David Rosengarten

Gosh, I get this kind of question a lot--but I'm afraid I'm a lousy video archivist! Contact me thrugh my website, www.davidrosengarten.com, and I will try to get you some info. And I hope you've seen the recent Rosengarten Report that had a huge story on Indian food (including garam masala!) You can get info from the web site about acquiring that newsletter, or you can call 800.832.2330 for info (9-5 Eastern time M-F)

It is my pleasure to participate! And thank you so much for your very kind words...... The frank answer to your question is.....I'm restlessly curious about everything! Even when I feel I "know" a cuisine fairly well--I still get staggered by new discoveries. I can't tell you how many "new" things I've found in recent years in France, in Italy, in Mexico! But if you're asking for big blank areas that interest me.....well, Africa and South America are two continents I haven't visited much. I'd love to learn more about food in Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Senegal, Tunisia, Ethiopia. Those are the stand-out places I'd like to explore. Of course, my curiosity for Asia never wanes. I'd like to go into rural regions of Thailand, which I've not done. I want to know more about Vietnamese cuisine. And, someday, I'd love to learn more about Indonesia and the Philippines. Big list!

Ah, the theater! Well.....first of all......my background in theater serves me every day when I do TV! And it's not just the performing thing--because I wasn't really a performer. It's more the director thing, the conceptualization thing. I love making Tv food segments into small works of art (or at least trying!) There are also a couple of screenplays in my drawer that I'm really excited about. As soon as I get a chance to polish 'em up..... Maybe the most important thing I do with my theatre background.....is get my daughters interested! They are every bit as amazing in thie film and theatre criticism as they are in their restaurant criticism! Sarah, the younger, and I saw three versions of The Winter's Tale last fall: Stratford, England, Washington, D.C., and NYC. She recites speeches from the play.....and our idea of a good time is reading act three of Hamlet together! OK. Theatre district eats. Esca. Chimichurri Grill. Virgil's BBQ. Utsav. Churrascaria Plataforma. Those would be my top picks!

Some of my greatest times with my daughters involve food and cooking! It's almost embarrassing to tell you what foodies they've become! I think they're embarrassed by it! When we dine alone, all we talk about is the texture of this, the taste of that. etc. There's foie gras. raw shellfish, tongue, Indian food, you name it. When the girls dine with their friends--it's hamburgers--and conversation about anything else! One of my favorite moments took place last summer. We were all staying at a beautiful lakeside house in rural Iceland, surrounded by a blueberry patch. There were other fruits as well. In the refrigerator was skyr, a delicious Icelandic dairy product that tastes a little like rich yogurt. The girls spent an hour, during a beautiful August twilight, arranging various plates with the fruit and blueberries they had picked, and skyr, trying to out-do each other with the most beautiful composition. I was in the happy position of being judge! Of course, as I mentioned in another response--their favorite food is sushi! The more esoteric the better!

This is not my specialty......but I do have a few thoughts on the subject: All life is sacred. And yet.....in the system we were dealt, it is imperative that living things derive sustenance from other things that live. Vegetarians scoff at carnivores--but harvesting a tomato is also ending the life of a living thing. The food chain seems to me a natural order, a means of survival; I don't think about it too deeply, but I do accept it as a necessary part of our lives. Pesticides, genetically altered foods, et al.--I'm for natural ways. I don't get crazy about some winemaker spraying a little SO2 on the grapes--but I root all I can for natural methods of production.

Dear Concerned Foodie, I share your concern! Though....frankly.....the implications of your letter are almost too much to bear! Thanks for even implying the things you have. But I don't think it's going to take any one person to steer us back to true gastronomic waters. I do think that there's some room for optimism: I see more foodies, all the time, getting truly interested in real food, real traditions. Chefs in France right now (I've been there three times in the last year) are returning to old flavors, old ways. This will spread, I hope. Anyway.....I'm not sure many will notice where my ark is headed.....but you can jump on it anytime!

Dear Prasad, I enjoyed cooking with you too, in Stamford, CT! As you know, I'm an Indian-food freak. I got hooked 30 years ago, just by going to a dreary, tired, very old-fashioned neighborhood Indian restaurant. The food was not great Indian food--but I could see in it the amazing possibilities that this food had. Soon after that I went to London for the first time--where Indian restaurants are on every corner, with much better food--and fell totally in love. I have since been to India, and am firmly convinced that Indian cuisine is among the 4 or 5 most exciting cuisines in the world. I'm also convinced that Americans would love this cuisine, if they knew it. I can't tell you how many times people have told me they don't like Indian food --"I don't like curry," they usually say--and then have had a total conversion after I'm dragged them to a good Indian restaurant (it happened just the other night at Bay Leaf, in Manhattan.) As restaurants learn to serve fresher food, more varied food, and food that reflects the amazing regional diversity in India, I think Americans will start catching on. I'm a little concerned about the "Indian fusion" movement--not that the restaurants aren't good. But with so much education needing to be done on the subject of authentic Indian food--is it really time to start riffing? I think indian-cuisine neophytes find it confusing.

About three years ago, I happened to meet, at a trade show, the inventor of the George Foreman grill. He's a great guy who, as it happens, was interested in inventing something for me! We formed a company, called Culinary Solutions, and have been developing new ideas in cooking equipment. The survey you received was based on that project; we wanted to see what kinds of equipment people might be looking for. Nothing is ready yet......but I'm hoping that within the next year something might be on the market! Look for a french-fryer that makes the greatest french fries at home, easily! (No, we won't call it The Freedom Fryer!)

