishes, but oh so quickly we're past that and abundant of beets, carrots, fennel and turnips. Here's how best to live in the season, without letting it pass you by.

On today's episode of THE FOOD SEEN, Barbara Lynch is a modern-day Julia Child. Steps away from the golden-domed Massachusetts State House in Boston sits Lynch’s two decade-old premier restaurant, No. 9 Park, where you don’t need to be a Boston Brahmin to enjoy her approachable haute cuisine. A two-time James Beard Award Winner and Relais & Chateaux Grand Chef, this blunt, blue-collared Irish girl from Southie has attained cooking stardom, but at what cost? Raised by a mother who worked multiple jobs to support her wily brood, Lynch rebelled, lied and stole just to survive her disruptive youth. It was food that saved her, from a bright green pesto sauce she made for her friends at 13, or the luscious fried clams at the local Howard Johnson hotel; these flavorful memories lead Lynch to master the craft and own a handful of the top restaurants throughout her fair city (B&G Oysters, The Butcher Shop, Stir, Drink, Sportello, and Menton), in turn becoming one of the most nurturing female chefs in the count

On today’s episode of THE FOOD SEEN, Latin America becomes a food focal point through the lens of New Worlder, a website that explores the derivative cultures of the Latin world, focusing mainly on South America, yet doesn’t let you forget a large landmass of the Western United States was once part of Mexico. Cofounders Marie Elena Martinez & Nicholas Gill are globetrotters, authors of many global guidebooks for Fodor’s and Frommer’s, and have traveled from Argentina to Venezuela. They’ve been immersed in an array of Latin food experiences in Lima (like chef Virgilio Martinez’s Central restaurant, which Gill co-authored the cookbook for), Mexico City, and even within our own country: Miami, Los Angeles … which you can follow via their “Eat List”, which takes you to Buenos Aires for “La Escuela Argentina de los Parrilleros”, to learn how to live fire grill like Francis Mallmann, or go to Stefan Bederski’s Adina restaurant in Portland, Oregon, where he imports Peruvian produce from a third-generation farmer

On today's episode of THE FOOD SEEN, baker turned candy maker Jami Curl, knew that "Candy is Magic" (the title of her current cookbook) since the day she broke the tedium of cookies and cakes by making a batch of Oregon Sea Salt Caramel. That's the day Quin Candy was born. Many lollipops, marshmallows and gummy candies later, Curl spreads the doctrine of good ingredients: pure granulated cane sugar, GMO-free glucose, non-powdered dairy products (preferring instead fresh cream and butter), and all-natural extracts and coloring derived from fruits and vegetables. That's how you craft core flavors like Strawberries with Lemon, Cherry with Almond, Roasted Peaches with Ginger, build bases like Popcorn Cream, Coffee Syrup, and innovate sweet with Doughnut Magic Dust. So go suck on a Sour Apple or Pinot Noir lollipop, chew on some Honey + Hazelnut Caramels, or savor a Smoked Cola Gumdrop, because candy isn't just for kids anymore.

On today's episode of THE FOOD SEEN, University of Virginia roommates Eric Prum & Josh Williams spent their collegiate years infusing bourbon with peaches, their apartment strewn with mason jars in the process. What was part preoccupation, lead to a professional career in catering; Williams attended culinary school in Italy, while Prum furthered his studies in design and manufacturing. From that first joint venture, they created W&P Design, a food & beverage company that has made over 200 original products in the barware space. It all started with the Mason Shaker, the base of which is literally a mason jar with a screw on shaker top. Aimed to demystify the art of crafting great cocktails, they followed this up by "Shake", their first in series of service book titles now published in-house by Dovetail Press. This dynamic duo also constructed Carry On Cocktail Kits (which are TSA & FAA compliant at 30,000 feet), and continue to improve drink aesthetics, and functionality, whether at a

On today's episode of THE FOOD SEEN, we're backing LinYee Yuan, founder of MOLD, an editorial platform about designing the future of food, in her quest to bring MOLD Magazine to print. With a week left on the Kickstarter campaign (donate now!), Yuan promises to bring you stories where design will have to intersect with food. Yuan believes "technology and science can change how and what we eat, but design is critical to bringing these ideas together to create products and experiences that are elegant, intelligent and useful". That said, Issue 1 will focus on "Designing for the Human Microbiome" and how the living ingredient in fermented and pickled foods, interacts with the human gut. Future issues will explore experimental utensils, virtual reality dining, edible packaging, lab-grown meats, insect farms, farming on Mars and astronaut food. The United Nations predicts that by 2030, we will have more people (9 billion) on the planet than we can feed; how we address this imminent problem may

On today's episode of THE FOOD SEEN, Daniel Liberson became a vinegar maker by way of preservation; a 200 acre estate in Delaplane, Virginia, once surveyed by George Washington himself, was site to a rampant herd of cattle trampling the banks of the Boiling Branch Stream. This tributary empties into the Potomac water supply, and was being polluted with the cows' waste. Liberson's family converted the land into a nature conservancy, protecting the flora and fauna whilst the Army Corps of Engineers began the largest stream restoration in Virginia's history. Liberson, a long time restaurant cook, became a vinegar maker by way of noninterventionist foraging, founding Lindera Farms, with the natural produce that surrounded him. Now, aromatic bottles of acetic acid (vinegar), glow with perfumes of the seasons, their flavors meant to last all year round: Black Locust, Blackberry, Elderflower, Heirloom Pepper, Hickory, Honey, Paw-Paw, Persimmon, Ramp (which taste like "drunk nachos") and more...