The first annual Sun Valley Food & Wine festival will be a three-day culinary extravaganza featuring acclaimed food author and epicurean Jim Harrison as keynote speaker. Harrison will talk about his relationships with food, wine, people and places at the nexStage Theater in Ketchum from 7:30 to 9 p.m. on Friday, June 8.
Best known for his novella turned motion picture "Legends of the Fall," Harrison has penned nine novels and five novellas. His eight-volume collection of poetry includes a collaboration with poet laureate Ted Kooser called "The Shape of the Journey: New and Collected Poems."
Amassing his choice food columns into a revered non-fiction book "The Raw and the Cooked: Adventures of a Roving Gourmand," Harrison does not consider himself a serious food writer, even though Saveur magazine considers the food memoir the best ever written.
"I've changed my motto. It use to be eat or die--now it's eating saves lives," Harrison said. "I never reviewed restaurants, but there are some incredible chefs out there."
Harrison spends a great deal of his time fishing in Montana and has traveled to the Wood River Valley before, but he claims in his last drive to the region he only made it as far as Hailey.
"I like white-trash food," said Harrison as he spoke about a trip he made to Oxford, Miss., on a visit to the home of William Faulkner. "Plate dinners are great."
Harrison enjoys it all. When in New York City, he hangs with famed chef Mario Batali, who makes him gnocchi from nettles like they do in Italy and recently had a 37-course lunch in France.
"The lunch was 13 hours, but we only had 19 wines," Harrison said.
A fisherman at heart, in particular brown trout, Harrison revealed that he did not grow up eating particularly well. He moved at age 19 to New York City, where his apartment, which he explained really couldn't be called an apartment, was only $40 per month but food was abundant. He has many favorite foods--too many to reveal, he said, but he firmly believes it should not be a struggle to eat well.
"Good food is a moral thing," Harrison said. "In the midst of a deep depression I still cook."
Harrison's humor is well regarded and his affection for food and eating is coveted by many. He believes vegetarians should be careful and the slow-food movement is a good thing, but it should not go too slow and cooked oysters aren't really that good.
Harrison's experience with food ranges from the culinary expertise of Manhattan's best chefs to the greasiest spoons in a small Southern town. His wit and humor as a traveling gourmand will inspire any person who enjoys eating. As a keynote speaker for the first Sun Valley Food & Wine Festival, his suggestions, observations and stories may alarm some but will certainly delight many.
For more information, visit sunvalleyfoodandwinefestival.com.
Author Jim Harrison is the keynote speaker for the first annual Sun Valley Food & Wine Festival June 8-10.
