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This actually reminds me of another point about media consumption: everyone says they "don't watch TV" and yet by all measures people are consuming more video than ever between television and the Web. Funny. Funnier is a phenomenon that's seen when individual media markets move from a diary-based measurement system where people write down what they watch (or think they watch) to a system where machines record what televisions are actually tuned to. Anyone want to guess what the results are? To make a gross oversimplification, let's just say PBS isn't exactly helped and reality shows aren't exactly hurt. However, today's media-savvy consumers are catching on. Nielsen has met a lot of resistance when they've asked to meter PC usage in their TV sample homes. I guess people don't want others to see what they're REALLY using the Internet for. Those "other" people of course. I'm sure egulleters only go online to come here, do legitmate research, etc. ← But those tv recording devices aren't necessarily saying who is watching what in a household, are they? We have 5 people in our home and at least one tv is frequently on though rarely on the FN. I tend to watch sports and tivo shows that I want to watch so I can watch them when I can. There aren't too many of those though. The rest of my family tends to watch things completely different, especially my 8yo son.

The Conference that I left Gaudard's presentation for, "The Genome of Nouvelle Cuisine in the West" was quite interesting. I will be covering it more extensively elsewhere, but wanted to include it in this topic with a simple mention. Of note, eGullet Society member, VSerna, was a member of the distinguished panel collected to discuss the topic, a project outlining the recent culinary history of of Europe, the Americas and other predominantly western cultures as put forth by the Catalan journalist, Pau Arenós. I finally was able to meet Victor at the end of this session (this opportunity was one of the reasons I particularly wished to attend), but unfortunately I was unable to meet up with him again before the end of the week. This effectively finished my day at the conference as I had to get back to my hotel to freshen up before dinner.

Given the current low availability and high price of North Atlantic cod, I wonder if McD's is still using cod for the sandwich or if it is truly now generic North Atlantic whitefish or perhaps not even North Atlantic whitefish anymore? Given the depressed state of that fishery, they probably should be using some other fish at least until the cod population (hopefully) rebounds.

Sébastien Gaudard Sébastien Gaudard of Delicar at the Bon Marché in Paris is perhaps most well known for his monochromatic dishes that blend sweet and savory. Delicabar was one of the first restaurants to advance the addition of savory items to what is essentially a dessert oriented restaurant, much like Espai Sucre in Barcelona and Tailor and P*ong in NYC. I enjoyed the lunch at Delicabar in 2005 that I had with my family, P'tipois and her son. Although the food was monochromatic, the flavors were balanced and good. Unfortunately, the program in the main auditorium was running late and there was a roundtable discussion that I needed to get to. With that in mind, plus the fact that I have experienced some of Chef Gaudard's fine cooking, I departed for the other discussion.

Thank you for adding the details that I could not remember. I am envious of your meal. I will get there sometime in the not too distant future (I hope). Scandinavia, Sweden and Denmark in particular, have bounded to the top of my list for culinary destinations I hope to visit. Unfortunately, the earliest I can possibly get there won't be until the summer of 2009 if then.

My report with photos of Mathias Dahlgren at Madrid Fusion can be found here.

Unfortunately, this sounds like a case of throwing the baby out with the bath water. Sure, one gets rid of much (though not all) of the caffeine, but it it must, I would think and as Rob suggested, come at considerable expense of some of the other nuances from the tea.

