The Art of Eatingimn

The 4th Annual West of Western Culinary Festival brings 40 restaurants and more than 50 top chefs
to Phoenix Art Museum over this weekend for the highly anticipated chefs' invitational event,
The Grand Tasting, held outdoors in Dorrance Sculpture Garden.

Cooking classes and food and wine talks go on non-stop both days, while The Wine Table in the Museum's
Great Hall adds over 70 wineries from around the world to make this a culinary arts extravaganza.

Live music completes the garden party atmosphere as guests see the art of the kitchen up close, and chefs take
time to answer questions about ingredients and technique. The informal competition has led to greater extravagance
in food and display each year, as the restaurants try to outshine each other. To see this year's daily lists, look below...

 

West of Western Lectures at Whiteman Hall

12:30 Sat "Edible Communities"
Guest Speakers, Edible Communities: Tracey Ryder, Co-Founder and President; Carole Topalian, Co-Founder and Vice President

Meet the founders of Edible Communities, Tracey Ryder and Carole Topalian, as they present stunning images of local food communities in the United States and Canada and talk about their experiences in helping to save local agriculture. Profiled in the NY Times and Saveur, Edible Communities (ECI) is the fastest-growing local food publication in North America. The publishing and information services company creates editorially rich, community-based, local-foods publications in over 50 distinct culinary regions throughout the U.S. and Canada. Through its publications, supporting websites, and events, the company connects consumers with family farmers, growers, chefs, and food artisans of all kinds. ECI believes that knowing where our food comes from is a powerful thing.
www.ediblecommunities.com

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2:00 Sat "Native Communities, Native Foods"
Guest Speaker: Terrol Dew Johnson, Co-Founder, TOCA

Terrol Johnson is a an internationally acclaimed basket maker and the co-founder of TOCA, Tohono O'odham Community Action. His presentation will trace the health predicaments of the Tohono O'odham people, who have one of the highest rates of diabetes, and the creation of TOCA to pursue community health by rejuvenating cultural traditions and farming native foods.
www.tocaonline.org

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3:00 Sat "Environmentally Responsible Wine"
Guest Speaker: Rodney Schatz, owner of Peltier Station Winery

Discussion of the creation of a co-operative of growers in Lodi, California that follow environmentally responsible growing practices.
www.peltierstation.com

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5:00 Film: King Corn
Whiteman Hall

King Corn is a feature documentary about two friends, one acre of corn, and the subsidized crop that drives our fast-food nation. Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis, best friends from college on the east coast, move to the heartland to learn where their food comes from. With the help of friendly neighbors, genetically modified seeds, and powerful herbicides, they plant and grow a bumper crop of America’s most-productive, most-subsidized grain on one acre of Iowa soil. But when they try to follow their pile of corn into the food system, what they find raises troubling questions about how we eat—and how we farm. www.kingcorn.net

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Sushi knife demo on the main stage

2:30 Sat
Chef Hiro Taniguchi demonstrates the Japanese art of sushi knives. Chef Tanaguchi will be opening his new restaurant Kizake in Chandler later this spring.

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Cooking Classes in Dorrance Sculpture Garden

1:30 Sat Mary Paganelli, TOCA
Children’s Cooking

2:30 Sat Olashawn Hasadinratana,
Wild Thaiger

3:30 Sat Scott Tompkins, Skye

 

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Seminars & Discussions- Children's Gallery

1:00 Sat
"Unraveling the colors of tea or,
What makes white tea white?"

Bret Wingert from Souvia Tea will lead a mini tea tasting and talk about the unique characteristics of white, green and black teas and how their origins and processing differ.

2:00 Sat
"Chocolate Love"

Join local food writer Sloane Burwell in tasting her favorite chocolates produced right here in the Valley. If you're a fellow chocoholic you'll love this class.

