Having just had the honor of sharing a table with the incomparable Antonious and and the witty Amata at the LTH party tonight, I was inspired to come home and track down the post which is bringing Antonious such international aclaim. For the convenience of other readers, here is his post on summer vegetable stews.

A real work of art and scholarship.

My Antonius is a shy guy.

No, really, y’all. It’s hard for him to tell people when he has some good news, so let me be his publicist for the moment. Antonius will be one of about 50 speakers from around the world at the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery in early September. This is an annual conference on food history, organized around a different theme each year. This year’s theme is ‘authenticity.’ His paper is a much revised, much advanced, more detailed and scholarly version of the long post he made last September on samfaina, ratatouille, and ciambotta.

It looks like it will be an interesting gathering. Another Chicagoan scheduled to participate is Bruce Kraig; other names that I recognize among the speakers are Fuchsia Dunlop, Colman Andrews, Charles Perry, and Sally Grainger. Claudia Roden is one of the organizers.

Plus, as you might expect, the food to be provided sounds like it will be orders of magnitude beyond the usual conference grub:

... The highlight of Saturday lunch will be the finest traditional English pork pies made by Anne Petch of Heal Farm, served with salad; and excellent cheeses given by Patricia Michaelson of La Fromagerie, served with Maggie Beer’s fruit pastes. For dinner, Anissa Helou and Caroline Conran have devised a splendidly lavish and authentic Moroccan feast, complemented by a variety of German wines from several regional winemakers, and preceded by a tasting of traditional German ciders, all sourced by David Motion of the Winery. On Sunday, Tourism Malaysia will host a typical Malay lunch, composed of a variety of classic street food dishes.

Wonder if food photography will be permitted at the banquet?

Wow!

Oh, and congrats to Antonius too

Amata wrote:Antonius will be one of about 50 speakers from around the world at the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery in early September.

That's hot.

I am hoping that he needs help with the luggage.

E.M.

A,

As I recall, that post on ratatouile and related topics was one of the first of your many scholarly contributions to this board. Congratulations on your invitation to present...and thanks for enriching this community in so many ways.

Hammond

Antonioius,

Congratulations!

I hope this is just the start of well deserved recognition in things culinary.

Enjoy,
Gary

Hi,

From what I understand, the topic of authenticity really drew a flood of papers. To make it on the roster this year is really quite spectacular because the competition was really tough. Congratulations.

There are plans developing for an American Oxford Symposium in Chicago on a bi-annual basis. So carting around luggage will not be an issue for us.

Regards,

Now back to Gary - you may notice an uptick in visits to wiviott.com; my bro posted a link to the front page of metafilter:

http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/43726

Cheers,

Seth

Hi,

On the Oxford Symposium front, I learned today Colleen Sen will be presenting also, who is a member of Culinary Historians of Chicago. Her topic is on Indian restaurants and their origins ... hmmmm what an topical issue!

Regards,

Big congratualtions, Antonius!

I just came home to the latest issue of TimeOut in which our own Seth Zurer chronicles his wedding cake tasting experiences in a feature article.

Nice work, Seth!

Best,
Michael

News from England:

The Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery opened this morning with the presentation of the Sophie Coe Prize in Food History, awarded annually for the best work of the year in food history.

This year’s winner is … Antonius, for a longer version of his symposium paper, “Western Mediterranean Vegetable Stews and the Integration of Culinary Exotica.”

He plans to celebrate with a glass or two (dozen) of this when he visits his old buddies in Belgium next week. (hope he makes it back!)

Congratulations!

It occured to me last night it might be reasonable for Antonius to present his paper for a Chicago audience via the Chicago Foodways Roundtable. I'm sure we are all interested to hear it recited here. (I hope I am not being too presumptuous)

Again, congratulations!

Regards,

In case you don’t know (and I didn’t) the Coe Prize is kind of a big deal in the food world; check their site, http://www.oxfordsymposium.org.uk/sophiecoe.html.

Because A is probably too modest to toot his own trumpet, I thought it might be interesting for the LTH community to know that the judges were unanimous in their opinion that his paper was the most worthy of the prize, and they included in the announcement letter plaudits such as “ground-breaking,” “stunning,” and “tightly argued and elegantly written.”

Anyone who knows him knows that A has strong opinions, and I’m glad that venues like LTH and Oxford are around to offer him a platform for developing and presenting his original insights.

Congratulations to Antonius for his fine scholarship and to the conference referees for their perspicacity in recognizing it. I look forward to hoisting one with the man who carries on in the spirit of Emo of Friesland. (From the University of Oxford website: "...in 1190 the arrival of Emo of Friesland, the first known overseas student, set in train the University's tradition of international scholarly links.")

Now, how about a new tagline: shouldn't it be "LTHForum.com: now in its first century"???

LTH,

Just read Seth's Time Out wedding cake article, so much to do in preparation, with cake just a small part, makes me glad I'm already married.

I had a piece, or two, of Seth and Kerensa's wedding cake and can safely say they made a very delicious choice.

