Part 3 of 3 of my Food Film Festival Series. I hope you enjoy, and know that as soon as this week is over, I should have much more time and be able to get back in the habit of posting 3x a week (and I have quite a few restaurant reviews in my arsenal, so those are on the way). Night 3 of the Food Film Festival was probably the night I was most excited for, and it definitely lived up to the hype.
My mother was also very impressed. Photo by Gregg Lambton-Carr
The pre-party was featured Sushi by O-Ku, and some delicious fried chicken skins and tempura vegetables done by the organizers of the festival. Everything was super yummy, and I never thought I’d say that about a chicken skin.
Although, to be fair, I didn’t know it was chicken skin when I agreed to eat it.
The first film of the night was “Sushi: Handcrafted Happiness,” which was literally 1 minute long and I think I missed most of it trying to get a good picture. The sushi that O-Ku made at the pre-party was delicious, though, so I guess that makes up for it.
Just now realizing this looks like a mouth. Kind of creepy, but cool.
The second film of the night was “Beer: A Beautiful Artistic Symphony,” which was 2 minutes and 22 seconds of entertainment. It was funny and informative and I loved the way Charlie Bamforth really made beer into an art form. Also, I’m always down for some free Sierra Nevada.
I feel like I know him already. Or maybe I just wish I knew him.
The third film of the night was my favorite of the night (and perhaps the whole festival), “Guacamole – A Gambling Recipe,” which was an adorable stop-motion story of the old west, told by vegetables. Just under 3 minutes, I was enthralled from beginning to end. Also, the guacamole was delicious.
Guacamole + Stop Motion = A Winning Combination
The next film was the film that I’d been waiting for during the entire festival: Biting Into The Ramen Burger. The film documented chef Keizo Shimamoto during the summer of 2013 when he invented the Ramen Burger, which quickly became a sensation. I mean, who wouldn’t be interested in a “bun” made out of ramen with a delicious burger in the middle?
So good.
Unfortunately, we’d have to wait until the after party to be able to taste one of these delicious burgers, and taste we did. I ate 2 of them before pilfering a few more to take home with me to be eaten later and shared with friends. The burger was awesome. I loved the texture of the ramen buns, paired with the tanginess of the soy sauce that went on it. The flavors were like nothing I’d ever had before and it was easy for me to understand why some people would wait in line for over 3 hours just to try one.
Also, I got to meet the Chef!
Next up was “The Mobile Blues,” a 4-minute long film about the hunt for blue crabs in Mobile Bay. To complement the film, we tried blue crab crostini from Charleston Crab House and Alabama Seafood, which was fresh and very yummy.
I prefer to think of it as a “Crabby Patty”
Still on the seafood kick, but switching gears a bit, “Tako NY” was the story of Chef Karl Palma and his love for street food. The audience watched as he crafted the much-loved “takoyaki” balls, which looked like something sweet, but were actually very savory.
Also full of squid.
Moving onto the sweet part of the evening, we screened the film “Sweet Legacy,” directed by festival director George Motz, detailing the legacy of the “In The Raw” company and the family behind the brand. To go along with the film, we were given “banana brulee” prepared by the FFF chefs, with a donut featuring In The Raw sugar, which was delicious.
I mean, it’s fried dough covered in sugar. What’s not to love?
The final film was “Where Does a Compost Cookie Come From?” which was essentially a video recipe card, showing all of the different elements that go into a compost cookie from Momofuku Milk Bar in NYC (potato chips, butterscotch, oatmeal… what a combo!). The film was great, but the cookie was even better. The after party featured a bunch of other cookies that they make like the corn cookie (with real corn!), blueberry cream, chocolate chip, and more.
Although, only giving me half of a cookie is kind of cruel.
The afterparty was so much fun. Tina got to try a popsicle from King of Pops in Charleston, which she’d never had before. She talked to the guys for a while and really enjoyed it.
She was really excited about the popsicle. And basically everything else.
Then we ate our body weight in Ramen Burgers, drank a little too much, and stuffed a bunch of samples in our purses to take home. The rep from Jarlsberg cheese even gave us a bunch of cheese samples to take home (and by “a bunch,” I mean “5 whole pounds of cheese.” It was awesome.)
But then we felt like this for the rest of the night.
And, there’s my mother, looking excited again.
We can’t wait until next year!
Just found your comment on Guacamole… thank you so much! you made my day <3
(I did it ^^)
Yay! It was so good. I tell people about it on a pretty regular basis. Great work!
Thank you! <3