Good Milk
Some uplifting news from the dairy world. At Straus family farms, things are actually looking up and sales are slowly increasing. Ethicurean writes about the struggles facing dairy farmers and how one farm is fighting to maintain their market share.
So you think you wanna be a chef
Thanks to slick magazines and popular reality TV, it’s finally cool to be a chef. But what it takes to become one isn’t easy. Long hours, brutal conditions and low pay are ego crushing aspects of the job that most culinary students don’t fully appreciate until they’re facing the hot flames of a kitchen after seven eighteen hour days in a row.
Before you fork over the big bucks to go to culinary school, check out Shuna Fish Lydon’s delicious blog, Egg Beater. Lydon is a pastry chef that not only works in the business but she also writes about her life in the kitchen. In a recent post, she suggests that if you want to be a chef, start saving your pennies and turn off the reality TV cooking show. “This industry isn’t for the faint of heart. It’s for the passionate, the crazy, the driven, the competitive.”
Food-oirs
Thanks to Anthony Bourdain’s flawless food memoir, Kitchen Confidential, lots of people think they can write about their life in food. The New York Times reviews three new food memoirs on the stands.
Speaking of Bourdain…
Here is his GQ top ten list of places to eat before you die via Russ & Daughters website (my favorite smoked fish and bagel shop in the Lower East Side).
Back in the Good ‘Ol Days
Back in the depression the US Government gave out of work writers stipends to spread out across the country and write about the diversity of food in our fifty states. The collection of WPA writings were never published (thanks WW2), but are finally being released this month. Mark Kurlansky edited the collection: THE FOOD OF A YOUNGER LAND
The Service Problem…
Comments on service from two people that eat out a lot. Though the Zagats may be difficult people to wait on (true story), they offer this feedback on how restaurants can be better about giving great service.
Blog Shilling
Food Blogger, Chez Pim, endorses a yogurt brand and promises the NY Times that her ethics are intact. “It’s been important to me that I keep my ethics and I don’t shill.” She says that she would only agree to endorse a product (for what amount of money she will not disclose) that she believes in.
Bourdain’s List
This was a great post. Thank you! I love the article from Shuna, considering that I am doing a kitchen internship myself this summer. It was very relevant and helpful:)