Acclaimed Food Writers Discuss Future of Food Writing at The Mount October 3rd

Lenox, MA:  If the legendary food writer M.F.K. Fisher were writing today, would she have a blog or Twitter? Why do people like to read about food and how they will do so in the coming years? What will food magazines like Gourmet and Food & Wine, which have been moving away from longer stories in favor of recipes and celebrity chefs, look like in 10 years? Will they even exist? Will restaurant criticism change in the age of Chowhound and Twitter, in which everyone who loves food has a place to share their opinions?

To answer these questions, The Mount will host a panel discussion on the future of food writing with acclaimed food writers and critics from the realms of print and the internet.  The panel will be moderated by New York Times Magazine editor and writer Christine Muhlke. The panelists will include Julia Child’s former editor and cookbook author Judith Jones; Amanda Hesser, Kim Severson and Oliver Strand,  food writers or editors for the New York Times and other major publications; and Eater.com editor Amanda Kludt.  The event is sponsored by Blantyre Relais and Chateau, Rubiner’s Cheesemongers & Grocers, the Red Lion Inn, and Nejaimes Wine Cellars.

The discussion takes place in The Mount’s Stable Auditorium on Saturday October 3rd at 4:00 pm.  Afterwards, on The Mount’s Terrace, cheesemonger Matthew Rubiner will host a complimentary tasting of local and regional cheeses and charcuterie, ingeniously paired with a selection of local hard cider and craft beers. Tickets for the discussion and complimentary tasting are $25.  Seating is limited and advance reservations are strongly recommended. Phone (413) 551-5111 for reservations.

All proceeds from the event will benefit The Mount and its ongoing efforts to broaden its cultural offerings. “We are very pleased to be hosting the first of our food writing series, which is part of our larger mission to offer wide-ranging literary programming under the banner of The Wharton Center for the Written Word” said Mount Chairman of the Board Gordon Travers. “The panelists and all of the event sponsors have been extremely generous and supportive in donating their time and bounty, in order to enable us to present this entertaining and appealing program. Given the high level of interest surrounding the subject of the sourcing and preparation of food in the Berkshires, we expect the turnout for the occasion to be excellent.”

Christine Muhlke is the editor of The New York Times Magazine, for which she also writes the column Field Report about American farmers and food artisans. Her book with chef Eric Ripert, On the Line: Inside the World of Le Bernardin, was published in 2008.

Judith Jones is senior editor and vice president at Alfred A. Knopf. She is the author of many food books, including The Tenth Muse: My Life in Food, and has contributed to Vogue, Saveur, and Gourmet magazines. For many years she was Julia Child’s editor, and was primarily responsible for the publication of Child’s seminal work, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. In 2006, she was awarded the James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. Her latest book, The Pleasures of Cooking for One, will be published this fall by Knopf.

Amanda Hesser was the food editor of The New York Times Magazine and the editor of T Living. She is best known for the Food Diary columns she wrote in the The New York Times Magazine, which were collected in a book, Cooking for Mr. Latte: A Food Lover's Courtship with Recipes. She recently edited a New York Times cookbook entitled Eat, Memory, collecting 400 of the most noteworthy recipes published in the paper since 1853. Hesser is also a founder of Plodt.com and her new cooking website, Food 52, created in collaboration with Merrill Stubbs, is being launched this fall.

Kim Severson is a food writer for the New York Times. She moved to Brooklyn in 2004, after spending seven years as a reporter and editor at the San Francisco Chronicle. Her third book, Everything I Need to Know I Learned in the Kitchen, will be published in February.

Oliver Strand writes about food for the New York Times, Gourmet, Travel & Leisure, Food & Wine, and GQ. He is currently working on a book, I Shoot the Beast for the Meat, which recounts a year of hunting and cooking the wild game of Quebec with Martin Picard, the chef of Montreal’s Au Pied de Cochon,  and the artist Marc Séguin.

Amanda Kludt is the sole editor of Eater.com, one of New York's prominent restaurant blogs. The site covers openings, closings, chefs on the move, and all pertinent gossip in the obsessive and fast paced New York restaurant world.