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This week R. W. Smith & Co., a food service supply company, featured me in a Q&A on their website. They asked some terrific questions about how I got started as a food writer, advice I have for budding food journalists, and--given my interest in healthy eating for kids--how to get them cooking. Take a look!
I've been writing for Edible San Diego for as long as it's existed. They're getting ready to launch a new web design but in the meantime they invited me to start in with their first blog, Close to the Source. Sponsored by Specialty Produce, the bi-weekly blog appears on the first and third Mondays of each month and delves into what's happening with our local markets, farms, and producers of artisan foods--with a hint or two here and there for how to enjoy their products.
My first post focused on fisherman Phil Harris' delicious black gill rockfish, sold at the new Fishermen's Farmers Market in Pt. Loma. I got Catalina Offshore Products' Tommy Gomes to teach me--and the gathering crowd--how to break it down and cook all the various parts so we enjoy it from tail to gill (except we don't eat the gill).
Take a look at How to Break Down a Whole Fish in Five Easy Steps.
This year’s San Diego Press Club Excellence in Journalism (J-Awards) competition results were just announced and I received three awards for food writing. I earned the top award in the Magazine Food & Restaurant category for my piece for Edible San Diego on Chino Farms. And San Diego Foodstuff received second- and third-place honors for my posts respectively on dealing with diabetes and making dill pickles.
Additionally, San Diego Wine and Dine, which had a radio show I co-hosted, received First Place in the Integrated Media: Food & Restaurant category for our coverage of “Amaya: Easy Going Elegance at The Grand Del Mar.”
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This week has been hugely anticipated -- by the members of Cooks Confab, by the participants in the events they're putting on this week, and by those of us interested in sustainable seafood.
Last night was the highly successful Fish! Facts. Held at Fibonacci's Campus Point Bistro by Waters near UCSD, the sold-out event allowed guests to sample delicious sustainable seafood dishes prepared by Cooks Confab members and guest chefs like Matt Gordon of Urban Solace and Bernard Guillas of the Marine Room. Then we listened to a fascinating talk by coral reef expert Nancy Knowlton, the Smithsonian's Sant Chair for Marine Science and wife of marine ecologist Jeremy Jackson, who was featured after her presentation in a short video with Andrew Spurgin. Following the Jackson interview we saw a shortened version of the documentary, The End of the Line, a truly disturbing presentation of the state of our oceans -- and, let's be honest, humanity's short-sighted greed.
On Sunday, we have two events: Fish! Forum and the Cooks Confab Fish! Dinner at 1500 Ocean at the Hotel del Coronado. The Forum is a panel discussion that I'm actually taking part in. The non-partisan, multi-media organization Passionfish is hosting what will be an engaging and educational forum on the urgent issue of seafood and ocean sustainability. It takes place from 4 to 5:30 p.m. at the Hotel Del. My fellow panelists will include Tommy Gomes of Catalina Offshore Products; Kristin Goodrich, Board Member, Slow Food Urban San Diego; Martin Alberto Hall, Ph.D., Chief Scientist at the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission; Nigella Hillgarth, Ph.D., executive director of the Birch Aquarium; Don Kent, President of Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute; Logan Kock, vice president at Santa Monica Seafood; Carl Rebstock, Executive Director of Passionfish.org (and our moderator); Robin Siegle, Esq., Director of the Business Center at the National Conflict Resolution Center; and Andrew Spurgin, Exec. Director/Chef of Waters Fine Catering.
This is a free public event and there will be time for an audience Q&A. Following the forum at 6 p.m. will be the Cooks Confab Fish! Dinner, hosted by chef Brian Sinnott of 1500 Ocean. And, it's sold out!
Now, I'm cramming hard so I'll be able to keep up with seafood and ocean experts who have been focused on this for decades. Makes you wonder why I was invited to participate, right? Well, the reason is that I wrote a just-published piece for Edible San Diego on the topic and spoke with some of these folks and many others in the field while doing my research. So, think of me as the voice of the confused consumer. Because this is a complicated and often confusing, even contradictory topic. For those of us who are trying to do the right thing, it can be confounding. Pick up the latest issue of Edible San Diego -- the one with the big fish on the cover -- and take a look. I've tried to address much of the confusion and was able to get some useful tips from the experts on how to be a conscientious consumer.
Last night's San Diego Press Club Journalism Awards has been on my mind for months now. I was on the organizing committee, tasked with rounding up restaurants for our dinner at the Hall of Champions. I hadn't thought much about actually winning any awards, although I had certainly sent in entries and learned that I'd won something. Getting 20 restaurants settled into their booths and serving our 370 attendees was higher on my list of priorities. So, I was thrilled to learn that I hadn't just won something. I'd won four awards for my food writing. I got two third-place awards: one for a story on the City Heights Farmers Market for Edible San Diego and the other for a piece on jam making for the San Diego Union-Tribune. I received a second place award for another Edible San Diego story--this one on the avocado industry in San Diego County. And, my plaque for first prize was awarded for a piece on The Sausage King for San Diego Uptown News.
It's been a long time since I'd entered a journalism contest so this was a real thrill. And, the evening went beautifully, with kudos to all the chefs who fed us so well!
