Mitchell Davis, contributor to Signature Dishes That Matter

GIFTING: Who is Mitchell Davis giving his book to this Christmas?

The Signature Dishes That Matter contributor runs us through his year of extreme eating all across the world

For many of us, food dominates our thoughts during the festive season. However, for Mitchell Davis, culinary meditation is a year-round job. Davis is Chief Strategy Officer of the James Beard Foundation, a cookbook author, a journalist, and a scholar with a Ph.D. in Food Studies from NYU. In 2013, Davis led the team that was selected by the U.S. Department of State to create the USA Pavilion at Expo Milano 2015. He also holds a chair on the Academy of the London-based World’s 50 Best Restaurants. 

This year, he also found time to contribute an enlightening introduction to our authoritative new book, Signature Dishes That Matter. Read on to discover which things he relished, and what riled him, as well as who’s likely to receive a copy of his book soon. 

 

Cronut®, Dominique Ansel, Dominique Ansel Bakery, United States, 2013
Cronut®, Dominique Ansel, Dominique Ansel Bakery, United States, 2013

What inspired you most this year? At the James Beard Foundation we hosted our first Chefs Action Summit, with about 150 chefs from across the U.S. engaged in advocating for a better food system. It was an awesome collection of talent and passion and action. And it gave me hope for the future of food. 

What annoyed you most? Our political system. 

What was your personal highlight? Launching Aerobanquets RMX at the James Beard House, a mixed reality (virtual and augmented) art-technology-food installation at the James Beard House that challenges one’s perceptions of food, dining, art, space, materiality. Fun. More here.

What can we expect from you in 2020? I will eat too much. 

 

Spherical-I Green Olives, Ferran Adrià and Albert Adrià, elBulli, Spain, 2005
Spherical-I Green Olives, Ferran Adrià and Albert Adrià, elBulli, Spain, 2005

Who will you give your Phaidon book to for Christmas? First, it will be for Hanukah. Second, it will go to everyone who has wondered what I have been doing with my life and why I will sometimes go to such great lengths for a bite. 

 

Signature Dishes That Matter
Signature Dishes That Matter

Do you know someone a bit like Mitchell? If you do, Signature Dishes That Matter will make the perfect Christmas gift for them. The book is a global celebration of the iconic restaurant dishes that defined the course of culinary history over the past 300 years. Curated by experts and organized chronologically, it's both a landmark cookbook and a fascinating cultural history of dining out. Buy Signature Dishes That Matter here.