Food is Art

PAST EVENTS

June 25, 2010, 6 – 9 PM

Upcoming Last Minute Food is Art Event

Food is Art is proud to announce a last-minute addition to its calendar of events. We invite you to meet and greet Susana Trilling at a cocktail party at my home on Friday, June 25th from 6 – 9PM, featuring her food. She will be preparing  the following menu and we need experienced volunteers. Send me an email at zarela@zarela.com if you are interested.

OAXACAN BOTANA MENU

MEXICAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE NYC

BICENTENIAL CELEBRATION

FOOD IS ART PROGRAM

FRIDAY JUNE 25, 2010

HOME OF ZARELA MARTINEZ

Presented by

CHEF SUSANA TRILLING

SIKIL PAK con Ensalada de Zanahoria y Jicama en Totopos Istmeña

CEVICHE DE CAMARON con crema de aguacate con chepiche en Totopos Istmeña

TLALLUDAS de quesillo con ensalada de nopales asados, salsa de chintestle verde

PLATANOS FRITOS con queso crema y mermelada de chile canario y jalapeño rojo

ALAMBRES DE SIRLON DE RES con cebollas de cambray y salsa de mole rojo

POLLO y VERDURAS ROSTIZADO con salsa de chintestle, naranja y miel

TRUFFAS DE CHOCOLATE OAXAQUENO con pasta de chintestle y sal de mar

To Reserve

Press Release

Food is Art is part of the New York City’s Mexican Cultural Institute new culinary program designed to commemorate the bicentennial year of Mexican Independence. Zarela Martinez and Marissa Sanchez, curators of the Food is Art program, has invited Susana Trilling of Seasons of My Heart Cooking School in Oaxaca, Mexico for an evening of Oaxacan botanas and a mezcal tasting. Chef Susana Trilling has become famous for teaching and interpreting the traditional foods of Oaxaca, considered by many as the culinary gemstone of Mexico. Susana is in New York to launch Seasons of My Heart new line of Oaxacan food products – mole paste, handcrafted Mexican chocolate, mixed chile marmalades, smoked chintestle seasoning paste, and hand harvested natural sea salt at the 56^th Summer Fancy Food Show at the Jacob K. Javitz Center. Seasons of My Heart and Aurora Exports is sponsored by ProMexico´s introduction of premier products from Mexico – they can be visited at booth #232 at the International Pavilion – Mexico.

Susana has lived in Oaxaca since 1988, and in 1996 she wrote My Search for the Seventh Mole, A Story with Recipes and in 1999 Seasons of My Heart; A Culinary Journey Through Oaxaca, Mexico, the companion book of her television series by the same name. As a renown authority on Oaxacan cuisine, Susana has filmed and hosted numerous TV programs including: Two Hot Tamales (Food Network, 1995), One Plate at a Time with Rick Bayless (2000) and A Cooks Tour with TV Chef Anthony Bourdain (2001). Aaron Sanchez and Douglas Rodriguez filmed an episode of The Melting Pot in Susana’s kitchen (2000) where Pita Matias also filmed an episode of Taste Takes Off for New Zealand BBC in 2003. Other BBC filmings in the Rancho Aurora kitchen include: World on a Plate with Lloyd Grossman and An Italian Cooks in Mexico (2005). Susana has done TV shows: with Burt Wolf, Andrew Zimmern for his show Bizarre Foods, The Diary of a Foodie, and more recently with Jeff Corwin for his series Extreme Cuisine (Food Network, May 2009). Susana’s biography is featured in At the Table With …(Food Network Canada, Fall 2009), a series about thelives of chefs.

To Reserve:

June 12, 2010

What is Food is Art?

If you’re a regular visitor to this site you know that I constantly state that mission is to make my Mexican culture known and understood through my food, books, television appearances and this website which is my baby.  Best of all I now have something wonderful, worthwhile and exciting to tell you about: The  launch of the Mexican Cultural Institute’s Food is Art culinary program that I am curating with the help of my daughter, Marissa Sanchez-Bastien.

MEXICAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE OF NEW YORK LAUNCHES

“FOOD IS ART” CULINARY PROGRAM
with a Seminar on the Mexican Corn Kitchen
and

Announces Recipe Contest at April 19 Kick-Off

(New York, NY) – The Mexican Cultural Institute of New York is proud to announce its first culinary program, Food is Art, a series of cooking classes, lectures, and other activities designed to commemorate the bicentennial year of Mexican independence. From April 19, 2010 through May 2011, the rich history of Mexican cuisine will be explored under the direction of its newest board member, renowned restaurateur and longtime Mexican cultural promoter Zarela Martinez.

The celebration began with a press only event  at  NYU’s Steinhardt School (35W. 4th Street, 9th Floor) on Monday, April 19 from 6 – 8 pm, where Martinez  presented The Mexican Corn Kitchen, a tutorial showcasing corn, the staff of life for Mexicans. The presentation starts with hauntingly flavorful nixtamal (donated by Tortilleria Nixtamal ) and the many dishes made from it: pozole, sopes, huitlacoche quesadillas, tamales,  and culminates with a gigantic sacahuil. The food will be provided by Chef Julian Medina of Toloache restaurant and Hilario Fernandez of Zarela.

Junior Merino (LiquidChefinc) talented and celebrated mixologist was scheduled to  demonstrate three drinks based on corn but was unable to get back in time from Europe because of the volcanic eruption. His staff served the drinks.

At the kick-off  Mexican Cultural Institute director announced a call for entries to create a recipe based on a traditional Mexican dish they prepare at home and must have a “story”.  Recipes from Metropolitan-area cooks and food-lovers will be tested  and the top 20 dishes will be featured on menus of participating restaurants.  Entries will be accepted from April 20 – December 31 and should be sent to recetasbicentenario@mindspring.com or fax 212-644-1640.

Confirmed events in the “Food Is Art” series include a guided tour and picnic a Red Hook by Food Network star Aaron Sanchez, market tours and cooking classes by Sue Torres and other top Mexican chefs Roberto Santibañez of La Fonda will conduct a seminar on classic Mexican sauces: Moles, Pepianes and Adobos and Julian Medina will teach children to make flour tortillas and burritos and on May 8th I will teach  a class at the restaurant on how to make mama a  delicious Mexican breakfast with a tasting  There will be a presentation on chiles, tomatoes and squash by heirloom produce grower-author Tim Stark on September 30 and lectures by noted speakers such as Jeffrey Pilcher who will debut his long-awaited Planet Taco a,  In conjunction with Heritage Foods, there will be a “Whole Pig” tutorial teaching professional chefs  how to turn different parts of the animal into Mexican dishes ranging from chorizo to delicious cracklings.

(For additional information on the event and future programs in the Food Is Art series, please contact Program Coordinator Marissa Sanchez, me.sanchez@earthlink.net, 917-545-6512, Zarela Martinez, zarela@zarela.com, 212-644-1646 or visit the Cultural Institute’s website www.lavitrina.com.

About the Mexican Cultural Institute of New York:

Founded in 1991, the Mexican Cultural Institute of New York was established along with thirteen other Institutes throughout the United States as part of the “Program for Mexican Communities Abroad.”  The main purpose of this program was to nurture a sense of national identity among the people of Mexican origin living in the United States by strengthening their links to Mexico’s history and traditions.  Both an independent U.S. not-for-profit organization and the New York cultural branch of the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Mexican Cultural Institute is committed to generating awareness of the richness, dynamism and cultural diversity of Mexico as a democratic, plural and creative nation.  Through art exhibitions, performances, film screenings, panel discussions, readings, book presentations and other activities, the Institute in collaboration with leading New York organizations, develops and cosponsors events that showcase the uniqueness of Mexico’s art and culture, and infuses New York with the variety of Mexico’s traditional and contemporary cultural and artistic expressions.

About NYU’s Department of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health

Through research, teaching, and community service, the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health’s mission is to generate and disseminate knowledge, research, and to affect sustainable change in the health and well-being of our local, urban, and global communities. We teach undergraduate and graduate students to be broad, critical thinkers and partner with alumni, professionals, and the larger community to provide education, research and service centered on the role of food, nutrition, and public health in all aspects of life.