The first anniversary of Urban Food Guy

It seems hard to believe it’s been a year since I first opened an account here and started Urban Food Guy. First of all thanks for stopping in on such a regular basis, as I know so many of you do. I can’t imagine given the wealth of material available on this here inter web thing that you make the time to stop by. It means a great deal to me.

Sometimes I wonder what the point is, why bother with this? Do we need another voice talking about the relationship we have with food, the politics that surround what we eat and how it’s grown? Do we really need another recipe? Most days I manage to put the doubting voice with all the questions aside and after spending some time looking for interesting news bits or figuring out how to phrase a particular recipe I’m always glad I did.

Selfishly I’ve really enjoyed the daily routine and the focus this gives me. Obviously, also, I do think every additional voice is helpful, whether it’s to spread information, sort through the spin or just be encouraging.

Cooking has always been a process that is very therapeutic for me. The kitchen is a place to escape and focus on making something that, for the most part, you have control over, there is a beginning, middle, and an end - and then you get to eat! The thing about food is it doesn’t talk back to you, it’s not judgmental and it’s mostly pretty easy going. Sometimes it can be difficult and not behave in the manner you’d like, but rarely, mostly it just co-operates and satisfies in a way life rarely does. I guess that’s one of the reasons I’m here encouraging all of you to join in the fun.

Out of this "create your own work project" concrete, positive things have happened. My friend Billy Miller and I have been working on an art book/cookbook collaboration that will also include a DVD of me making some recipes should be out this September. There is another, I-shouldn’t- talk-about-it-for-fear-I’ll-jinx-it larger cookbook project that is also brewing (cross your collective fingers please).

When I was 8 or 9 I loved the Galloping Gourmet. I made my mother order his cookbook (at the time that wasn’t something commonly done like it is now). The first recipe we tried to make was banana pancakes: they were a fiasco. In retrospect I can’t imagine what went wrong, but my mother was never at her best in the kitchen. It didn’t matter; Graham Kerr had already made an indelible impression on my youthful psyche that started the journey that continues to this very day. Wine glass in hand, insouciant, tipsy, flirtatious and utterly confident in the kitchen, he was my sophisticated, urban, cooking hero.

My heroes may be different now, but the message is the same: eat healthy food that tastes good and that's good for you and the planet. We only have one body and one home we need to take care of them.

Thanks again for being here this last year and for sticking around.

Lot's more to come.