Hello Tuesday,
Media heavy and brief today. If that’s not your cup of tea, please do write me directly: hello@alisoneroman.com. Thank you.
Let’s get to it…
The Reopening – FYI: Eater’s Elazar Sontag has put together a basic state by state list of reopening dates and rules for restaurants and bars, which should be updated regularly. Sample set of states with future dates set (fox in sox): Connecticut, May 20: “Outdoor dining only, capacity limit TBD; Bars will remain closed.” — Kentucky, May 22: “33 percent capacity; no capacity limit for outdoor dining, tables must be six feet apart; Bars remain closed.” — New Hampshire, May 18: “No dine-in service; outdoor seating reopening for reservation- and call-ahead service; six-foot social distancing measures implemented; six-person party limit; Bars remain closed.” — And Ohio: “Outdoor dining and drinking beginning May 15; dine-in [and bar] service beginning May 21; 10-person party limit; tables must be six feet apart.”
Meanwhile, in Washington State, Seattle Times editor Stefanie Loh reports, “With eight Washington counties now approved to move to Phase 2 under Gov. Jay Inslee’s four-phase plan to reopen the state, the governor’s office Monday released a set of requirements restaurants will have to comply with if they want to reopen for dine-in service… Notably, the 13 criteria that restaurants will have to adhere to in order to reopen for dine-in service during the novel coronavirus pandemic include a stipulation they ‘create a daily log of customers and maintain that daily log for 30 days, including telephone/email contact information, and time in.’ This is to aid in any contact tracing, should that become necessary.”
The Media Iceberg – If you somehow missed the four-day “feud” that was NYT food writer Alison Roman vs Chrissy Tiegen and Marie Kondo, Tim Carman has a pretty exhaustive rundown in the Washington Post. But… Basically, Roman brought her not-too-fancy dinner party voice to an on-the-record interview with the New Consumer’s Dan Frommer, and what was left in print was (paraphrasing here): “Tiegen is a Target sellout content farmer. Kondo is a hypocrite sellout with a funny accent. Me, I’m doing TV and hawking limited edition vintage spoons, which is very different and not selling out because all I want is a nice house upstate.” The fact that both her targets were Asian and women was lost on no one, so Roman was forced to face “baby’s first internet backlash” (her words). That public attention made new space for some long-simmering anger at what Roxana Hadadi called Roman’s participation in (and benefitting from) “the exhausting prevalence of ethnic erasure in popular food culture.” And eventually prompted Roman to post a medium-length apology. (NB: Roman promises to read all feedback at hello@alisoneroman.com, so… say hello!)
There is a lot still being written about this (some thoughtful, some Content!), but since I didn’t know about an apparently famous / controversial recipe called “The Stew” till yesterday, I’m not your best guide through it… I will note that writer / editor Osayi Endolyn smartly summed up one key (recurring) sentiment on Twitter: “If the time/money invested in pushing these white women figures to the forefront was invested in people of color we’d have a a very different lineage of ‘mainstream’ food personalities. Imo, that’s the takeaway from this nonsense. AR is the smoke. But there’s a FIRE below!”
The Media Too – FYI, Texas: “Brittanie Shey is the brand new associate editor at Eater Houston. Shey will assist in Eater Houston and Eater Dallas’s comprehensive coverage of the cities’ dining during these unprecedented times.” Email: brittanie@eater.com. Twitter: @brittanieshey.
The Media Three – The lineup for this year’s Best American Food Writing anthology (guest edited by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt) is out, and series editor Silvia Killingsworth helpfully tweeted out links to (all?) 25 pieces to be included here. Pub date: November 3, 2020. Congrats, all!
For the Somm: The Profile Treatment – For the NYT, Ben Ryder Howe profiles Andy Beckstoffer “a grape grower who has done more than nearly anyone to shape the premium U.S. wine industry…. Starting in the 1980s, Mr. Beckstoffer began seeking… vineyards with records of success going back a century or longer. He now owns six, including To Kalon... For the privilege of squeezing Beckstoffer grapes, winemakers behind labels like Stag’s Leap, Schrader and Realm pay up to $25,000 per ton — more than five times the Napa average. All of which is to say: If the $71 billion California wine industry topples, then Mr. Beckstoffer, who values his empire at $500 million, may have the farthest to fall.”
Wine writer Jon Bonne said on Twitter he would “love to see love to see this piece redone with about 36% more schadenfreude,” but it still has its lines, like: “‘Wine is plant-based,’ Beckstoffer said, shaking his head and picking mirthlessly at a spinach and mushroom burger. ‘Why don’t the millenniums drink it?’” (NB: Most other subjects, I’d see some ageism in that choice of quote, but on full read… seems a fair get.)
And last but not least: A price on their heads – Where are all the smart culture and/or food writers taking on Cameo, the app where people with varying degrees of celebrity sell custom videos of themselves wishing buyers happy birthday or whatever? If you’re bored, I highly recommend a look at the chef’s page — and definitely click into the individual pages for both a “what do they look like now” vibe, and, depending on the person (and you) some… interesting feelings. Random scan sample of who costs what:
Andrew Zimmern $240 (“a portion” goes to No Kid Hungry); Richard Blais $110; Paula Dean $100; Cat Cora $99; Melissa King $89; Carla Hall $60; Marc Murphy $52; Bryan Voltaggio $50; Eric Adjepong $50; Michael Chernow $25; and more…
Maybe the most memorable proposition is (pure coincidence, I promise) Chrissy Tiegen’s mom, Pepper ($100), who says with a wink, “I’m so excited and ready to be a call girl on Cameo. Call me. I’ll do anything.”
And that’s it for today. ICYMI, I went out Friday night in Hong Kong and, bama lama bama loo, it was wild.
I’ll see you here Friday for next Family Meal.
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