The Splendid Table's "How to Eat Supper"

Are you a fan of the Splendid Table? I am. Each week Lynne Rosetto Kasper broadcasts this unusual show on MPR. Tonight, the show celebrated 13 years on the air and the publication of Lynne's new book, "How to Eat Supper" with a look back over the years and favorite features of the show at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul. For those of you who may not be familiar with the Splendid Table, it is a radio show. So imagine that you are creating a show about food without any visuals. The show isn't about cooking techniques or recipes. At its heart, Lynne explained, the show is about the stories behind food and how our ideas about food are changing.

First reference to Julia Child
Lynne came to fame with the publication of the cookbook "The Splendid Table," which won the food world's twin crown: The Cookbook of the Year award from both the Julia Child/IACP and the James Beard Foundation Award. Lynne explained that she had a cardinal rule of never staying at anyone's house when  she was on a book tour. She said authors are so exhausted at the end of the day that they just want to curl up in a corner and suck their thumbs. However, her editor called her and began insisting she had to stay at a woman's house when she got to Boston. Lynne kept saying no, but the editor kept in insisting and finally revealed that the "woman" was Julia Child. Lynne stayed with Julia and they agreed to meet at midnight each night after their busy days and share a libation before going to bed. Lynne said she learned a lot from Julia in those midnight chats. In fact, Julia Child became a minor theme during the show.

But this show had a lot more than that to offer. First, we got to meet Jane and Michael Stern, the writers best known for their Roadfood books and their "Two for the Road" column in "Gourmet" magazine. The new edition of "Roadfood" is also being published (next week). They revise it about every three years. They set out on their Roadfood journey in VW beetle in 1968. Jane had the idea that they could review all the restaurants in the contiguous 48 states. Michael was surprisingly thin for someone who talks like he eats continously while Jane was rounded. Lynne asked them if was hard to write a book jointly. They said it was. Jane said she gave Michael the first draft of Roadfood years ago and he dutifully went through it added all sorts of big words to make it sound more intellectual. Then he gave it back to her. While he was out of the house, she reviewed the edits and when he came home he found the manuscript on the kitchen table with a kitchen knife stabbed into it. They have learned to work together better since then.

Lynne played a number of audio clips of experts who have a appeared on the show over the years. I couldn't catch all the names (apologies if some of these are misspelled). One person who spoke on wines holds workshops on "Fast Food, Fast Wine." Yes, this is what wine complements a Big Mac (white zinfandel - how it works with the special sauce is more important than how it goes with the meat) or what do you eat with spicy food (a beer stunt double - a low alcohol sparkling wine). She also revisited talking by satellite phone with Anne Bancroft and Liv Arnesson at the South Pole and Steve Jenkins of Fairway Foods in New York on artisanal cheeses.

Then she played Nora Ephron on throwing dinner parties. She says she learned from a host who seemed so casual as to be almost hapless. Lessons included:

1. Keep the party small and have a round table so that everyone is in on the same conversation.
2. Keep the guests waiting so everyone is really hungry and grateful for the food.
3. This also allows everyone to have another drink so that the conversation is livelier and freer.
4. Don't serve fish. It doesn't require cutting and goes down too fast and easy. You worked on the meal, let them work to eat and savor it!

Second reference to Julia Child
Nora Ephron is currently working on a film, "Julie and Julia." Meryl Streep (not Dan Ackroyd) will play Julia.

Lynne continued with audio clips of famous chefs and a trip to Italy for the show where she talked with an eel fisherman. At this point, some of the rest of the Splendid table staff got a little time at center stage to talk about traveling with Lynne to Italy and Hawaii. They showed slides of their travels. That eel was really ugly!

One of the favorite features of the show is "Stump the Cook." People call in with 5 ingredients in their refrigerator and Lynne has to try to come up with something they can make. She is given salt, pepper, and water and can ask the person if they have 3 more ingredients available. Chris Kimball of America's Test Kitchen judges whether what Lynne suggests sounds palatable. Normally, this is phone call, but in this case someone came up from the audience -- AL FRANKEN!

Third reference to Julia Child
The first thing that Al said to Lynne was, "Do you know that Tom Davis and I wrote that Julia Child sketch for Dan Ackroyd on 'Saturday Night Live'?" When Lynne asked what he had in his refrigerator, Chris asked if he had any Republicans. Al said, "In the refrigerator, no. In the freezer, maybe." His actual ingredients sounded pretty unworkable to me: Hershey's Chocolate Syrup, Reddi Whip, blue cheese, strawberry jelly, and plain yogurt. Lynne asked to add a pie crust and an egg and came up with a sweet and savory tart with a dab of chocolate syrup on the side that Chris ruled a win. Franken got a huge round of applause and cheers.

The show concluded with somber reading (recorded) by the late Paul Gruchow about bread. His family lived on a farm when he was growing up. They were poor, but he didn't know it. They grew their own wheat and kept honey bees and his mother made wonderful bread that won ribbons at the Chippewa County fair. Slicing into a warm loaf was a great treat. Then he went to the consolidated school in town and discovered that they were poor. And, also discovered that town kids ate Wonder Bread and he and his sister wanted to be like them. Looking back he realized how soulless that mass-produced bread was. When his mother gave in to the children and bought bread at the store they lost the wholesome mystery of bread.

Enjoy your food and be grateful for it.