Slowly, but surely, I’m becoming a bonafide foodie. It’s pretty unbelievable considering less than a year ago, my idea of preparing dinner was ordering in pizza.
I can’t pinpoint the moment of transformation, but I now care about where my food comes from and my eyes no longer glaze over when someone describes what they cooked for dinner last night. I don’t have the credentials to be a foodie, but I’ve got the interest. In other words, I still can’t properly identify radicchio and I have no idea what to do with one, but I’m curious and I’m learning.
Brooklyn is clearly the right place at the right time for a newbie foodie like me. In addition to the exciting “New Brooklyn Cuisine” being served at restaurants such as Applewood and al di la, there is also a loosely formed community of home cooks in Brooklyn.
I always thought of foodies as snobbish, but the food folks I’m getting to know are more than happy to share their knowledge and their love of cooking and eating.
I’m inspired by Brooklynites like writer Cathy Erway, who chronicles her attempt to not eat out in New York in her aptly named blog Not Eating Out in New York (noteatingoutinny.com) (as well as the soon-to-be-released book “The Art of Eating In: How I Learned to Stop Spending and Love the Stove.”
Erway occasionally teaches classes at The Brooklyn Kitchen, the Williamsburg-based kitchen supply store. Now that the G stops at 7th Avenue, I’ve got no excuse not to make the trip to Brooklyn Kitchen’s sibling The Meat Hook, where you can buy fresh made sausages daily.
Gowanus music venue The Bell House has also become an official meeting (and competing) place for the new Brooklyn food community. It makes sense then that Erway will be holding her book publication there on February 18th. In addition to reading from her new book, Erway will preside over a “Bruschetta Takedown.” I can’t wait to experience that firsthand.