3:00 Sat
"Planting the Seeds for our Culinary Future"

This year Native Seeds/SEARCH celebrates 25 years of seed conservation, saving the genetic stock for the most local, nutritious and sustainable foods known in this Southwest region - traditional foods time-tested for centuries by pioneer families, Latino and Native communities. Creative chefs and home gourmets can find these heirloom vegetables and fruits
through the efforts of Native Seeds/SEARCH. Join Martha Burgess as she presents background on the work of Native Seeds/SEARCH in saving and protecting the heirloom seeds of this region.

 

West of Western Lectures at Whiteman Hall

3:00 Sun “The Transference of the Signature”
Guest Speaker: Exec. Chef Ivan Flowers, Amara Resort and Spa, Sedona: Gallery on Oak Creek

A concept that is shared by both the culinary and visual arts is the notion of the "signature," that special, undefinable quality that identifies a painting--or a restaurant course--as being truly one particular artist's creation. Chef Ivan Flowers will explain how Chefs de Cuisine, Sous Chefs, and other members of a kitchen crew are taught to make dishes that taste and look exactly the same as those created by the Executive Chef, demonstrating that the studio method of making art in collaborative groups is alive and well in fine dining kitchens. Moderated by Thomas Loughman, Curator of European Art, Phoenix Art Museum.

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4:00 Sun “Rotations”
Guest Speaker: Matthew Moore, visual artist and farmer

Matthew Moore has been making land art documented by aerial photography that depicts the transformation of farmland into suburban development, specifically, his own family farm of four generations. Using growing crops as his media, he has made large models in the remaining family grain fields of the houses and subdivisions that are taking the place of the farm, as the land is gradually sold off to builders. Soon, he will have no land left to document this change. The farm will be suburbia.
Artist website: urbanplough.com

 

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Cooking Classes in Dorrance Sculpture Garden

1:30 Sun Amee Hoge from Your Culinary Companion
Children's Cooking

2:30 Sun Lionel Geuskens, Trente-Cinq 35

3:30 Sun Nephi Craig and Pascal Dionot from Classic Cooking

Native American Ingredients Meet French Techniques
Join Chefs Nephi Craig and Pascal Dionot from Classic Cooking as they teach you how to cook a special Native American Three Sisters dish.

4:00 Sun Matt Carter, Zinc Bistro

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Seminars & Discussions- Children's Gallery

12:15 Sun
"Cow vs. Goat - Udderly Delicious Fresh Arizona Cheeses"

Edible Phoenix editor Pamela Hamilton leads a tasting and discussion of fresh Arizona cheeses made with cow's and goat's milk from Rainbow Valley Nursery and other Arizona cheesemakers.

1:00 Sun
"Herbs and Spices, Seasonings and Sauces"

Sur La Table chef Carol Blonder reveals secrets for spicing up your food and your life in this special tasting class.

2:00 Sun The Great Hall
"Pairing Wine with Asian and Vegan Dishes"

Chef Deborah Knight and General Manager Matt Rinn from Mosaic answer the sometimes thorny question of what to drink with spicy food and non-meat dishes. You'll sample Chef Knight's festival dishes with Rinn's wine recommendations. 21 and over only please.

3:00 Sun
"Healthy Chocolate Indulgences"

Who would think that a chocolate indulgence, free of refined sugar, and with so few ingredients, could taste so good? Chef Rachel will show you how to satisfy your sweet tooth and chocolate desires with a recipe from her award-winning book, The Garden of Eating, that relies on Arizona-grown dates, antioxidant-rich unsweetened chocolate, nuts, and a little
creativity.

4:00 Sun
"Dispelling the Myth of Rosé"

Kate LeNormand, CWE, CSW, talks about why rosé is
"the new white," and how it pairs with cuisine more
exciting than airplane food.

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Special Programming by Phoenix Art Museum

Both Days-

Art activities for children, Noon- 3pm

Docent led Museum tours for Festival guests: 12:30, 2:30, 3:30