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Metropolitan Cooking & Entertainment Show, Atlanta 2008

We had an absolutely great time at this wonderful event hosted by Denise Medved and the staff of The Tiny Kitchen. Our heartfelt thanks to them for allowing us to bring you, our readers, an inside look at the event. Though this was their first event at this venue in Atlanta, it was evident that all who attended had a terrific time visiting the vendors and seeing the celebrity chefs.

Things started off on Saturday and kept right on jamming right through Sunday evening, with three stages and numerous vendors. On the Cooking stage, scheduled throughout each day, local Atlanta chefs prepared dishes from their restaurants.

On the Interactive Cooking Stage, attendees got to actually cook with Chef Jason Roberts on Saturday and Chef Scott Peacock on Sunday, then ate the creations they had prepared. Louis and I participated in the class on Sunday with Chef Peacock and enjoyed the experience. Kudos to Denise, organizer of the event, for a wonderful idea here, as in speaking with fellow participants, it was apparent that they all enjoyed the opportunity.

On the Main Viking Cooking Stage, patrons were able to see a cooking show done in the style of 'the foodnetwork'. Chefs that appeared at this venue were: Paula, Jamie and Bobby Deen, Jason Roberts, Jon Ashton, Akasha Richmond and Michel Nischan. Playing to an audience numbering about 3000, this was a very popular portion of the Metro Show and you can see pictures and video of the presenters, backstage and onstage in the galleries provided below.

Overall, this was a wonderful experience and since Atlanta is not all that far from Southwest Florida, we would highly recommend attending next year's event. We spoke to people who had traveled from all over the country to attend, and all exclaimed that it was, "Well worth the trip."

For a complete rundown of the event, or to find out about the show being held in Washington in November, click on the logo above to go to their website.

Celebrity Chef Jason Roberts

Elaine interviewing Jason Roberts

Lou & Jason "It's all good!!!!"

Elaine & Jason

Elaine, Jason & Lou

At the Interactive Cooking Stage

Jason mingling with attendees at the Interacive Cooking Stage

Celebrity Chef Akasha Richmond

Elaine with Akasha Richmond

Akasha is a self-trained chef and artisan-style baker who has been catering events in Los Angeles and other parts of the country for over twenty years. She began her professional career at the Golden Temple, a now defunct but once popular vegetarian restaurant in Los Angeles. It was in this kitchen that Akasha discovered her passion for making delicious dishes with good-for-you ingredients. AKASHA is her first restaurant venture, the result of a vision she has had for many years.

Her cookbook HOLLYWOOD DISH includes tales of Hollywood’s 100-year passion for organic foods and healthy lifestyles and stories of her favorite cooking experiences: making holiday dinners for Billy Bob Thornton, catering parties for Pierce Brosnan,producing events at the Sundance Film Festival, and working as a private chef for Barbra Streisand. Many of the recipes in HOLLYWOOD DISH will be served in the restaurant and bakery.

Lou with Akasha

Akasha is the co-founding chef of Eaturna, an all-natural and organic take-out food company devoted to revolutionizing the way people eat, with delicious and beneficial meals for every day. Her love of cooking with soy led her to be the celebrity chef for Silk® Soymilk, the number-one selling refrigerated soymilk in the nation. She has served her Silk®-based recipes at the EMA awards, backstage at the Grammy’s and Farm Aid, and at Chef Dance during the Sundance Film Festival. Akasha also works with The Baker Organicand Americraft, makers of high quality stainless steel cookware.

Elaine chats with Akasha

She also lends her time and expertise to groups such as Child Healthy World , Common Threads, The Organic Center, and the Environmental Media Association. She has appeared on Access Hollywood, Entertainment Tonight, HGTV and local Chicago, Denver, Portland, Los Angeles and New York ABC, FOX and NBC news programs.

Read the interview with Akasha Richmond here......

Celebrity Chef Michel Nischan

The Gourmet Girl with Michel Nischan

Growing up on a farm instilled in Michel Nischan a deep appreciation for sustainable agriculture and those who work the land that has never left him. Nischan is Chef/Owner of Dressing Room: A Homegrown Restaurant, located on the grounds of the Westport Country Playhouse, and President of Wholesome Wave Foundation Charitable Ventures, a non-profit organization focused on making locally grown, organic and sustainable foods available to all. This starts a new chapter in his ongoing story about the love of food and the people who produce it.

