L.A. Times Festival of Books: The Food Edition
To kick off the L.A. Times Festival of Books' weekend foodie festivities at USC, Top Chef Michael Voltaggio, author of “VOLT ink,” gave a cooking demonstration. He then sat for a book signing before we interviewed him later in the day.
Then, it was time to scope out the food trucks. From Coolhaus, we got 3 different items: one hot cake cookie sandwich with fig mascarpone ice cream, one chocolate-chocolate cookie sandwich with salted caramel ice cream, and one cup of beer & pretzel ice cream.
Nancy Silverton, author of “The Mozza Cookbook,” then joined Michael Voltaggio on stage to discuss the L.A. food scene. They were interviewed by L.A. Times Deputy Food Editor Betty Hallock, and both praised the L.A. food scene.
Next, celebrity chef and author of “Cook like a Rock Star,” Anne Burrell demonstrated how to cook orecchiette pasta with spring peas, garlic, olive oil, and cheese. She had a glass of "white wine on the rocks" in hand, and came out dancing to the music that was blasting. She was the most animated chef of the weekend, and was very entertaining and fun to watch.
The heat from the sun presented the perfect opportunity to go to USC's Lemonade and get a couple fresh-squeezed gourmet lemonades. We got the peach ginger and the blackberry mint, both of which were refreshing, with the ginger being much stronger than the peach, and the mint adding a cooling element to the blackberry.
L.A. Times Test Kitchen manager Noelle Carter also discussed her favorite cookbooks at the Los Angeles Times Booth earlier in the day.
Sunday
Mélisse chef Josiah Citrin, author of “In Pursuit of Excellence,” gave a cooking demonstration to start off the second half of the festival.
Then, San Francisco chef and Food Network's "Chefs vs. City" star Chris Cosentino, author of “Beginnings: My Way To Start a Meal,” gave a cooking demonstration with his young son, Easton.
Debbie Lee, author of “Seoultown Kitchen” and "Next Food Network Star" contestant, gave a cooking demo from her book. The cooking stage weekend ended with dessert, as Alice Medrich, author of “Sinfully Easy Delicious Desserts” taught the crowd to make simply decadent desserts like chocolate mousse.
As for Sunday's food panel, L.A. Times restaurant critic Jonathan Gold discussed "Food Writing: American Potluck" with Gustavo Arellano ("Taco USA"), Jennifer 8. Lee ("The Fortune Cookie Chronicles") and Aaron Bobrow-Strain ("White Bread: The History of a Store-Bought Loaf").
The panel of food writers discussed authenticity in food. In writing his book on Mexican cuisine in America, Arellano found that "there is no such thing as authenticity." They also discussed regional fusion foods, such as Mexican Chinese food, Italian Chinese food, and Irish Chinese food. The latter is a "three-in-one," according to Lee; a combination of fried rice, french fries and curry.
Once my beef brisket sliders and fried spam were finally ready, the meal was pretty delicious, albeit heavy. The barbeque sauce smothering the brisket was sweet and tangy, and the fried spam was just that: a slab of spam coated in bread crumbs and deep fried. Since I was starving after a whole day of covering food events and thus, ironically, not having time to eat, it was just what I needed before heading out.
For more information and for next year's event, visit events.latimes.com/festivalofbooks.
You can reach Tanaya Ghosh here, or follow her on Twitter.
For complete coverage of the Los Angeles Times Festival Of Books, go here.