Thank you so much for your kind words! Reviewing restaurants regularly is an amazing job.....but a hard one. Frankly, I hadn't anticipated how hard it would be! But I made it really hard on myself.....because I refused to review a restaurant unless I had tasted almost everything on the menu--which often meant at least 5-6 visits! I set the record with my review of Le Cirque--11 visits! (Which yielded, I think, the most accurate restaurant review I've ever written.) To keep up, I had to dine out literally every night--because in addition to reviewing three restaurants a month (that's about 18 visits), I would drop in on at least a dozen restaurants a month that I ultimately decided not to review. I loved the cracking-the-nut part of the job. My purpose, as restaurant viewer, was always to let the reader know why THIS restaurant is different, idiosyncratic, unique. Sometimes I wouldn't know until my fifth visit. But I loved working towards the epiphany--and finally having it! And expressing it! The "recognition" problem was a little tricky.....but I had my ways. I loved sending friends to keep my reservation at 8PM, then showing up myself at 9PM. I got to hear from these trusted advisers a whole hour's worth of stories about how unrecognized people get treated! After reviewing for four years or so.....I was burnt out! But I didn't want to let down Gail Zweigenthal, who had hired me. When Gail got pushed out, and Ruth came in.....it was the perfect moment to resign. But.....I didn't want to sever my connection with GOURMET. Now, I suspected that Ruth had her own agenda--she was bringing Jonathan Gold's wife in from California, and I figured she'd probably want to hire Jonathan (who's a damned fine food writer!) So I invited Ruth (whom I hardly knew) to breakfast, and I told her that I was going to make things very easy for her! In exchange, I asked only to be on the masthead as contributing editor, and to contribute once or twice a year. She happily accepted, we shook hands, and finished our bagels. I opened GOURMET two or three months later, and saw that my name had been dropped from the masthead. Ruth and I hadn't talked between breakfast and that moment.....or since.

Oh, yeah....I loved that roast chicken show too! I can't remember which bistro in Paris.....but it was a chef there who told me about the goose fat miracle. Don't you agree? It really works! Brings out the soul of poultry! Then I made the second discovery on my own. Someone had sent me this really cheesy-looking countertop "oven" that I was about to ignore. But.....I was working on roast chicken at the time.....so I figured: why not pop one (goose-fat-soaked) bird in this thing? Oh.....my.....God! The skin was SO crisp! The meat, even the breast, was SO juicy! Then I realized: this cheesy thing was a countertop version of a convection oven! That was it for me: goose fat and convection for any roast chicken forevermore. Plus: last year I discovered my favorite American chicken. You need this! It's raised in Nebraska, and you can get all the info from a back issue of my newsletter, The Rosengarten Report. They will ship it right to your door! (You're own your own for the convection oven!)

Oh my God! I didn't like your Kona! I hope I was polite! Can we arrange for me to try again? (Because I love great Kona!) Sorry about that.... Thanks so much for your gracious compliments. I'm hoping to get something going on PBS......I don't think the Food Network thing is going to happen. They have the pressure of appealing to REALLY big audiences; in their judgment, TASTE was a show for a limited number of people who really care about food. I don't agree.....but that's show biz! Ah, the girls. As I told another participant in this Q&A, they're 13 and 11 now. They are so beautiful.....and so wordly......and so sophisticated! We travel all over the world: France, England, Spain, Hawaii, Iceland.....all in the last year! Andy, the elder, is a soccer and volleyball star. Sarah's passion is performing, and she has become a Shakespeare freak. They agree on their favorite food: sushi, especially sea urchin! Thanks for asking!

I am working on it! My agent is making a deal, with a new publisher, to have the book updated and re-printed. It's amazing: my view of wine and food is exactly the same now as it was then! But.....I have a lot of new recipes to go in the book!

Thanks so much for your kind words! The shows with my daughters were my favorites! They are 13 and 11 now.....and absolutely amazing eaters! I am so passionate about The Rosengarten Report. It's my full-time job. Every six weeks I stage a massive tasting (it usually goes on for a week) in which I taste hundreds of samples of Something; in the last two years we've done steaks, ice cream, hot dogs, canned tuna, Indian ingredients, etc. Then I choose the best examples and tell you all about them. But I make sure that everything I rave about is available to you!.....tomorrow!.....either by making a phone call or logging on somewhere. That becomes the lead story. Each issue is also crammed with other product tips, wine reviews, restaurant finds, travel ideas, book reviews, cooking stories, editorials, etc. All written 100% by me. PLUS....every subscriber becomes a member of Rosengarten's Table, and members get discounts and deals on many of the things I write about! We were so lucky recently to be purchased by a huge newsletter company that is now marketing this thing. Hooray! (And hooray that I get to keep doing exactly what I did before!) You can call them at 800.832.2330 between 9 and 5 (Eastern time) weekdays, and ask for a sample. I'm sure they'll help you out. Would love to have you at the Table!

a) I am FASCINATED by all the food we eat everyday in America.....that people NEVER talk about. This is my Valentine to Hellman's mayonnaise, Italian-American food, San Diego fish tacos, Chicago hot dogs, etc..... b) My favorite discovery: New Mexico Chile Relleno Casserole!--in which the chiles are not fried, but placed in a casserole with a custardy topping and baked. It is YUM! c) I had an incredible team of developer/testers. I've written a little something about each of them in the book's acknowledgements...... THANKS FOR YOUR INTEREST!