Paul Newman with Michel

Nischan, a renowned chef and best-selling author, came to know Paul Newman’s daughter, Nell Newman, through his advocacy for a more healthful, organic and sustainable food future. Nell, the driving force behind Newman’s Own Organics®, introduced Michel to Mr. Newman when she learned of her father’s plans to become involved in a restaurant. Paul and Michel found their beliefs on food, family and community to be remarkably aligned, and Dressing Room evolved as the place where their shared values could have a common home and expression.

In keeping with their belief that America needs to rediscover the neighborly sense of community that once helped Main Street America thrive, Wholesome Wave was formed with funding from Newman’s Own Foundation and the Betsy and Jesse Fink Foundation. Wholesome Wave and Dressing Room work in tandem to create grass-roots initiatives that celebrate the local food systems and recipes that once endeared America to the rest of the world. “We were well loved for our home-fried chicken, apple pie and pot roast long before we became the land of golden arches and fast food drive-throughs,” says Nischan. Wholesome Wave funds and manages four active farmers markets, is working with local public schools to develop a sustainable food curriculum program called Sustainable Mentorship, and has created and manages a value-added farm-to-college program called Green Wave. Newman and Nischan appeared on “ABC World News with Charles Gibson (November 24, 2006) ” and “NBC News Nightline with , named “Persons of the Week” for their community outreach efforts with Dressing Room and Wholesome Wave.

Elaine, Michel & Lou

Michel is credited with creating a cuisine of well-being, focused on a respect for pure, local, organic ingredients and their intense flavors – without the use of highly processed, overly indulgent ingredients. The inspiration to explore cooking for well-being came in 1994 when his five-year-old son Chris was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. “Chris’s illness made me realize that floating on foie gras, bathing in cream, and dusting in processed flour might not be in my customers’ best interest”, says Michel. He introduced his groundbreaking new cuisine at Heartbeat restaurant at the W Hotel, midtown Manhattan in 1997, and was immediately propelled to the forefront of New Yorks's culinary scene. Since then, he has continued to raise the bar for delicious and healthful cooking and is continually lauded for his dedication to organics, sustainability and cultural food preservation. After years of focusing on healthful, sustainable and culturally significant cooking causes, Michel decided to put his methods in action and print as a contributing editor for Food Arts Magazine, a former board member for Chef’s Collaborative, and by writing two well-received cookbooks, Homegrown Pure and Simple: Great Healthy Food from Garden to Table (Chronicle Books, 2005)

Elaine chats with Chef Nischan in Atlanta

and Taste Pure and Simple: Irresistible Recipes for Good Food and Good Health (Chronicle Books, 2003). Taste was listed as a bestseller in The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and won a 2004 James Beard Foundation Cookbook Award (award winners are selected by industry peers, and more than 600 culinary professionals are involved in the voting process). This year he has become a 2008 James Beard Award Nominee.

Michel resides in Fairfield, Connecticut with his wife, Lori, and their five children.

Read the interview with Chef Michel Nischan here.

Celebrity Chef Jon Ashton
As audience perspectives change with fleeting health fads, passing food trends and changing times, one thing remains constant: eating brings us joy. We become emotionally attached to sinful desserts because they make us feel good. What is there not to love about an industry that indulges in such a decadent philosophy? The food industry continues to evolve at a whirlwind pace and spins one brilliant individual to the forefront.

Elaine with Celebrity Chef Jon Ashton

Jon Ashton breathes life into his cooking by infusing quick wit with culinary knowledge. He entertains, teaches and inspires all at once. Radiating an authentic love of food, he effortlessly creates dishes with heart and soul. This unadulterated passion coupled with an unpretentious approach make it clear why Jon Ashton's magnetic charisma is so loved by audiences.

Cooking is not just about cooking, it's about living. Jon makes cooking synonymous with living life well. He'll turn you on to cooking without your realization and make you fall in love with Jon, food and life!

Jon Ashton is currently the resident Chef of CW’s nationally syndicated “The Daily Buzz”. He has also been featured on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, the TODAY Show and NBC's iVillage Live.

We will be sitting down with Jon, who makes his home here in Florida, for a future edition of "Upclose and Personal".