I didn’t know it at the time, but I was there for the creation of the American foodie movement. At Seagram in the 1980s, I worked with Seppi Renggli, then the executive chef at Manhattan’s famed Four Season’s Restaurant, Alice Waters, who invented farm-to-table, James Beard, Julia Child and Wolfgang Puck among others. I was such an abject dim bulb, I was unaware of the level of celebrity I was dealing with. Back at The Seagram Build, I’d be asked, “What was Jeremiah Tower (or whomever) really like?” My reply was tepid - “Fine, I guess. I dunno. I mean, fine”. I disappointed every such questioner. It was analogous to PR projects with sports icons. I had no interest and so had no to capacity to be starstruck. With the advent of cable, the foodie world has taken off, of course.
© 2024 John Oliver
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