Mathias Dahlgren The second of Scandinavia's rising culinary stars ascended to the stage for his demonstration of "Natural Cuisine." Mathias Dahlgren, formerly of the restaurant Bon Lloc, which just by virtue of its Catalan name showed a strong influence of his experience with and fascination of things Catalan, but now with an eponymous restaurant in Stockholm considered by many to be the best restaurant in that city and indeed now one of the finest in the world was that man. Dahlgren's new restaurant, Mathias Dahlgren, is located in The Grand Hotel in Stockholm. His focus was on using fresh, daily ingredients from local purveyors to forge a new identity for Swedish cooking. Like all the Scandinavian chefs, Dahlgren spoke and presented in English and elucidated his gastronomic philosophy: He too showed video, but he was the first to offer samples of specific ingredients and dishes to members of the audience. Passing around samples to the audience Samples of crisps, cheese and butter on bread were passed around for audience members to sample. I had butter on rye, which was very good, though in this context not profound. Additional samples. The individual items are labeled in the photos. I had a chance to taste both the cucumber and the herring. They were not very much like any other examples of these items that I have ever had. The textures were not dissimilar from previous items, but the flavors were much more complex and delicious. He also provided a dish he made to a member of the audience to sample, in this case, the audience member was Michael Ritter, a German journalist. Dahlgren prepared wild white salmon with caviar, sour cream, fresh and pickled cucumber, oyster and dill. Dahlgren's bread service. Smoked salmon mayonnaise, pickled yellow beet, fermented cucumber water meringue and salmon roe Based on accounts I've read of his food as well as his presentation, Dahlgren appears to be well on his way to achieving his goals.

I have no doubt that the people who run the Food Network know what is best for their bottom line and act accordingly. All I can say is that there is very little on there that I find interesting nowadays. As such, I very rarely watch it. To me, the most interesting food shows now are on PBS.

One point about Pierangelini's presentation is that it was essentially a video presentation with nothing prepared onstage.

The youtube link didn't work for me, but this link from NBC should allow one to view the entire Feb. 12th episode of late Night with Conan O'Brien that features Jose Andres making a special drink created especially for the show and Valentine's Day. While the drink appears to be a bit too much on the sweet side for my tastes, it does seem to have some magically amorous properties if the clip is any indication. The segment is quite funny.

Dahlgren is up next in my report on Madrid Fusion 2008 when I can get to it. He was very impressive.

Because there ws so much going on and so many people to meet and talked to, I missed what likely would have been a very interesting presentation from Marcos Moran of Casa Gerardo in Asturias on marine Trash-cooking: using the left-overs of fish. I remember Marcos' high energy level from the Spain and the World Table Conference in California. It would not be the last presentation that I would have preferred not to miss but did. As I said, there was simply way too much going on to be able to get to everything and I did want to experience s much of the different parts of this conference as I could. I did make it to the presentation of Fulvio Pierangelini of Gambero Rosso in San Vincenzo, Italy. He spoke and showed a video on his culinary aesthetic philosophy entitled, "The Aesthetics of Gastronomic Creativity." Fulvio Pierangelini Pierangelini stressed simplicity as the end result, albeit a deceptive simplicity. An interesting aspect of his presentation was a discussion on making and using chickpea flour for pasta so that people with celiac disease could eat it.

There were a variety of sponsored cooking contests throughout the conference. I caught part of one "Creative Cuisine Using Italian Ingredients" sponsored by Gusti Negrini. Amongst the judges were Ignacio Medina, Nicoletta Negrini, Juanma Bellver, Elena Arzak and Alfredo Russo. I am not sure who the two female judges are on the far end. The winner of the contest was Enrique Martinez López, chef of the restaurant Gingko in Murcia for his recipe called "Parmigiano Cloud." Other contest winners included Juan Antonio Villamor, chef of the restaurant Fundición in Burgos, in the V Designer Sandwichs Contest sponsored by Berlys Alimentación for his sandwich of "farm raised chicken tostada, goat cheese aioli, crispy rice, an apple and foie gras salad and Julio Barbé Cucó of Medems Catering in Madrid, in the IV Designer Tapas Contest sponsored by Cervezas Mahou - San Miguel for his "Ox tataki with padrón peppers stock and white wasabi";

I took a few photos at the lunch sponsored by the Comunidad Foral de Navarra. Unfortunately my recollection does not extend back to the specifics of the dishes I photographed. They were tasty, however. Elena Arzak enjoying a bite while chatting with Quique Dacosta and others. Gerry Dawes with José "Pitu" Perramón, former Handball goalkeeper for FC Barcelona, Maria José San Roman and Javier de las Muelas, noted mixologist from Barcelona.

I can't wait to return, myself!

Where is it?

