One of the most exciting things for me planning the Fort Worth Food + Wine Festival is how excited other people are to see it come to fruition. One of those people is the extremely talented Kari Crowe. Kari is a Fort Worth photographer that does an incredible job with food photography. Her work can be found in multiple publications and her blog is one of my favorites. Kari agreed to contribute as a guest blogger for me this week and I can only hope that you are as excited as she is for next March!
Next year I celebrate living in this great state for ten years. I am southern by way of being born and raised in Georgia but I have decided that after living here for ten years I can call myself a Texan. My roots may be in Georgia but Texas has my heart. I have cowboy boots and a passion that runs deep for this city. Texas has shown me that I have a vein that runs through me to proclaim the good news of food. It has been Fort Worth that has taught me about this love, about eating local and supporting chefs and owners of establishments that pour their hearts into creating dishes the right way, with real ingredients.
I do not think you have to be a so called, “foodie” to appreciate barbeque that has been slowly roasting in a pit for 12 hours, or be able to distinguish the nutty notes of cheese that was made just an hour away with cow's milk on a dairy farm where you can watch the cows grazing in the pasture. You just have to be hungry. Sometimes that hunger can turn into learning a little bit more, like visiting that farm or savoring that cheese a little longer to taste those notes of pecans. But hungry nonetheless. We all have to eat and food has this way of being humble. There are no rules to who can eat what and how they should enjoy it.
I am excited about the Fort Worth Food and Wine Festival for those reasons. You don't have to be well versed about the complexities of wine or the technique of mirepoix to enjoy it. You just show up with an empty belly and a little curiosity. You get to see passion in the eyes of chefs when you put their food on your tongue. You get to ask questions. You dance from table to table sipping oaky chardonnays and smooth merlots and tasting bites of food you have never imagined, much less tasted before. And lets be honest, you may have never tried some of those foods had you not already had a glass of rosé. I promise that you will taste food that puts you in a trance-like state and a happiness will spill onto your face. And if you are anything like me you might have a little more adventure for your kitchen when you get home. When you start craving that weird crostini thing you had and are angry because you can't remember what was even on it, you will make note next time. Your next dinner outing you might find yourself writing down ingredients, savoring your food a little longer, or simply just satisfying your hunger. There are no rules. So come hungry, I will see you there!
