“A good cook is like a sorceress who dispenses happiness.” – Elsa Schiaparelli, Italian Fashion Designer

Hello, and welcome to RadioGastronomy!  Pull up a chair, and make yourself at home. 

It’s hard to believe, but nearly a year ago, my father committed suicide.  It was a cataclysmic event that changed absolutely everything (and I mean everything!).  The ground I thought I was standing on crumbled away under my feet.  You know at the end of the movie “The Neverending Story” when the Childlike Empress has nothing left of her beloved Fantasia but a tiny grain of sand?  Well, that’s what it felt like for a long time.

These days, I think of the beautiful re-growth after a devastating fire leaves a forest full of ash & greyscale.  It feels like a meaningful metaphor to consider as the page turns and I walk into another chapter.  It’s helped me to make decisions, to stay focused, and to keep putting one ruby slipper in front of the other.

So what does this all have to do with gastronomy?

My father was a relentless foodie and extremely knowledgeable about wine.  I ate like an adult at an unusually young age because of what he exposed me to.  My paternal grandmother was also a fantastic cook, and although I have lived far from her for most of my life, I can still remember the way her food tasted, and I still crave her specialties.  This website is dedicated to them, and to all of my family and friends, from the bottom-most depths of my heart.

After 8 years as a menswear apparel designer, I will begin the intense 9-month Classic Culinary Arts Program at the French Culinary Institute in Downtown Manhattan at the end of June.  I decided to launch RadioGastronomy in tandem, as a way to experiment, learn, and evolve in my travels through the universe of food.  This website is not just about recipes and technique. Here we will imagine the table as the gravitational center of all of our lives.  What I love about food is that it’s a common ground.  It ties us to our planet, and each other, in countless ways.  It tells stories.  It touches all cultures, all colors, all ages, all genders.  Not to mention that it magically seems to wrap all of my senses and passions into one convenient package.  Ahhhhh, life makes sense again, and it tastes wonderful.

So, grab a fork, and let’s dig in…