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Events

Published by Jonell Galloway + Friday, August 8, 2014 Permalink 0

Mastering the Art of Food Writing will regularly schedule food writing workshops and events in Europe and North America.

But what if we planned the wrong event for you? That’s what we want to avoid. So we are seeking feedback on the kinds of events that you would find most energizing and meaningful. If travel is not quite the thing for you, don’t worry — there will be virtual writers’ retreats. If travel is a benefit to you, we want you to be thinking Chartres or Boston. Using the form provided, tell us where an event that would entice you should happen. What form should it take? What skills do you want to build while you’re there?

We’ll update this page regularly with our findings. Thank you for your help in crafting the perfect event for you.

Food & Wine Tasting Masterclass, Chartres, France

Published by Jonell Galloway + Wednesday, July 30, 2014 Permalink 1

Food and Wine Tasting Masterclass in Chartres, France

18 – 21 SEPTEMBER 2014

Exploring the Food and Wine of the Beauce and the Loire Valley

with James Flewellen and Jonell Galloway

Through a series of tutored workshops, this 4-day weekend workshop will help unlock your tastebuds and introduce the richness of aromas, flavors and textures present in food and wine. Our exploration is enabled through local food from the Beauce and wine from the Loire Valley and coincides with the Chartres Festival of Lights and the Autumnal Equinox.

For course details click here and to make your reservation click here.

Contact: info@tasteunlocked.com.

Flowers on the Thiou Canal in Annecy

Published by Jonell Galloway + Tuesday, April 8, 2014 Permalink 0

Flowers on the Thiou Canal in Annecy, France: Documentary Travel Photos, by Jonell Galloway

April 8, 2014 The flowers are in bloom in the canal town of Annecy in France

About

Published by Jonell Galloway + Tuesday, March 11, 2014 Permalink 0

I’m Jonell Galloway, a freelance food and travel writer, editor and consultant.

I created The Rambling Epicure in 2011. It is a daily international food ezine, joining the voices of professional food and travel writers from around the world who talk about the art of mindful and sustainable eating, drinking, traveling and living, with an emphasis on good writing and spectacular photos by some of the best in the business.

Based in Switzerland, The Rambling Epicure food writers and artists promote a mindful, responsible approach to real food shopping, cooking, and eating, as well as food politics, safety, history, art, literature and philosophy.

We sponsor this non-profit project through freelance writing, editing and publishing; custom-tailored culinary tours, cooking classes, and tasting events; recipe development and testing; book reviews and sales of recommended books and products, and seminars and workshops on the various subjects we cover. Thank you for supporting us by clicking the Sponsor Us button in the right-hand sidebar.

My Personal Profile

You can learn more about my personal career path in my LinkedIn profile. I’ve been rambling around the world eating food and writing about it for over 30 years now, so there’s a lot to tell.

I ramble mainly in Switzerland and Europe, looking for good food and restaurants. My articles are available on TheRamblingEpicure.com, 10Best.com/USAToday, GenevaLunch.com, Paris Voice and TheRamblingEpicure.tumblr.com.

I studied cooking at the Cordon Bleu and La Varenne in Paris, and wine tasting here, there and everywhere in France and at CAVE S.A. in Geneva and Gland. In France, I worked for some years as a contributing editor for the English edition of the GaultMillau guide and as a food translator, while I ran a small cooking school in a château near Paris. I now live in Switzerland, where I have learned to love the earthy Swiss food and wine. One of my many interests is promoting Les Artisanes de la Vigne et du Vin as an ambassadress for this Swiss women wine producers association and Slow Food, of which I am an active member.

Apart from various restaurant guides for France and Switzerland recently published books include: Ma Cuisine Méditerranéenne in collaboration with Christophe Certain (in France) and Le tour du monde en 80 pains / Around the World with 80 Breads published by Orphie, in collaboration with Jean-Philippe de Tonnac (part of the French and all of the English) (covers history of bread around the world), André Raboud (Swiss sculptor), Edipresse.

My cooking method is “spontaneous cuisine.” Lessons consist of writing out a tentative menu based on seasonal, local products; going shopping for the products, and adapting the menu according to what is available and fresh; going to the wine seller to select a wine to go with the menu, then going home and cooking all afternoon with my students. The day ends with a candlelight dinner at the château (in the past), and now, at my chapel converted into a house in Chartres or in your home.

I give Mindful Eating seminars and therapy for those who have problem relationships with food and eating in general, helping them reconstruct their lifestyle and relationship to food and eating.

Specialties: French, Swiss and Italian cuisine with a bit of American influence. I believe in healthy, natural, sustainable cooking in the spirit of Slow Food, so all my articles, recipes and classes have this emphasis.

Food Photography: Wine Merchant & Bicycle

Published by Jonell Galloway + Saturday, January 25, 2014 Permalink 0

by Jonell Galloway

An old-fashioned wine merchant in the Rue de Passy, Paris 16th, spreads his belongings onto the sidewalk

Culinary Travel: Jonell Eats her Way through Paris in June, a Photo Essay

Published by Jonell Galloway + Friday, June 7, 2013 Permalink 0

There’s no better time to eat your way through Paris than in June. It is abundant with local fresh fruits and vegetables, sunshine and flowers. It’s a sensual experience that one must experience at least once in a lifetime.

This slide show gives you a glimpse of just how beautiful and sensual it is. Enjoy.

Paris to the Pyrenees: David Downie Eats His Way Down the Way of St. James, Interview by Elatia Harris

Published by Elatia Harris + Monday, April 22, 2013 Permalink 0

Left: Cross with Rocks, copyright Alison Harris.
Right: Forest Cathedral, copyright Alison Harris

Interview by Elatia Harris

Their 50th birthdays in sight, the acclaimed travel and food writer David Downie, and his wife, the photographer Alison Harris, decided that trekking from Paris to Spain, would be just the thing. They are based in Paris, so the Way of St. James, for a millennium one of the world’s most celebrated pilgrimage routes, was right at their back door. Neither Alison nor David is religious — the classical pilgrimage experience was not what they were seeking. What were they seeking? Renewal, changed perspectives. Perhaps to test themselves, over 72 days and 1100 km of — at times — very rough terrain. And thereby hangs a tale.

Paris to the Pyrenees: A Skeptic Pilgrim Walks the Way of St. James, launches this week. Scroll to the end to see book tour information. Permission to post on TRE the superb photos from the book was granted by Alison Harris.

ELATIA HARRIS: There has been a lot in the news lately on pilgrimage, however one understands the phenomenon. People who do it talk about needing to lose their routine and find themselves. Most set out alone, meeting others en route. You and Alison started together.

DAVID DOWNIE: Our choice to walk together happened organically. I had planned to do this on my own. Alison came along to keep me out of trouble. If you ask her, she’s likely to say it was her idea about 25 years ago, when she suggested we do something similar.

EH: Readers cannot but wonder how they would hold up, in these circumstances. I pictured a long leisurely walk through a French countryside movie. Cows, chateaux…oh, perhaps a few mildly strenuous stints. I was so wrong. This was a test of all your combined resources. It would be for any couple. 72 days of togetherness and real physical hardship. And you had already spent years collaborating on your books.

DD: Like some old couples, we have merged in mind and spirit — if such a thing exists — while remaining very different people, and very pig-headedly independent. So, while we were together on the pilgrimage, we were often apart both in our mental spheres and physically. Alison stopped constantly, ran ahead, took detours, disappeared, got lost—often, though not always, in pursuit of a photograph. She probably walked twice as many miles as I did. By the end of the pilgrimage, my regard for her had only deepened. I can’t speak for her, of course.

Best Fondue Restaurants in French Savoie as per Michelin Restaurant Guide

Published by Jonell Galloway + Tuesday, March 19, 2013 Permalink 0

Best Fondue Restaurants in French Savoie as per Michelin Restaurant Guide

by Jonell Galloway

For reference: here is a list of the Michelin guide’s favorite fondue restaurants in the Geneva/French Savoie area.

A magnificent collection of the Michelin “red guides”

The Big Apple on a Budget: Mas (la grillade), a Restaurant Review
Were the twelve apostles guilty of overeating at the Last Supper?
The Art of Tasting Wine with James Flewellen: The Waipara Wine Region
Simple Sustenance: Flavors of the Mediterranean – Parsley, Dill, and Bean Dip with Feta
Michelin Guide: food bible in legal row over Michel Platini web domain

Food Art: Taste and Light, a food photography exhibition by Rob Stewart

Published by Jonell Galloway + Thursday, February 28, 2013 Permalink 0

Artichokes

Image 1 of 24

Bio

I have been passionate about food for a long, long time now. The creative door was pushed wide open for me in the 1970’s – working as a young commis chef at the Carlton Tower Hotel in London. An inspirational chef, Bernard Gaume, at the forefront of UK Cuisine Nouvelle – in its correct context as taught by Fernand Point and further developed by Michel Gérard, Roger Vergé and the Troisgros brothers; not the misunderstood object of derision it later became. But oh, the ingredients! Live langoustine and crayfish every week, baskets of wild mushrooms in season, direct from France and the fish! So fresh and always whole and untouched until we got our hands on them. And the herbs, boxes of intensely fragrant basil and tarragon and my own favourite chervil whose subtlety belies a very happy marriage with eggs and cream. Ingredients that are sirens to the soul, how could one not fall in love with cooking? I should mention foie gras too – for which (and I make no apology) I have developed a life-long passion. I never thanked M. Gaume – and I should like to, I owe him a lot; he got me started.

A new chef joined us – Ian McAndrew – a brilliant chef of his generation, who was kind enough to introduce me to Anton Mosimann at the Dorchester Hotel and the journey began again, lifting me to new heights and experiences. This quietly charismatic chef had incredible vision and a passion for the best ingredients that was so infectious. Special moments were travelling with Hr Mosimann to the Dracula Club in St Moritz to cook a special dinner for 50 people, and competing in the Culinary Olympics in Frankfurt (and winning gold) as part of the Dorchester Hotel team. There is a picture of me (with others) in The Essential Mosimann; I didn’t know this when the book was first published and only saw it years later. It brought back many happy memories!

On my return from a season at the Hotel Kulm in St Moritz, I applied for, and got, a position at the Connaught Hotel in London. Michel Bourdin was only the 4^th Head Chef there in 80 years and the kitchen was steeped in history, tradition, experience and…truffles! These have since been added to my list that includes foie gras – nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, compares to the aroma of a wicker basket full of fresh truffles. Almost impossible to describe flavour or aroma – and I have been asked many times. Holder of two Michelin stars, the passion M. Bourdin held was so tangible and visible – Hr Mosimann and M. Gaume had this too, but it was quieter, controlled. With M. Bourdin it was always bubbling on the surface in a way that was exciting and very Gallic!

I worked at the Carlton Tower and Connaught twice, the Dorchester only once, but for a longer period. Although there were other good kitchens, it is these three brilliant and great chefs that nurtured my love of food.

And so on to photography. A passion developed later in life, and one I wished I’d started much earlier. So much thought goes into the way a chef wants to present a dish and yet it is eaten so quickly! A photograph preserves that moment in time, yet if the food is to be eaten as well, the opportunity to get the shot is as fleeting as a landscape photographer catching the dying rays of the setting sun. Food ingredients themselves also offer endless scope for photography, whether a macro shot of mushroom gills or a beautifully back-lit rhubarb leaf or colourful stems of rainbow chard. The photograph gives us the opportunity to show our appreciation and respect for fine ingredients in a way that presents them at their best and stimulates our senses.

Whether a finished dish, a beautiful ingredient or the people that inspire, food photography should seek to convey that passion and make us hungry for more!

You can see more of Rob’s work at Real Food Photography.