Enjoy,
Gary

Amata wrote:He plans to celebrate with a glass or two

Amata,

I raised a congratulatory glass, or two, to Antonious's outstanding achievement myself.

Congratulations Antonious!

Enjoy,
Gary

thanks for the kind words! and congrats to A!

Congratulations to ReneG on his very interesting Big Baby article in this weeks Time Out.

Enjoy,
Gary

Great photos and article about Honey 1 in today's Reader, complete with the obligatory reference to chatter on some anonymous "online food forums."

There's also the "BBQ Bonanza: Our newly updated and expanded guide to barbecue in Chicago." It includes David Hammond on Carson's, Robinson's, Russell's, and Weber Grill (State St): Gary Wiviott on DD&S, Fat Willy's, Hecky's, Twin Anchors, and the Weber Grill (Buffalo Grove); and Seth Zurer on 87th St, Merle's and L.Woods.

It's not up yet, but it looks like the Reader is at least for the moment putting their entire issue up in PDFs. Keep an eye on http://www.chicagoreader.com/ if you can't pick up your own copy.

Ann Fisher wrote:Great photos and article about Honey 1 in today's Reader, complete with the obligatory reference to chatter on some anonymous "online food forums."

There's also the "BBQ Bonanza: Our newly updated and expanded guide to barbecue in Chicago." It includes David Hammond on Carson's, Robinson's, Russell's, and Weber Grill (State St): Gary Wiviott on DD&S, Fat Willy's, Hecky's, Twin Anchors, and the Weber Grill (Buffalo Grove); and Seth Zurer on 87th St, Merle's and L.Woods.

It's not up yet, but it looks like the Reader is at least for the moment putting their entire issue up in PDFs. Keep an eye on http://www.chicagoreader.com/ if you can't pick up your own copy.

Hey Ann,

GWiv reviewed State St. Weber and I did Buffalo Grove -- wonder if those blurbs got switched at birth.

David

David Hammond wrote:[
GWiv reviewed State St. Weber and I did Buffalo Grove -- wonder if those blurbs got switched at birth.

David

Nope, I switched them. The paper has it right and I stand corrected. Teaser quote from the Hammond review for those who haven't yet seen the paper

The staff here go out of their way to help diners enjoy their food, which must sometimes make their jobs challenging.

I just had lunch at Honey One, where I read the article and Gary, Seth, Mike, and Hammond's reviews. My mom just beat me to posting about it.

Grr.

Today on "Eight forth-eight" on WBEZ, Steve Dolinsky reported on regional Thai food represented in Chicago restaurants. Erik M.'s invaluable expertise and commentary are prominent in the segment.
If you missed it (approx 10 mins), an audio feed (real player) can be found here.

This was mentioned in another thread, but I'm glad it was mentioned in THIS thread...

Congrats to ErikM

HI,

I consider this just another stepping stone to Erik M multi-media Thai empire of books and television shows.

While David Thompson's Thai Food is the bible for Thai food. On American soil we don't yet have the Thai food ambassador like there has been Julia Child for French, Kitty Morse for Moroccan or Diana Kennedy for Mexican. Erik M is a likely candidate to pull it off such a task with enthusiasm, intelligence and personality to bridge the culture gap between ourselves and Thai culture and food.

I'm just sitting in my armchair waiting for the show to begin.

Regards,

sazerac wrote:Erik M.'s invaluable expertise and commentary are prominent in the segment.

Sazerac

Thanks for the link, I just listened to the show, which was very interesting. Steve D asked several good questions, Erik was his usual articulate, informative, engaging self, and I even learned a thing or two.

Enjoy,
Gary

"Regular guy" GWiv has another good soundbite in today's Sun-Times

Chicagoan Gary Wiviott eats out several times a week but considers himself a regular guy, not a dining elitist. Still, he finds the allure of white truffles, with their unique earthy aroma, irresistible.

"I do manage to eat them a couple times a year," said Wiviott, founder of lthforum.com, a Chicago-based food chat site. "I close my eyes, take a big sigh and enjoy the moment because it's very fleeting.

Full article here

Cathy2 wrote:
While David Thompson's Thai Food is the bible for Thai food.

Is anyone familiar with Victor Sodsook's True Thai: The Modern Art of Thai Cooking? How does it compare to Thompson? I have Sodsook's book & have recently cracked it open again after a long hiatus on my shelf. It seems authentic & a really good resource for learning about Thai cuisine. It would be nice to have more photos though. I guess I'm spoiled by all the food-porn-school of cookbooks that have come out over the last few years.

Ann Fisher wrote:"Regular guy" GWiv has another good soundbite in today's Sun-Times

And a little more John Kass love in the Trib, in the context of a column that is really an LTH-worthy plug of a Houston BBQ joint:

John Kass wrote:Thelma's was recommended to me by Gary Wiviott, Chicago's doctor of ribs. Gary said I should visit Thelma's, and as always when it comes to barbecue, the doctor was correct.