James Beard Nominees I'm Rooting for, and Why

The Omnivore's Dilemna by Michael Pollan; Category: Books, Writing on Food

This book was a journalist's exploration of our food chains, and it finally brought together all the damning evidence for the indictment against industrial food. It encouraged the reader to consider whether he or she should really feel all that responsible for shopping at Whole Foods, and provided an extensive description of what a local farm is, what it can grow and provide, how it might help the local community and ecology, and the obstacles that it faces from government and business. The section on the hunter-gatherer meal was fun and highly personal, and provided a great ending to a very journalistic work of nonfiction.

"2006 Food Issue: From the Farm to Your Table" by Besha Rodell, Creative Loafing Atlanta
Category: Journalism, Newspaper Feature Writing About Restaurants and/or Chefs, With or Without Feature Writing

This nominee, like all the ones that follow, is from Atlanta, and I have a ton of local pride. This article discussed various options for local food in Atlanta, and interviewed four chefs and a farmer. You can read it here.

"SUSHI USA; What does Chinese food have in common with tomatoes, pizza, parmesan cheese, peas and also sushi? Umami" by John Kessler, AJC
Category: Journalism, Newspaper Feature Writing with Recipes

I've been reading Kessler for at least the past eight years, first his reviews, then his food writing after every restaurant in Atlanta had identified him. This is the man whose words first got me to thinking about food as something beyond good or bad, but as something infinitely diverse, complex, individualistic, and vested with significant personal meaning. When he was a reviewer and found himself at a Vietnamese place, he would explain to the reader what pho was, what bun was, what they should taste like, and then compare this ideal to the restaurant. It was invaluable for a teenager who really wasn't that familiar with food, and his reviews and columns are the reasons that I have cravings as specific as "I need Nau Num Tuk from Little Bangkok right now." This piece is part of a five part series about Japanese food. Unfortunately, the AJC is bolstering Atlanta's provincial reputation; they've published multiple articles about the nominations, and have other Kessler articles back to 2003. They have not republished the original series on the site, and there's no sign on the AJC's site that the series ever existed. Idiots.

"The Pit and the Pendulum", "Roadside Renaissance", "Where Coconut Cake meets Sweet Tea Pie" by John T. Edge, AJC
Category: Journalism, Newspaper, Newsletter or Magazine Columns

One thing the AJC has done right in the past twelve months is this: they've introduced a weekly feature that explores traditional Southern food. It's always a quick, interesting read, and Edge manages to update some very old, very traditional recipes, in the hopes that our modern Southerners will one day welcome ingredients like sorghum syrup back into the pantry.
Edge is also the director of the Southern Foodways Alliance, which has worked with multiple local writers to produce some very good Southern Food articles and series. The alliance's work has become more important in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
They've also decided that these articles were published, which is a plus.

"The Pit and the Pendulum"

"Roadside Renaissance"

"Where Coconut Cake Meets Sweet Tea Pie"

Finally, while I've read great things about Hugh Acheson and Arnaud Berthelier and their restaurants, I'm rooting for Scott Peacock for Best Chef Southeast. His book with Edna Lewis was so pleasant that I racked up a $20 late fee from the local library, and while I haven't made it to Fried Chicken Tuesday yet (and certainly won't tonight), his food is very good, and very Southern.

Now, off to pen a harangue to the JBF bigwigs about Feasting on Asphalt, and why they're philistines for not nominating it.

Old School

One of my professors gave me a great quote when he said "You're entering one of the last true apprenticeships systems around." This is not as true in America, where I've had to explain even to chefs what an apprenticeship would look like, and it's worth explaining the history and value of the apprenticeship.

For centuries aspiring chefs needing education (and we all need education, even if you father was Escoffier himself) found the best chef that they could, and signed themselves into what amounted to indentured servitude, getting paid little or nothing in exchange for work experience, education at the hands of culinary genius, and all the abuse an old-school French chef could hand out.

That changed in the 1970s with the rise of culinary schools, particularly in the US. Culinary schools had been around, most notably Le Cordon Bleu in France, and the Culinary Institute of America in the States, but by the 70s, interest in food and restaurants, particularly in America, had grown. Plenty of people wanted to be chefs, but few had the desire or means to move to Europe.

