Guest Speaker: Heirloom Memories
01 April 2014
A veteran culinary educator recalls mingling among “the beautiful people” at the last annual TomatoFest.
By Jim Gallivan, MAT, CCA, CCP, CFBE
Several years ago, I agreed to write a column every two weeks for the Dover Post News. The idea was to bring up some new and intriguing food topics for the community, and to stimulate interest in Atlantic Culinary Academy in Dover, N.H., as a viable academic entity.
The first article, “Foods in the Attic,” was about heirloom produce, specifically tomatoes, and was written prior to my 16th-annual pilgrimage to TomatoFest in Carmel, Calif.—the premier heirloom-tomato event in the world.
Constant readers know that I now work for The Art Institute of Atlanta. (Say “Atlanna.”) And heirloom tomatoes continue the mystery. Wherever they are grown—with variants of soil, weather, water—they all implicate and intrigue. So, another journey westward for TomatoFest No. 17.
TomatoFest is an invitational event. While I reveled in being one of the 65 chosen ones (mostly chefs from the Monterey Peninsula and the Bay Area),I did enjoy being one of“Inner Circle.” What that meant is that I saw colleagues from the very beginnings of the event, and enjoyed a few fringe benefits, as well.
One, for instance, was being invited to a Saturday evening soiree at a magnificent home on Jack’s Peak (named for Mr. Jack of Monterey—Monterey Jack—get it?). Overlooking Pebble Beach through the wispy fog, this was one of the most incredible places I have ever seen, sort of a Hearst Castle in miniature. Think hacienda with a Thai accent and a heavy dose of taxidermy. Not exactly my cup of tea, but fascinating nevertheless. I just never have gotten into animal-skin rugs with the heads still on.
It was a catered affair, with de rigeur passed hors d’oeuvres in tiny spoons and tossed pizza finished in an Asian-style hearth oven. I was sort of wondering why I was invited. It was a gathering of the beautiful people, the ones who seemingly live in little black dresses and pearls, and in dinner jackets, cummerbunds and spats. I tried to get a look at the guest list to spy where I was on it. My eyeglasses are acting up, but I think I saw my name at the bottom, as “Token Guppy.”
Another fringe benefit was hanging out with Miss Hot Tomato (Tracey Griffith, Melanie’s “little” sister, and a sushi chef in her own right), who was quite the sight with a slinky red dress, red cowboy boots and flaming red hair. She and her accomplices, the Cherry Divas, put on quite the show, shimmying and crooning, “Ain’t nothin’ better than true love and a home-grown tomater.”
Jim Gallivan, MAT, CCA, CCP, CFBE, is the culinary-arts department chair at The Art Institute of Atlanta.
Additional Info
- CAFÉ Talks Podcast Lesson Plan: 1