Alton Brown, Alicia Silverstone and Tom Colicchio issue a call to arms
The New York City Wine & Food Festival was a foodiot's dream: The Rachael Ray burger bash; the wine, beer, hard shots and margaritas that flowed at the all-you-could-imbibe supermarket tasting; and the orgy of dishes served at Paula Deen and Katie Lee's Down South Up North party. It was enough to make you momentarily forget the point: 100% of the proceeds from the four-day event will be used locally -- by Share Our Strength and the Food Bank for New York City -- to eradicate hunger.
But away from this spotlight, there was another party of sorts being thrown. And the hosts were an unlikely trio: Alton Brown of "Good Eats," Tom Colicchio of "Top Chef" and actress Alicia Silverstone. These gatherings were a bit more sober -- alas, no free-flowing alcohol and no food -- but with a stirring message that challenged those in the audience to take a skeptical look at everything they put in their mouths, or on their children's plates.
The message? We've heard much of it before. Eat seasonally. Eat locally. Enjoy food in moderation. Learn to cook and nourish yourself and your family -- it's the single most important thing you can do for them. Teach your kids to cook. Eat with gratitude -- consider the source of your food, whether it's the person who prepared it, the farmer who brought it to market, or the cow that gave of itself to deliver that glass of milk (or steak). Don't rely on government to monitor your food -- you need to monitor what you eat, and where it originates. If you pick up a packaged item at the supermarket -- stop and look at the label, read the ingredients, check the nutritional values. And ask yourself: Is this something you can make yourself out of fresh ingredients? And if not, do you really want your family ingesting it?
If that all sounds boring, it wasn't. It was the unexpected delivery -- well, actually, the celebrity messengers -- that added the fresh perspective. Brown, for one, sounded like an evangelist (he recently lost 50 pounds) and his new outlook on a healthful life offered insight into why "Good Eats" -- at least in its current incarnation -- might not be long for this TV world.
The highlights from each of these three sessions are after the jump. (And if you were in attendance, please share your thoughts:
