The 92nd St Y has a trio of great food talks this May you might want to think about attending:
Fergus Henderson, Mario Batali and Lidia Bastianich: Adventurous Eating
Gael Greene, moderator
Wed, May 4, 8:00 pm, $25
"Join this group of intrepid tasters and find out more about the world’s most unusual meals. Fergus Henderson is the chef of the UK’s acclaimed restaurant St. John and author of The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating. Mario Batali is star of TV’s Molto Mario and chef-owner of the New York restaurants Babbo, Lupa, Esca and Otto Enoteca Pizzeria. His new book is called Molto Italiano. Lidia Bastianich is chef-owner of Felidia, host of the popular Public Television series Lidia’s Family Table and author of a new book, Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen. Food writer and critic Gael Greene moderates. Her memoir, Insatiable, will be published in spring 2006."
Ruth Reichl in Conversation with Liz Smith: Food and Dishing
Wed, May 18, 8:00 pm, $25
"Ruth Reichl is the editor-in-chief of Gourmet and the author of the bestsellers Tender at the Bone and Comfort Me With Apples. Her most recent memoir is Garlic & Sapphires. She has been the restaurant critic at The New York Times and the food editor and restaurant critic at the Los Angeles Times."
This next one has already sold out (New Yorkers are cheese-crazed, after all) but I thought you should know about it anyway. If you really really really want to go, perhaps you can beg or pay for someone's spare ticket on Craigslist or outside the 92nd St Y right before the event; also the Y sometimes releases a bunch of tickets an hour before events at the box office, so give them a call!
Steven Jenkins: The Master Cheesemonger’s Favorite Cheeses
Sat, May 14, 7:30 pm, $45
"If you love cheese and wine, this program is for you. Learn all about cheeses (and the wines that love them) from Steven Jenkins, Fairway Market’s king of queso, and Joshua Wesson, Best Cellars’ guru of grapes. Jenkins will present nine cheeses in a comfortable and relaxed setting and Wesson will pour a quartet of quaffs to accompany them. Come hungry and ready to discover a new world of great tastes. Jenkins, author of Cheese Primer, was the first American to be inducted into France’s ancient and elite Guilde du St.Uguzon in 1976. His show, The Jenkins Chronicles, can be heard on NPR’s The Splendid Table."