Gratitude Gourmet Moderates Cuisine Noir Culinary Travel Panel at Bay Area Travel and Adventure Show

On Sunday February 17, I moderated Cuisine Noir‘s Culinary Travel Panel at the Bay Area Travel and Adventure Show where I met some very accomplished and wonderful ladies to discuss 2013 Culinary, Travel and Sustainability Trends.1. Chef Marcelle Bienvenu
Marcelle Bienvenu is currently a chef/instructor at Nicholls State University in the John Folse Culinary Institute. With Emeril Lagasse, she co-authored four cookbooks. She also is a co-author of “Stir The Pot, The History Of Cajun Cuisine,” published in 2005 by Hippocrene Books.Marcelle provided the recipes for TRUE BLOOD, Eats, Drinks and Bites from Bon Temps (published in 2012), a companion cookbook to HBO’s True Blood series.

2. Maralyn Dennis Hill
Maralyn is Past President of the International Food Wine & Travel Writers Association, and from 2002 to 2006, she produced and hosted Dishing with Carolina Chefs, for Time Warner Cable TV and web.3. Wanda Hennig
A native South African, Wanda was editor of the South African Sunday Tribune’s lifestyle magazine and bureau chief for Cosmopolitan in Durban, her home town, before working, in the San Francisco Bay Area, on Appellation (wine country living) and Diablo magazine (as editor), and freelancing extensively for Oakland magazine among other publications. She believes we are what (and how) we eat (and drink). Thus, she says (only a little tongue in cheek), the best way to truly understand a country, a city, a culture — and a people — is though your stomach. www.wandahennig.comThe 2013 Culinary, Travel, and Sustainability Trends were shared with the audience and included Wanda’s Tips for enhancing a culinary experience while traveling:
* To be a culinary traveler, you don’t have to eat at expensive places. Markets and where the locals eat work well for anyone on a budget
* Being a culinary traveler also means you can travel the world right where you live, if it’s the San Francisco Bay Area or any other sophisticated city or region. With the wealth of restaurants reflecting a melting pot of cultures, it’s possible to go culinary traveling to a different destination any day of the week.
*  If you are partial to city culinary tours (which many cities within the US and internationally have now), look before you leave to see what’s available and ideally, set up something in advance. Or you can do it when you get there, which I did when I spotted a flyer for a culinary tour of Lisbon, all about heritage and traditions.The Panel agreed that eating ‘Local’ is a trend because may people enjoy knowing the restaurant owner, how the chef prepares the food, and where the food is sourced etc which of course includes quality and sustainably grown ingredients. Many of us have seen that restaurant owners are placing the source of their ingredients on their menus and if it’s organic, vegetarian etc.

What do you think the Culinary and Sustainability Trends Are?
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