Yes, I’ve let life get in the way and have neglected my duties as the chief foodie guy. I promise to do better and get back on top of the culinary happenings.  As a peace offering I give you a little entertainment to kick start this blog. Enjoy!

 This little number is courtesy of the Pizza Express Acrobats at the London Restaurant Festival last fall.  Of course every time I hear this Survivor song I am reminded of the Weird Al version, “Theme from Rocky XIII.” So without further ado…

 Our upcoming trips for 2010 will be out later this week and we have some great trips planned. Talk to you soon!

Rain. New York City has been deluged by rain since I arrived yesterday. But that is okay because this weekend is focused on Italian food and culture. This weekend boast the San Gennero Festival, the largest oldest religious festival in the country with an expected 2 million attendees over the two weeks of the festival. In addition we will be eating our way through Manhattan and exploring the Bronx Ferragosto Festival.

Yesterday we braved the element to travel to Mulberry Street and Little Italy for the San Gennero Festival. The street was fairly empty due to the downpour but some vendors were open.

San Gennero Festival Little ItalyRaining day at festival

 

 After walking around for awhile I decided it was time for dinner. The restaurants along the festival route had employees cajoling passersby to stop in as they offered the best Italian food in the city. Really – they all cant be the best. So I picked one at random and boy am I glad I did.

 

 

Da Gennero Restaurant (corner of Mulberry and Hester)

 

I had dinner at a Da Gennero Restaurant (corner of Mulberry and Hester). I ordered penne alla cacciatore (penne pasta with chicken breast, mushrooms, onions and peppers). Very good but the standout was the bread and oil the came with the meal. The olive oil was high quality OOVO with garlic, basil, pepper and a Romano cheese. I admit that I ate half a loaf of bread with it. Some before and after photos.

 

Penne Alla Cacciatora

 

 

After the feast

 

Following dinner I continued my stroll through Little Italy before heading back to my Times Square Hotel. Great start to our weekend in New York City.

Culinary Oregon Contest

Ever dreamt of being a vintner, a chef, a chocolatier or other culinary genius? Travel Oregon is calling all food and drink enthusiasts to fulfill their dreams by applying for a cuisine internship, or “Cuisinternship” (pronounced: quiz-een-turn-ship).

Seven winners will be selected to win all-expenses paid trips (airfare, lodging and $1,000 meal stipend) to spend one week shadowing an Oregon expert in his or her field of culinary crafts. The contest opens today as part of Travel Oregon’s largest statewide tourism promotion, Oregon Bounty, celebrating the state’s culinary products and the artisans who make them.

Oregon Bounty Cuisinternships are offered in the following categories:

• Artisan Food Producer: Become a culinary artisan in Southern Oregon with chocolatier Jeff Shepherd of Lillie Belle Farms and cheese maker David Gremmels of Rogue Creamery
• Brew Master: Turn hops and grains into craft beer with brew master Jamie Emmerson of Hood River’s Full Sail Brewery
• Chef: Immerse yourself in Portland’s dynamic food scene working alongside chef Gabe Rucker–one of Portland’s culinary provocateurs–learning how to turn out inventive, gourmet meals that delight diners at the award-winning Le Pigeon restaurant
• Rancher: Saddle up and herd cattle while learning sustainable ranching on two of Eastern Oregon’s Country Natural Beef ranches with the Pickard and Boyer families, who have been in the business for generations
• Fisherman: Head out to sea with charter boat skipper Lars Robison of Dockside Charters and learn the fine art of catching the Oregon Coast’s prized wild salmon and rockfish
• Winemaker: Walk the Willamette Valley vineyards of Penner-Ash Wine Cellars with renowned vintner Lynn Penner-Ash, learning the hands-on techniques involved in vineyard designate winemaking
• Distiller: Get an advanced degree in mixology and learn about Oregon’s booming craft spirits industry with distiller Jim Bendis of Central Oregon’s Bendistillery.

