{"id":11792,"date":"2019-07-26T17:01:39","date_gmt":"2019-07-26T17:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=11792"},"modified":"2019-07-26T17:01:39","modified_gmt":"2019-07-26T17:01:39","slug":"francis-lam-finding-the-stories-behind-the-food","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2019\/07\/26\/francis-lam-finding-the-stories-behind-the-food\/","title":{"rendered":"Francis Lam: Finding The Stories Behind The Food"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018The Splendid Table\u2019 host speaks at Sun Valley Writers\u2019 Conference<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

By Eric Valentine<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Francis Lam delivers a talk on how food both unites and separates us at this year\u2019s Sun Valley Writers\u2019 Conference. Photo credit: Nils Ribi \/ Courtesy Sun Valley Writers’ Conference<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Washington Post proclaimed him \u201cthe voice of America\u2019s food culture,\u201d but Francis Lam won\u2019t even refer to himself as \u201cchef.\u201d In fact, the host of public radio\u2019s The Splendid Table and the winner of four James Beard Foundation awards for food writing doesn\u2019t even like being called \u201ccritic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a clich\u00e9 to say that food unites us, and it definitely does, but it can also separate us. I was one of the kids at school with the \u2018stinky\u2019 lunch,\u201d explained Lam, the son of Chinese immigrants who stayed true to their gastronomic roots. \u201cWhen it comes to critiquing food, perhaps you can objectively say, \u2018This set of flavors tastes better than that,\u2019 but food has so much emotional connection to it, your family\u2019s roast pork recipe being done right means just as much as a three-star Michelin rating.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s with that sensibility\u2014and humility\u2014that Lam has built himself a career as far more than a restaurant critic. He is a food anthropologist, a gastronomic storyteller, who was invited to speak at this year\u2019s Sun Valley Writers\u2019 Conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the West. Every good decision I\u2019ve ever made in my life came after a road trip out West,\u201d said Lam, who has been to, among other Idaho parts, Craters of the Moon, but never to the Wood River Valley.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was honored to be invited here, and how could I say \u2018No.\u2019?\u201d Lam explained, gesturing from the lobby of the Sun Valley Lodge toward the skating rink and hillside views nearby.<\/p>\n

Lam touched on a variety of topics during his talk, from how food evokes emotional memories across cultures and how his career has evolved to focus on what he calls \u201cthe entire ecosystem\u201d of the food industry, including the \u201cinvisible army\u201d of people behind the chefs who get the credit for palate-pleasing plates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI respect great chefs and many have become friends of mine, but if you go to Mario Batali\u2019s restaurant in Las Vegas, Mario is not boiling your pasta, because you\u2019re in Vegas and he\u2019s in New York City,\u201d Lam said. \u201cI want to know the story behind the food. I want to know about the people who actually did the work and where the recipe came from in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lam On Idaho Cuisine<\/b><\/p>\n

So what does one of America\u2019s premier tastemakers think about some of Idaho\u2019s benchmark foods? For instance, the ones noted in the Foodie Finds section of The Weekly Sun\u2019s \u201c101 Things To Do\u201d edition now on stands through the fall.<\/p>\n

Fry Sauce<\/b><\/p>\n

Lam admits\u2014like many non-Idahoans\u2014to not having heard the term. He also admits to being a mayo-on-french-fries lover.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything mayo-based on anything fried works for me,\u201d Lam said.<\/p>\n

Game Meat<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cWe have so many species of animals on the planet, but when you go to a restaurant, your choice is beef, pork, chicken and maybe four types of fish,\u201d Lam remarks. \u201cSo when you\u2019re talking about game meat, you\u2019re really opening the door to a food ecosystem, especially the predator-prey hunting ecosystem that makes us human.\u201d<\/p>\n

Funeral Potatoes<\/b><\/p>\n

The Americanized version of potatoes au gratin is something Lam had come across in the Midwest, where he attended the University of Michigan and majored in Asian studies and creative writing. He sees the dish affectionately called Mormon potatoes as the quintessential example of what he loves most about food\u2014the emotional connection we have to it.<\/p>\n

Lam On The Culinary Map<\/b><\/p>\n

We asked Lam how Idaho could make a name for itself gastronomically\u2014beyond potatoes, of course. It reminded him of a story he wrote about a man in the Faroe Islands, a rocky volcanic chain of islets off Denmark that can\u2019t grow much outside of potatoes. But it had sheep and fish, and a persistent restauranteur who petitioned the prime minister to open up mussels harvesting so he could use locally sourced ingredients at his eatery. The concept caught on and today it is Michelin-star rated.<\/p>\n

From his vantage point, Lam believes any restaurant focused on the dishes Idaho can do best\u2014from Basque to huckleberry\u2014would not only succeed, but would expand cuisine.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you truly love your food, you\u2019ll let the culture do the talking,\u201d Lam said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018The Splendid Table\u2019 host speaks at Sun Valley Writers\u2019 Conference By Eric Valentine The Washington Post proclaimed him \u201cthe voice of America\u2019s food culture,\u201d but Francis Lam won\u2019t even refer to himself as \u201cchef.\u201d In fact, the host of public radio\u2019s The Splendid Table and the winner of four James Beard Foundation awards for food […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,30],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11792","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-news","7":"category-resort"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11792\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}