Chef as Artist

   I got interested in Jamie Simpson, who became executive chef for the Culinary Vegetable Institute in Milan, Ohio, earlier this year, when he did a photo shoot at Taxel Image Group. My husband came home and told me he'd just met the most unusual and creative individual. So I called Simpson and our conversation confirmed that impression.

   "When I cook," says Simpson, "I want to create an experience, not just another meal. To explain what he means, he describes an imaginary walk through a field in autumn. "The grass is wet. I hear a pheasant in the cornstalks. Green walnuts are falling from the trees and wild fox grapes are raisining in the sun.  He'll use all this, literally and figuratively, to inspire and prepare a menu that captures the moment, a dinner that, he says, "is about a time, place, and feeling."

   His plates are visually stunning: delicate, detailed, and abstract. Assembled with painstaking precision, a painter's eye for color and form, and a storyteller's sensibility, they reveal a palpable sense of intensity and focus. Hardly what you'd expect from a guy who started out as a rock musician and now tends to nine beehives, a pair of Mangalista pigs and plots of heirloom French pumpkins, quinoa and Peruvian corn. Those endeavors are personal pursuits, his private farm-to-table explorations done when he's not busy cooking for and with visiting chefs and experimenting in the kitchen with product from Chef's Garden, the parent company that runs the Vegetable Institute and grower of specialty vegetables and herbs.

  Simpson's excited about being part of the second annual Roots Conference coming up in October at the Vegetable Institute. The keynote speaker will be acclaimed chef Jose Andres and topics to be covered in various sessions include indigenous cuisine, food taboos, food politics and policy, and the intersect of tradition and technology. Although the event is aimed primarily at industry professionals, food enthusiasts are also welcome. Presenters will come from around the country and the world, and many are big names in their fields. Simpson's in awe of the company he'll be keeping. "Myself and Max Bilet, co-author of Modernist Cuisine, will be headlining the conference," Simpson wrote in an email. "The gravity of presenting on a level like this is weighing pretty heavy right now. We will be speaking on art and food." That's a talk I'd like to hear. After my phone exchange with him and time spent looking at a photo collection of Simpson's dishes, I'm certain he'll bring great insight and a touch of poetry to the subject.

Happiest Hour

Photo by Barney Taxel, Taxel Image Group

 
The dining room at The Culinary Vegetable Institute in Milan was packed on Saturday evening. The vegan dinner, a first here, was a sellout, a fact that both amazed and delighted Anna Marie Harouvis, lead chef and creator of the Greek-inspired meal. Grinning and glowing, the exuberant evangelist of fruit and vegetable-centric eating told the crowd it was the happiest night of her life. She couldn't get over how many people turned out for what was a most unusual and esoteric menu. I'm sure she felt even better as they were leaving, when satisfied guests stood in line to offer compliments and congratulations.

Photo by Barney Taxel, Taxel Image Group

 
Harouvis, who produces Anna in the Raw fresh juices, had challenged herself to make dishes rooted in her family heritage without using meat, dairy products or eggs. It was also gluten-free, and some elements were raw. Not an easy task. But she pulled it off, serving her own versions of spanakopita, moussaka, rice pudding and a reinvented baklava with squash blossoms standing in for phyllo dough. We also feasted on olive "bread," and zucchini "muffins," pickled vegetables, hummus, cashew "cheese," grape leaves filled with minced cauliflower, mushroom cakes with spicy aioli and micro-greens, and raw ginger "ice cream" with strawberries and rhubarb.
   
It takes a lot of help to produce and serve beautifully plated food for 130 people. Harouvis had a stellar volunteer lineup to assist in the kitchen — a testament to how loved and respected she is in the local culinary community. Those volunteers included the new chef at CVI, Jamie Simpson, and his chef de cuisine Ulfet Ralph; Jill Vedaa, executive chef at Rockefellers, who brought along her new employee, Aubrey Johansen; Jennifer Plank, co-executive chef at Toast; John Selick, executive chef of Sodexo USA and his wife, Allysun Doty; Terry Bell, team chef for the Cavs; and Lanny Chin, formerly at Lago and soon on his way to Alaska. My compliments and apologies to all those hard working folks who I don't know and didn't name.

Photo by Barney Taxel, Taxel Image Group

 
The event was part of the Earth to Table series at CVI, a beautiful place to be on a summer night, with other chefs and other menus to come in June, July and August. CVI also used to be the site of an annual food and wine extravaganza to raise money for their educational efforts. But this year the Veggie U fundraiser will be held at Tri-C Hospitality Management Center and Pura Vida downtown on Public Square on July 19. No doubt it will be another not to be missed pleasure.

Locavore Lesson Plan

When Laura Adiletta left Cleveland in 2009, she had no idea she would make a return under such delicious circumstances.

Or that she would bring 33 high school students from Marianapolis Preparatory School in Connecticut  with her.