The America Culinary Federation now provides an apprenticeship program, and I'm planning on using it, at least as a framework. When I started looking for a job over spring break, I noticed that most chefs were unfamiliar with what I'd need as a first-year apprentice, especially after talking to a chef who used an apprenticeship for his education. He explained that I'd need a restaurant or institution that could teach me, through its regular oprations, butchery, bakery, lots of prep and maybe charcuterie. This isn't difficult to find in places with a long culinary history, where vendors most likely arose meeting restaurants' need for lots of raw product. In the age of restaurant group and providers that are more accustomed to providing bagged lettuce and pre-portioned meat, these sorts of kitchens are few and far between, and Atlanta's a recent arrival on the food scene. We rely on Sysco and United Foodservice for product, even if they go by the names of Buckhead Beef and FreshPoint. Getting beef in anything smaller than a subprimal (roughly 1/9th of a cow) requires special contacts, as does getting anything heirloom that you can legally serve.

An apprenticeship provides a unique opprtunity; aspiring chefs can learn from the best in the business, at the business, since the best chefs rarely have the time to teach at the local community college. Plus, we don't incur massive student loan debt, only to go out and earn ten dollars an hour while we pay our dues. It's practical, but that doesn't make it convenient.

Yet I'm still looking to take an old-fashioned approach to an old-school industry, and this was exemplified by an email that I got while trying to find a job. A local ACF chapter guy told me, of a specific chef who does apprenticeships: "You may not be able to reach him by phone.(but you can try). You could also write him a letter or visit the hotel and apply for a job." No mention was made of email. Talk about old school.

A Tale of Three Restaurants

It's Spring Break again, and while that means a trip to the beach for most college students, it's time for Epicure to find a job. Graduation will happen in May, Honey and I will go to Spain for a couple of weeks, and then I hope to come back to Atlanta, to start my first apprenticeship.

This week I visited three restaurants, equal in dignity, disparate in every other way, to try and pick one that will start me on the road to chefdom. Everyone that I've talked to has told me to find the best chefs I could for my apprenticeship, and this week has shown me that that mantra will not save me from some tough decisions.

Restaurant #1 is a palace of fine dining in Atlanta, built up over many years by two brilliant, dedicated chefs. It has its own farm and a takeout division that makes money and moves product for the restaurant. I staged there on Monday. Because they deemed my skills entry-level, they put my in pastry for my stage. I was pleasantly surprised to find myself more than capable, and frankly a little bored; it was a slow night. I met the legendary Chef Who Started It All, and once I was in my station, I was promptly ignored by all but one line cook who came over to speak to me at the end of the night. I enjoyed pastry more than I expected to, and I didn't get the outright rejection that I was expecting; they've told me to get back in touch closer to my graduation. It all seems vaguely positive, but there's no resolution yet.

Restaurant #2 is one of two restaurants with a leading local group, and was one of the first modern successful restaurants in the city. Its formula has been copied and applied to a number of new restaurants, and the group is very successful because of it. The chef at this place was particularly interesting, because he came up as an apprentice, and he had some great advice for what to look for in a first-year apprenticeship. His advice ended up pushing me toward Restaurant #1, where they bake their own bread, cure their own meat, and where I might learn some butchery, all of which he stressed as valuable skills for a learning chef. He invited me in last night to eat at his restaurant, and get an idea of the place. The food was delicious, the chef, though unexpectedly busy, was nice enough to stop by a couple of times, and I was sufficiently impressed to really want to work there.

I just got back from Restaurant #3, an American bistro, that reminded me of a slightly larger version of Scotty's place. The chef there likes to teach; he spends time working with local high schools' Pro-Start programs, and though he'd never had an apprentice before, he expressed definite enthusiasm for the possibility. He's also justifiably proud of his restaurant. It's consistently busy, and a combination of a neighborhood following, charismatic namesake, and smart updates have kept it in business for 25 years. It's the sort of place that I'd love to open and keep going till I was ready to retire.

I expected that this choosing processs would be easy, but as I've met great chefs with good advice, I'm finding myself at a quandary. I've begun to sketch out a plan to learn as much as I can, but I'm terrified of pulling this off poorly, and offending any one of the people who have been so generous with their time and experience. The truth is, I'd like to work at all of these places, and hate the idea of saying "You'll hear from me next year, or the year after." to anyone. But as honey says, "The real world sucks like that."