No, but Asian cuisine already has a much higher profile in the City and many good to great restaurants. While there may be good restaurants serving various African cuisines in the City, there is not one with a high profile. I haven't eaten at Merkato and have no real idea whether or not it is any good. It may very well turn out to be another Spice Market after all the involvement of J-G didn't keep that from being elevated. However, I suspect that Samuelsson has more personally invested and not necessarily financially in this endeavor. I will base judgment on the food and give the restaurant some time to find its legs. Having had the cuisines of South Africa while there, I know that there is great potential from that area alone. Whether MS achieves that potential I can only hope. He does appear to have the talent and skill necessary for the job.

Why do you say that? Even if it is not the greatest restaurant in the world, it should bring a higher profile to some worthwhile African cuisines.

Actually there is no such thing as "African Brasserie" food, it just reflects the pervasive silliness in the food biz by using marketing niches that are non existent. Even if you were to ignore the use of the term brasserie, the food isn't hardly comprehensive enough to reflect more that 3 countries out of over 50 in Africa for the restaurant to be called "African". It may be African inspired but it is definitely not African. ← This is certainly true but that never stopped restaurants serving food from the Punjab being called "Indian" or northern or Italian foods being known as generic "Italian." Therefore it should be no surprise that the various regional cuisines of Africa should be represented by only a few (at least in this case). OTOH, it is good to see recognition of any sort of African cuisine on a larger and more visible scale in the market of NYC.

It was interesting to observe the immediate post-award dynamics as the auditorium was breaking up for lunch. Blumenthal and Adria exchange ideas... ...as do Adria and Hattori. Arzak and Arguiñano have a laugh. Everyone mingles ...and pose for photos - Blumenthal and Hattori Blumenthal, Adria, Robuchon and Hattori Robuchon gave some autographs and greeted familiar faces in the crowd. Johnny Iuzzini watches as Elena Arzak greets Jeffrey Steingarten, Andoni Luis Aduriz chats with Oriol Castro from elBulli.

From L to R: Arzak, Tim Mälzer, Arguiñano, Claus Meyer, Blumenthal, Adria, Robuchon and Hattori. Missing from the photo is the U.S. Ambassador to Spain, Eduardo Aguirre, who accepted the award on behalf of Emeril Lagasse.

Heston Blumenthal bounded up from the front of the stage to accept his award from the mayor. Arguiñano gave a brief thank you speech. Blumenthal, Robuchon and Yukio Hattori from the original Japanese Iron Chef Arzak and Adria look on as... ...Mayor Ruiz-Gallardón gives a welcoming speech formally opening the Conference.

Immediately following Adria's presentation the Madrid Fusión organizers held a special Tribute to Television Chefs from various countries. No, Rachel Ray did not represent the US. His Excellency, the mayor of madrid D. Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, Ferran Adria and Juan Marie Arzak With Adria, Arzak and the mayor on stage with the Capels and others to welcome the recipients, each was called up one by one to accept their awards. The recipients included Emeril Lagasse (US), Tim Mälzer (Germany), Yukio Hattori (Japan), Claus Meyer (Denmark), Joël Robuchon (France) and, from Spain, Karlos Arguiñano. Arguiñano had a particularly warm reception from his countrymen and the largely Spanish audience. Adria and Arzak appeared to admire Joel Robuchon's sartorial taste in addition to his culinary abilities. to be continued...

Regarding Rene Redzepi and Noma, patience my friend . Adria used the microwave for a number of dishes. The one he described most clearly was the black sesame and miso cake from 2007. Unfortunately, I did not get any good photos of this from his presentation, but here is a photo of the finished product taken at my dinner there this past May. The preparation of this dish is to form a sesame paste by roasting black sesame seeds in a skillet, blending it with egg whites, yolks, sugar and flour until smooth and transferring the mixture after straining to a siphon. This is then used to fill beakers that have had spaces pre-cut in their bases before placing in the microwave at full power for 40 seconds. The cakes are then removed and set aside in an airtight container. What comes out are very light, airy and spongy cakes with intense sesame flavor.