There are times when you go to a Media presentation for an event and you wish you had not.
It sure was not the case today with the Press Lunch for NY Food Film Festival.
I was happy to step into the James Beard House for the first time to attend the lunch.
I arrived early so I was invited to cross the kitchen and wait until start time in the back garden.
There was an atmosphere of bonhomie. It went well with the 'Eat the Food you See on The Screen' ethos.
Food set buffet style included Jarlsberg Tarts by Marcus Jernmark of Aquavit who was present, along with spoonfuls of Grits from Jimmy No 43, Snofrisk Sliders by Harry (beef from the Meat Hook in Brooklyn) and Evelyne's Goat Cheese Salad as it used to be served at Restaurant Florent.
Let's not forget Widow's Hole oysters (Greenport, Long Island) shucked one at a time by Phil…
To prevent dehydration we had a Sparkling Point, a nice American bubbly (mostly Chardonnay with some Pinot Noir). The other choice was Bulldog, a British gin. I went for the bubbly.
We then moved to the plat de resistance, a walk through the Festival program by Harry Hawk, the event's chef and George Motz.
The festival will show 39 films in 5 days, their record in 4 years.
Opening night (June 23) will have an Oyster bent.
Thursday June 24 will have an Asian flavor paired with a South Asian Street Food Market by Brad Farmerie of Public.
Friday the 25th is not smoke and mirrors but smoke, ears and ice cream, think Pig Ear sandwich and other Nose to Tail treats balanced with rich flavors of ice-cream by Bruce Becker 'The Ice Cream Picasso', films showing along the same lines.
Saturday under the Brooklyn Bridge, you can witness a parade of the Food Trucks with 14 movies shown from 1:00 to 3:30 PM and 8:30 to 10:00 PM.
On Sunday, make believe you are down south with It's Grits, a movie that was released 32 years ago (you can tell by the styles on display) and last shown in New York, 25 years ago.
In tandem with that, Matt Tims will supervise a Grits Any Style Cooking Competition. Each amateur cook gets 10 pounds of grits. Will anyone come up with a Grit Sculpture?
To conclude the festival the evening will be all Beer and Burgers alongside the Awards Ceremony.
Beer wars will show us how the beer emperors are trying to squeeze the little guys.
I am not sure on what day Florent, Queen of the Meat Market (including interviews with Julianne Moore, Christo, and Isaac Mizrahi) will be shown for its world premiere.
The organizers promise a party as wild as the film is.
I tried to give you as good an overview of the NY Food Film Festival as I could, hopefully I managed to.
I will hopefully manage to report as much as possible from the scene of the crime, June 23 to June 27.
See you there.