I am going to be talking about cocktails and Dorothy Parker, along with my book Under the Table: A Dorothy Parker Cocktail Guide, at a fantastic event in Brooklyn. My event with other authors is on Saturday, April 26, time and place TBD. Below is the press release about the Third Annual Food Book Fair:
More than 20 events, 200 books, and over 60 visionaries at a three-day celebration at the Wythe Hotel in Williamsburg; pop-up bookstore to open April 18
On April 25, the annual Food Book Fair returns to Brooklyn’s Wythe Hotel for its third year to present three days of food writing, reading, and activism. Each spring, food enthusiasts, publishers, book collectors, chefs, artists, activists, scholars, and writers come together to explore the latest in food innovation and conversation at the Fair. This year, the weekend includes a pop-up bookstore with over 200 hand-selected titles, more than 20 independent food publications, panel discussions and author signings, a pop-up farm for kids, a homebrew brew pub, special dinners, and a foodbook slam. The roster of world-class speakers includes Ava Chin, Laurie David, Tom Mylan, Bryant Terry, and Steve Hindy.
This year’s pop-up bookstore opens a week early, April 18, and is co-presented by Word Bookstore, Squarespace, and Phaidon. elBulli 2005-2011, the iconic restaurant’s seven-volume catalogue raisonné, will be available, as well as cookbooks, memoirs, magazines, and books about science, food systems, agriculture, urban design, and art and culture.
Kicking off the weekend, Friday, April 25, is the Food + Enterprise panel organized by Slow Money NYC, followed by the second annual Pitch Competition, highlighting sustainable food start-ups looking to up their game and promote their ideas to a new audience. In collaboration with Umami Festival, the fair’s multi-faceted opening night event, Food + Growing + Music, takes place in the hotel’s subterranean private dining room—featuring a performance by work-song musicians Bennett Konesni and Edith Gawler of the Sylvester Manor Educational Farm; and a site-specific, interactive installation from artist Leah Gauthier, chef-artist Anne Apparu, and forager Kate Galassi.
Events continue through Saturday and Sunday, with panel discussions on topics like Farming + Scalability, Food + Cocktails, and a GMO roundtable with Dave Arnold and the Museum of Food and Drink. Eight authors will take to the stage during the Foodbook Slam, a Moth-style storytelling event where the audience picks the winner. Food Book Farm, an interactive schoolyard for young agriculture enthusiasts, is planned for Saturday at Smorgasburg.
For its third annual Food Book Fair dinner on Saturday, April 26, Egg restaurant presents “Tables of Contents,” inspired by “To Kill A Mockingbird.” The menu, conceptualized by Egg owner George Weld and chef Evan Hanczor, includes several items taken straight from Harper Lee’s novel, done up in Egg’s signature Southern style. Highlights include collard greens, crackling bread, country ham, whiskey, and more.
On Saturday afternoon, the Fair hosts the third annual Foodieodicals, a showcase of food-focused publications where writers and editors can network with each other, readers, and like-minded food enthusiasts over Brooklyn Brewery beer and food provided by Quinciple. Participants include independently published ‘zines, quarterlies and periodicals like Lucky Peach, Diner Journal, Cherry Bombe, Graze, Gather Journal, The Runcible Spoon, Sweets & Bitters, Middlewest, Put A Egg On It, and MOOD.
Originally presented at the Performa 11 biennial, Brew Pub (Reprise) is a project by Portland-based artist Eric Steen. The artist explores home brewing as a form of social activism by joining forces with over 20 New York City home brewers to share their normally private passion with the public. On Sunday, April 27, Brew Pub (Reprise) audiences are invited to partake in sampling the work of these amateur and expert home brewers, and mix and mingle in a space for congenial beer tasting conceived by the artist.
In celebration of umami—the “fifth taste” of savoriness, and the subject of a new book by biophysicist Ole G. Mouritsen—Food Book Fair closes out Sunday night with a dual lecture and special tasting presented by Mouritsen and Chez Jose, the collaborative, vegetable-forward chef duo of Jose Ramirez-Ruiz and Pamela Yung.
Food Book Fair 2014 is supported by Squarespace, Brooklyn Brewery, Rodale, Organic Valley, and Chipotle. Additional funding is provided by Mailchimp, Brooklyn Kitchen, Word Bookstore, Phaidon, The Wythe Hotel, Quinciple, Hemlock, Smorgasburg, The Yard, Fleisher’s, Heritage Radio Network, and Yelp.
Additional panel topics will be announced soon. Tickets on sale early March. For more information, please visit foodbookfair.com.