FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 Contact: Yael Raviv, (917) 561-2037
 yael @umamifestival.com



Edible Architecture
Umami food and art festival
2011 gala event
Astor Center for Food and Wine
399 Lafayette Street (at 4th Street), New York City
Monday, March 28th, 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.
 HYPERLINK "http://www.umamifestival2010.com
" http://www.umamifestival2010.com

New York, NY.  The life of Antonin Carême, the recognized founder of French grande cuisine, is the inspiration for the experimental documentary video entitled Meringue Diplomacy, produced and directed by Terri Hanlon. Umami food and art festival is proud to present a sneak-peek of this original work before its official premiere in April. The evening will open with whimsical hors d’oeuvres, special cocktails and other edible-architecture treats, and will close with chef Sam Mason’s fabulous desserts inspired by the video. Intermezzi by composer Fast Forward will be woven throughout the evening.

This special collaboration between chef and artist offers a unique opportunity to engage with both the food and the art in new and exciting ways.  Proceeds from the event go to support Umami food and art festival’s mission to open avenues of collaboration between artists and culinary professionals, present new ways to look at art and to integrate art into daily life, and offer an environment for non-traditional mediums and forms. Tickets to the gala are $150 and include, in addition to the screening, cocktails, tastings, desserts, a chance to hear from both the artist and the chef, and a limited addition Umami gift bag.

Antonin Carême (1783-1833), though born in the late 18th Century, is a surprisingly modern figure whose work has present-day resonances, applications and clear parallels to the modern chef and restaurant scene, particularly as practiced in New York. Carême was chef to the great French diplomat Talleyrand for a dozen years, and later served the Prince Regent of England (the future King George IV), Tsar Alexander I of Russia and Baron de Rothschild. Carême's spectacular creations — architectural culinary sculptures, the books he wrote on the art of French cuisine, and the dizzyingly elaborate dinners he prepared for heads of state — enabled him to become the power behind the politics of post-Napoleonic France. His culinary work enabled Talleyrand to wield gastronomy as a diplomatic tool, creating the concept of "power dining" by which so much business is transacted today.

Meringue Diplomacy underlines the continuity of time. “Current-day images and personalities bounce and refract off those of the past," says artist Terri Hanlon, "In other words, these past characters and the situations they created exist in our century as well. Indeed, history has a way of repeating itself."

Meringue Diplomacy will have its official premiere on April 13th, 2011 at the French Institute Alliance Française, Tinker Auditorium, 55 East 59th Street. Hanlon's previous video work was shown at the New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center, the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, and broadcast on PBS. She also is known for her work in early experimental music videos using computer graphics and for her Iris print portraits, which are in private collections in Thailand, Germany, Spain and the United States. The New York Times has called her work “accomplished satire.”

Meringue Diplomacy filters Antonin Carême's life through an ensemble cast of performers, who in their 21st Century lives possess aspects of the personalities of their early 19th Century counterparts. Home chef/performer Eric Barsness plays the role of Carême, and author, diplomat and wine connoisseur Jacques Bekaert plays the role of Talleyrand. Carol Clements, entrepreneur and choreographer, plays Lady Morgan, who wrote about Carême during his lifetime.

Meringue Diplomacy has a music score, directed by David Behrman, featuring the music of Jacques Bekaert, Jon Gibson, Barbara Held, John King, Laetitia Sonami and David Behrman; and choreography by Carol Clements.
   
Tickets available through HYPERLINK "http://www.umamifestival2010.com"http://www.umamifestival2010.com
For more information contact Yael Raviv yael@umamifestival.com
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About Umami:

Umami* was created in 2008 as a non-profit biennale event. It offers a meeting ground to people who use food as a medium and who present their audience with a multi-sensory experience in the dining room, or gallery space. The festival's objective is to open avenues of collaboration between these artists and culinary professionals and expose them to new audiences from both the art and the culinary worlds. Choosing food as a common thread allows Umami to present new ways to look at art and to integrate art into daily life. Umami offers an environment for non-commercial, time-based art and encourages artists who work with non-traditional mediums and forms. www.umamifestival2010.com.


High resolution photos are available for press.


* Umami is the fifth taste sensed by the human tongue (in addition to sweet, salty, bitter and sour). Umami is a Japanese word meaning "savory" or "meaty" and applies to a sensation common in meats, cheese and other protein-rich foods or to "earthy" foods such as mushrooms and soy sauce.