“Oregon has a rich and varied culinary landscape,” said Travel Oregon’s Director of Brand Strategy Holly Macfee. “It’s a down-to-earth-place where visitors can meet the people who craft the wine and beer, grow the produce, cultivate the cheese and create the chocolate confections,” she explains. “We’re inviting foodies to enjoy Oregon’s culinary abundance, whether through a Cuisinternship or a self-guided tour with family or friends. Our online culinary trip planner is now available to help travelers research, plan and organize the details of their next visit.”

To enter the Oregon Bounty Cuisinternship Contest, applicants must submit a short video, along with a statement containing no more than 140 characters, describing why they are the best candidate at www.TravelOregon.com/Bounty. Seven winners will receive an all-expense-paid trip to Oregon to shadow their mentor for one week. Entries must be submitted between Aug. 24 and Sept. 18. A panel of judges, including the Cuisinternship mentors, will select winners which will be announced beginning Sept. 28.

To give entrants an idea of what they can anticipate on their trip, Travel Oregon produced video vignettes of each culinary mentor and the experience their Cuisinternship offers (view them here: www.TravelOregon.com/Bounty). A longer video will also be available, which follows Chef Gabe Rucker as he visits the seven cuisine-related locations and mentors with the goal of making the perfect Oregon meal. The video culminates with all participants gathering together for an Oregon feast at Rucker’s restaurant, Le Pigeon in Portland, where the culinary masters discuss why they consider Oregon to be the ultimate foodie destination.

For a complete list of contest rules, and to enter, visit www.TravelOregon.com/Bounty.

Before Food Network, before Anthony Bourdain, before Emeril, before … well anyone cooking  on TV there was Julia Child. She is the godmother of the celebrity chef’s that have so taken over popular culture.  Like many of my generation I grew up watching her program on PBS (along with the Raging Cajun chef Justin Wilson).

This past weekend I went to an afternoon matinee of the new move Julie & Julia about a struggling writer’s need to channel Julia Child to have meaning in her life.  The film is based on two books, Julie Power’s “Julie & Julia” and Julia Child’s memoir “My Life In France” about her time in post WWII Paris and Marseilles when she was working on her classic tome on French cooking. 

Julie (Amy Adams) decides that spending exactly one year cooking all 524 recipes in Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” and writing a blog about the adventure will provide her the focus she needs to jumpstart her life/career. The Julia (Meryl Steep) portion of the film deals with her efforts to break into the old boys cooking club at Le Cordon Blue and her struggles to write a French cook book that is accessible to Americans.

 Honestly the reason to see the film is because of Streep’s portrayal of Julia Child. She is simply amazing to watch and the film lights up whenever she is on screen. Amy Adams does a fine job as the modern day writer, but the film seems diminished whenever the focus shifts off Child.

To be fair Streep has the more compelling storyline. Her Julia battles chauvinism, a publishing industry that doesn’t understand what she is trying to accomplish with her book and a larger than life personality that outshines those around her. Steep completly inhabits the spirit of Julia Child. And thumbs up to Stanley Tucci as her understanding and patient husband Paul. He is one of the best actors around - you must watch his performance as Primo in “Big Night” if you are any type of foodie at all. (As an aside the companion cookbook for the film “Cucina & Famiglia : Two Italian Families Share Their Stories, Recipes, And Traditions” is excellent and has the recipe for the film’s famous big feast centerpiece Timpano.)

Below is an interview Streep does with Harry Smith of Good Morning America:

My wife and I recently saw the new film Food, Inc.  It was quite an eye-opener. We try to eat as much organic, locally grown food as possible and this film just reinforced that decision.  As a person with a background in public policy I strongly supported the comments in the documentary from Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms, an organic farm in rural Virginia.  He said:

“Imagine what it would be if as a national policy the idea would be to have such nutritionally dense food that people actually felt better, had more energy and weren’t sick as much. Now that’s a noble goal.”

Official Trailer - Food, Inc.

To find a location where the film is playing near you, please click here.

Welcome to the Well Fed Traveler’s new home on the web. Over the next few weeks we will be added a listing of the food and wine tours we will be hosting this year. In addition we will be adding interesting foodie resources such as links to some outstanding culinary blogs and festivals, cooking schools, food events and news. We are very excited about this new medium and look forward to sharing our love of food and wine with you.