This week Adiletta is taking the students on a tour of the city as she teaches them about sustainable foods.

“The title of the course is Taste of Cleveland," explains Adiletta, who is also a chef at Vanilla Bean Cafe in Pomfret, Conn.  "So not only will they get a taste of the food and the stuff that’s growing around Cleveland, they’re also getting to experience the culture that really makes Cleveland unique.”




A few places on their packed itinerary include the Flying Fig, Greenhouse Tavern, and Spice Kitchen & Bar, where they will be treated to chef-led talks and tours. They’ll also get right into the source of their meals by visiting the Culinary Vegetable Institute in Milan, Ohio, and West Side Market’s urban farm.

 Adiletta's history with Cleveland (she graduated from Case Western Reserve University and also worked as an editor at Cleveland Magazine) influenced her decision to use it as an example for her course, but the city's emerging focus on sustainable food also caught her eye.

“I’ve been following the local food in Cleveland for years, really ever since I started cooking,” she says. “I jumped on the opportunity to highlight Cleveland and the food scene that’s brewing there.”

Many of the students Adiletta will be taking around the city are international, so this trip is an opportunity to show those kids there is more to American food than drive-thru fare.

“I want the kids to ask where their food is coming from,” she says. “I want to be an ambassador to American food culture and say we’re not all about McDonald's hamburgers.”

The  local food education doesn't stop with the students. Adiletta and her students are using social media to engage with the community about what they learned. Follow along through Twitter with the @eatloCLE handle and #eatloCLE hashtag and a website made for the trip, eatlocle.com.

Give a Little, Get a Lot

Donate to Veggie U between now and Dec. 23, and you'll be doing more than helping to keep the fourth-grade Earth-to-Table curriculum alive in Cleveland schools — you'll also have a chance to win more than $2,200 worth of gift cards to restaurants and shops around Northeast Ohio.

The promotional fundraiser, run by Cleveland Foodie blogger Michelle Venorsky, raised $3,820 for the nonprofit arm of the Culinary Vegetable Institute last year. These funds saved the program in Cleveland schools. Here's how it works: Just call 419-499-7500 and reference Cleveland Foodie while making a donation. For every $5 you donate to Veggie U between now and Dec. 23, you'll be entered to win (Venorksy will pick a winner at random on Dec. 23). Read more about the fundraiser and prizes on Cleveland Foodie here.

Not familiar with Veggie U and it's great cause? Read Cleveland Magazine's July story about Farmer Lee Jones, here. He's the inspiring man behind Veggie U, the Culinary Vegetable Institute the Chef's Garden, which provides veggies, micro greens and herbs to some of the world's best chefs.

So, what are you waiting for? Give a little to help kids learn how to make better food choices, and enter for a chance to eat great all year long.

Vegging Out

2010 is the 8th year for Veggie U’s annual Food and Wine Celebration. The gourmet extravaganza is a fundraiser for the nonprofit group’s educational programs that help fourth-graders understand the field-to-fork concept and foster healthy eating habits. It takes place at the Culinary Vegetable Institute in Milan, Ohio, on July 17 from 5-9 p.m.

A sort of “tent city” springs up in a meadow outside the 11,000-square-foot facility, surrounded by fields, carefully manicured gardens and a fringe of woodlands. It’s a beautiful spot to enjoy food prepared by acclaimed chefs and wines from a variety of vintners. Everything’s presented station-style, so you can make your way from one table to the next sampling the entire spread over the course of the evening. Cooking demos, wine seminars and a silent auction are also on the schedule.


I’ve been attending since 2005. There was a chef cook-off back then, and I was a judge that year and for a few more after that. The job had its perks — tasting the fabulous creations of the competitors — and its downside — not eating or drinking much of what was on offer under the “the big top,” so I wouldn’t be too full or too snockered to fulfill my official responsibilities. But the real challenge, especially the first time, was mastering the fear that I’d make dumb choices and, thus, reveal that I had no business being a food writing professional. My fellow judges were always heavy hitters in the field, among them someone from Gourmet, a longtime and recently retired restaurant critic for a major newspaper, the associate editor of Food Arts Magazine, a hot NYC restaurateur … you get the idea. The questions that gnawed at me were these: What if I gave high points to a dish they all thought was sub-par or dubbed something a loser that they deemed number one. Happily this never ever happened. But the worry that it would added an angsty edge to being there for me.

Last year I was relieved of those responsibilities and was able to relax and graze. But my husband, photographer Barney Taxel, was working instead. He’d been asked to document the event, and some of his images appear here. This time around we’re both just guests and plan to do nothing but enjoy ourselves. You can too.


Grand Tasting tickets are $175 per person. Spend more, and you get more including VIP access to the pre-party and an after-party. Buy tickets online or call 419-499-7500.
Be sure to come hungry.