Portrait as a Papaya & More at the "Food Book Fair" in Brooklyn
You’ve been to book fairs. You’ve been to food fairs. But have you been to a food book fair? Saturday, March 2nd - Sunday, March 3rd, the Food Book Fair hosted an event at the Smorgasburg + Brooklyn Flea on Atlantic Avenue. It was founded in 2012 as a way to celebrate all things food culture including writing, conferences, food systems, tv, film, radio, and festivals. This year’s fair was capped with the Big Queer Chili Cook Off. The Food Book Fair has been referred to as, “the Coachella of writing about eating,” “a voracious reader’s dream,” and “food geek heaven.” It was all of those things and more. It was the cherry on top of our winter blues. Walking into the Food Book Fair your eyes don’t rest - they float from table to table, sampling the new food writing ventures of independent publishers and their specialties. If there was such a thing as a food-writing head rush, like the brain freeze you get from eating ice cream too fast, this was it; especially when you find so many faves in one place such as GrlSquash, Cherry Bombe, Milky, the new Kitchen Table, Mouthfeel, and so many new mags to enjoy. Some publications dug deep into the archive of US food culture revamping old fondue favorites, or featured womxn-focused experiences, LGBTQ themes, eating local, independent artists, food comic books, and lots of fresh storytelling.
The Food Book Fair is run by Directors Kimberly Chou Tsun An and Amanda Dell. In their own words: “Food Book Fair is about books and beyond. We get down with cookbooks, of course, but we also dig food memoirs, political writing, food art and design, independent magazines, television, film, comics. We are especially grateful to create and hold space to amplify the voices of folks of color, queer folks, women and non-binary individuals who are engaged in food media.”
And because the Food Book Fair shared the same space as Smorgasburg + Brooklyn Flea - you could enjoy your favorite lunchtime grub and shop for those vintage statement pieces. The artists at “tabletopfest” drew portraits of attendees as their favorite food. You could choose to have your portrait depicted as an avocado, or a hot dog, or in my case, a PAPAYA! Of course! See the fun below.
Photos by Allison Harbin.
