(NEW YORK) Cherry Bombe‘s gorgeous biannual mag celebrating women in food launched just one year ago, with ample fashion cred: its first cover star was Karlie Kloss, and its co-founders are Coach PR alum and restaurateur Kerry Diamond, the mag’s editor-in-chief, and creative director Claudia Wu, who’s got her own creative agency (the duo also first crossed paths at Harper’s Bazaar once upon a time). The beautifully designed title wasted no time in getting off the page and IRL, thanks to their inaugural Cherry Bombe Jubilee, an all-day conference held in the High LIne Hotel. The former seminary’s dazzling Refectory played host to an overwhelmingly female crowd (testosterone was in short supply; your Daily spotted less than 10 blokes on the premises), which braved the windy, rainy mess outside to soak up eight or so hours of knockout panels, inspiring speeches, and fascinating one-on-one discourses with a hit list of female chefs, academics, entrepreneurs, and editors.
Chic highlights from the morning session included a few words from Momofuku Milk Bar’s resident dessert mad scientist, Christina Tosi, as well as a talk by Bobbi Brown. Diamond introduced the makeup whiz: “I first met Bobbi in an elevator. I didn’t know who she was, she didn’t know who I was, and she told me, ‘You need to wear a different blush'”. Brown went on to discuss her “love/hate relationship with food” and to divulge some very enviable perks of working for her: weekly yoga classes and Rosa, the in-house manicurist. Brown also (sort of) shared her beauty secret: “special smoothies”. Brown wrapped up with her five-part life lessons: do what you love, tell the truth, go with your gut, keep it simple, and focus on positives. Amen to all of that. Sustenance for the day wasn’t taken lightly: breakfast included Organic Avenue’s addictive berry chia tapioca concoction and fresh juices, plus Babycakes NYC’s vegan and gluten-free baked morsels. Lunch involved an epic buffet of sandwiches, quinoa salad, roasted carrots, and more from downtown hip hangout The Smile To Go.
After the feeding frenzy and requisite bits of schmoozing tapered off, session deux included “Chefs & The Media: A Love Story?”, moderated by Elettra Wiedemann. Former NY Times restaurant critic Mimi Sheraton, Eater editorial director Amanda Kludt, and chefs Kristen Kish and Amanda Cohen hashed out the finer (and sometimes hostile) points of chef-editor relations. “Men overwhelmingly promote themselves; they hire PRs, they have relationships with journalists.” As for the shifts in “The media landscape has changed: Top Chef gets you deals, and diners in your seats. It’s not just about being written about in Food & Wine or The New York Times; it’s about Twitter and Instagram followers…” Sheraton reflected on how the Times favored (and perhaps still does) male restaurant critics, and sounded off on the scene these days. “Now, the restaurant field is so in your face! [Chefs and restaurants] have to shock, be very rough and noisy. I would not want to review nowadays. You have to get on the subway, go to Brooklyn, and wait for two hours with no reservations.” Wiedemann shared her own sometimes-tumultuous times with media outlets: “In my early days of modeling, I approached the press as adversarial relationship. I thought they were out to get me. I’m pretty sure my attitude toward certain journalists early in my career didn’t give me a great reputation.”
Next up, the “afternoon snack” was a dizzying array of sweet treats including Four and Twenty Blackbirds’ addictive pies, Ovenly’s salted chocolate chip cookies (good luck trying to have just one bite), and pitch-perfect canelés from Canelé By Celine, including savory riffs of the traditionally sweet French confections in truffle and pesto flavors. The day’s final session included “Wait Until Your Mother Gets Home,” an interesting chat about juggling being a chef as well as mother, led by Bon Appetit exec editor Christine Muhlke (and, for the first 15 minutes or so, her adorable son Max, who sat contendedly on his mom’s lap) and featuring L.A. powerhouse chef Suzanne Goin of Lucques, A.O.C., and more, plus Prune’s Gabrielle Hamilton. “You have to be really driven and a bit crazy” said Goin of balancing it all, while Hamilton laid out the necessities in frank terms: “You have to own your own restaurant.” Muhlke commiserated about “mom brain,” underscored with a Liz Lemon 30 Rock quote for good measure.
To round out the day was former Times restaurant critic and memoirist extraordinaire, Ruth Reichl, as the Jubilee’s keynote conversation. The exceedingly quotable Reichl reflected on her midtwenties (“When I was 25, I didn’t know that I could actually have a career in food. It never crossed my mind. I was waiting for my real life to start.”) and what you won’t see enough of in food media (“The meaty things, like food politics, aren’t sexy. No magazine wants to cover that….there’s real pressure in commercial magazines to keep things light and do things advertisers like. Cherry Bombe is amazing; it’s not owned by advertisers.”). A farewell toast finished off the engrossing day with a glass or two of vino, macarons from Macaron Parlour, and some sharp nibbles from Saxelby Cheesemongers, perfect satiation for braving the downpour awaiting outside. Our only bone to pick with Cherry Bombe‘s Jubilee? The entire year we have to wait until the next one.
BY ALEXANDRA ILYASHOV
