Megabites vs. Megabytes

Late last week, Serious Eats posted an interesting article inspired by Eater, which was in turn inspired by a decision made by the owner of a NYC restaurant to ban photography inside the restaurant.

I have to admit that I’ve never personally had the Prairie oysters to be able to take photos of my meals in restaurants, but I’ve never really had a problem with others doing so (where else would all of the great restaurant-based food porn come from?).

UPDATE: Serious Eats has now posted a great follow-up article culled from CHOW’s Table Manners column, “How to Politely Take Food Photos in Restaurants.”  It includes this sage advice:

 

Don’t use flash, don’t move around the table too much, and don’t take so many photos that the dish’s temperature drastically changes by the time you get to eat it.

Sounds about right to me!

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It’s okay to get sauce on this bow tie

Food pros will — or oughta! — know this info like the backs of their well-muscled hands, but I wanted to post this as a reminder for all.  And, well, because the photos are just so darned pretty.

Chow‘s When Pasta Met Sauce is a beautifully illustrated guide to which sauces go best with which noodles.  Just don’t check it out on an empty stomach.

(via Serious Eats)

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Wherein I take you to our leader

Just over a week ago, Newfoundland’s own Brenda O’Reilly — whose busy season officially started yesterday — was elected chairman of the CRFA board of directors.

At that time, we issued our official release and biography, but if you’re looking for a slightly more “organic” take on Brenda’s story, check out the interview I did with her back in the summer, when I had the opportunity to speak with Brenda about her new business venture in St. John’s, Yellowbelly Brewery and Public House.

I can’t believe it’s been more than a decade since I was last in Newfoundland, which I maintain is still the most beautiful place on God’s rocky earth — and I’ve been saying that for years, lest y’all think it’s just a cheesy effort at undisguised suck-upery.

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More clicky-clicky, piccy-piccy

We’ll be posting our own photos from the CRFA Show shortly, but in the meantime, check out these luscious food shots from the show, found on Flickr.

Our photos probably won’t make you drool in quite the same way, but I promise they’ll be worth checking out.  Soon!

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I can’t believe I walked the whole thing

Ah, I’m just kidding about walking the whole CRFA Show, which wrapped up yesterday.

We’ve estimated that if an attendee walked every aisle, they’d have covered six kilometres in total, or 3.75 miles.  It would have been worth the walk to have a chance to see every single booth — trust me — but I failed to follow my own “wear comfortable shoes!” advice, so I estimate I was only able to take in about 30-40% of the entire event.

Fortunately, some intrepid/hungry bloggers took up the challenge and have posted some fantastic photos and reviews of the show:

• Suresh from SpotlightToronto.com posted a great slideshow that shows the incredible range of products, services, equipments and demos that were on display.
• DivaQBBQ‘s DivaQ snapped some awesome photos of the Culinary Salon, as well as some of our featured — and one surprise! — chefs.  Be sure to check out the link to more photos at the bottom of her post.
• Diana from RockingTheRepublic.com turned her eye and tastebuds to the tea offerings at the show, and it looks like she’ll be posting more tea reviews from the show in the coming weeks.

Please note that the opinions expressed in these blogs are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect … you get the rest.  That said, it’s been fascinating for me to read the reactions of our show guests.  If you know of any other blog mentions of the show, let me know!

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Also overheard at the Canadian Chefs’ Congress

If you’re looking for photos from Day 1 of the Canadian Chefs’ Congress,
scroll on down … the link is in the post immediately below this one.

The last photo in the set I posted yesterday was of the team from Cava/Xococava making churros con chocolate during the event’s Midnight Kitchens. I thought it was a brave choice, and I wasn’t the only one:

Chris McDonald (Cava): I love deep frying in the dark! Especially over a burner!
Me: Hey, at least you’re wearing a shirt.
C McD: Yeah … no naked chef here.

Other attendee, after sampling the churros: It tastes like Sunday in Barcelona.
C McD: Like Sunday in Barcelona. I love that! I love cooking for chefs!

As Pamela Cuthbert notes in her article in today’s Toronto Star, when chefs cook for one another they tend to eat “a lot of meat.” Tomorrow I’ll fill you in on what it was like to be a vegetarian at an event that put the “meat” in “meeting of the minds.” Hint: delicious.

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