Edible Book Festival at UCLA Provides Food for Thought

If you’ve ever wanted to eat your words – or for that matter, the words of Geoffrey Chaucer or Dr. Seuss – the opportunity arose at UCLA’s Powell Library where creative chefs and bakers presented literary-themed creations for the 4th Annual Edible Book Festival on April 5. A lucky 13 entries of literally digestible prose competed for the titles of Best Student Entry, Most Creative, People's Choice, and Best Tasting.

A bumper crop of mini-cupcakes depicts "The Edible Garden" by the editors of Sunset Magazine. Complete with pretzel plant stakes and garden gnomes fashioned from Starburst Fruit Chews, this tasty tableau by UCLA staff members Dana Iwata, Laura Juarez, and Elaine Sakamoto won the "People's Choice Award."

Metaphors for reading and books often have to do with eating. You say that you “devoured” a good read; a novel can be spicy or saccharine. Creative bakers and readers among students, faculty, and staff at UCLA entered their lit-inspired creations – mostly of the cake variety. If a major in the confectionery arts was made available among the university’s degree programs, these entries would have been at the top of the class. Undergrads Kimmie Eng and Hannah Bishop-Moser created a toothsome take on the children’s classic, “The Rainbow Fish.” “It was read to me all the time when I was little,” recalled Bishop-Moser. “It’s just a really sweet book about learning how to share. I thought it would make a really great entry too, because it’s so colorful and sparkly.”

Kimmie Eng shows off "The Rainbow Fish," which she created with Hannah Bishop- Moser. The baking buddies took the prize for "Best Student Entry."

Their pumpkin cake, which was topped with an ocean of cream cheese frosting, was decorated with cookie characters from “The Rainbow Fish.” In the spirit of the book’s message on sharing, Eng and Bishop-Moser compromised to suit the latter’s vegan dietary preferences.

“The cookies are vegan Mexican wedding cookies,” said Bishop-Moser, an ecology behavior and evolution major. “We made a compromise – half the entry is vegan and half isn’t.”

The Edible Book Festival, which is an international event co-created by late UCLA alumna Judith A. Hoffberg, is usually celebrated near the April 1 birthday of French gastronome Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, whose book, “The Physiology of Taste,” has been a definitive text for foodies of the 19th century and beyond.

Brillat-Savarin’s book describes every aspect of taste, including its relationship to the other four senses of sight, sound, touch, and smell. With that in mind, judges of the Edible Book competition really had their work cut out for them. Professor of information studies Johanna Drucker is an advocate for the physical artistry and history of the book, as adept at teaching the intricacies of an antique printing press as she is  expanding the world of digital scholarship. At the Edible Book Festival, however, her concerns were more immediate.

“Everything has to taste good, because one of the categories is “Best Tasting,” said Drucker. “I don’t want to eat anything that has artificial flavor. A lot of the stuff has some color in it that I’ll bet doesn’t come from the natural world. And some of the glitter gives me pause.” Despite her discerning palate, Drucker found the entries to be a feast for the eyes.

Armed with her appetite for creativity - and a bottle of Crystal Geyser to cleanse the palate - Professor Johanna Drucker prepares to judge the wide variety of entries.

“[The festival] makes people be creative with food,” Drucker noted. “It makes them have to think about how to use the materials of icing and cake as sculpture, as well as thinking about it as taste.”

All but two entries at the Festival were made of cake. There was an inviting tray of salted caramel patties that depicted the novel, “The Book of Salt.” And in the spirit of the Easter season, Tara Prescott, a lecturer in UCLA Writing Programs, created her homage to “The Hunger Games” and its characters with a basket of dyed hard-boiled eggs.

“I was in the Research Library yesterday and I saw a flier and thought, ‘That sounds like a lot of fun,’” Prescott said of her quick decision to enter the Festival. “I’m a big fan of “The Hunger Games,” and the film adaptation came out recently, so it’s been on my mind.”

The decision to make colored eggs occurred to Prescott who says she doesn’t bake, but loves to do things like decorate eggs. “I was thinking that there are a few egg references in the text,” she says. “The hard part will be breaking them to eat them. I’ll eat ‘Haymitch’ first, and save ‘Effie’ for last.”

Lecturer Tara Prescott shows off her literary style with colored eggs representing text and characters from "The Hunger Games" and "Moby Dick" tee.

Prescott says that the Festival gives participants “one way of translating from one medium into an unusual medium. Reading is an intellectual activity and this gives you a tangible, hands-on [activity].”

“It’s one thing for [an idea] to be in a book, but it’s another thing to bring it to life in your own way,” said Bishop- Moser. “It was nice to interpret the entire book in one scene, really look at all the pictures and the meaning, and see how we can put all that meaning in our entry and make it our own.”

Although readers don’t typically notice food references in literature unless they are foodies or very hungry, books themselves are actually full of them. From the briny pleasure of a clam chowder served in “Moby Dick” to the elegant banquet of quail and pomegranates in “Madame Bovary,” the consumption of food provides a story’s setting and breathes life into its characters. Prescott said that two of her favorite food references in literature were Leopold Bloom’s “very pungent [mutton] kidney” in James Joyce’s “Ulysses,” and Charles Swann’s madeleine in Marcel Proust’s “Remembrance of Things Past.” Drucker, however, takes a less literal approach when inventing her “edible book.”

“I’d be inclined to do something from “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell” by William Blake,” she said. “[I’d have] taste contrast- some really intense flavors with some gentle or mild flavors, because Blake’s Heaven and Hell aren’t really good and evil. They’re different kinds of forces of intensity.”

Graduate student Alethia Shih won "Most Creative" with her fondant- coated depiction of "The Cat in the Hat."


Ultimately for Drucker, the task at hand dictated that she would find the proof in the pudding – or the Dr. Seuss-inspired cake pops. When asked how the Festival entries illustrated the relationship between the senses and literature, she said, “I’ll have to tell you after I taste them – to see if the ‘Cat in the Hat’ really tastes like the ‘Cat in the Hat.’”


Another homage to Dr. Seuss: "The Lorax" speaks for the truffula trees - and for a student's baking talents.

 Bishop-Moser and Eng, who is an anthropology major, bake together often – and it showed. The “Rainbow Fish” entry was a real catch, in looks and taste, and won the prize for “Best Student Entry.” Their prize included official UCLA Library aprons for each of them, a certificate - and proof of their excellent baking skills, an empty cake platter.

The Edible Book Festival was one of the most lighthearted events I’ve seen on the UCLA campus so far, and definitely brought a touch of levity to the hallowed halls of the Powell Library. Letting ‘em eat cake conjures up a celebratory mood and brings people together to admire the creativity of students and colleagues, compare recipes, and even become inspired to bake something themselves.


In my short time at UCLA, one of the campus’s most outstanding features is the atmosphere of collegiality among the students. The environment fosters a bond of friendship that seems to form readily between people of all ethnicities and cultures. Perhaps the willingness to come together comes from the fact that the majority of them are out-of-towners, and want to get the most out of their college experience, or more significantly from the fact that they were all intelligent enough to make it to UCLA., but it’s heartening to see. And as in the case of the creators of “The Rainbow Fish” cake, it engenders a spirit of collaboration and creativity.

Chaucer's saucy Wyfe of Bath from "The Canterbury Tales" gets her just desserts.

“Our next project is going to be cinnamon rolls but instead of cinnamon, it’s going to be flavored with cardamom, rose, and almond, “said Bishop-Moser. “I saw the recipe and said, ‘This looks amazing, I have to make it with Kimmie.”

For a Daily Bruin video of UCLA's Edible Book Festival, click here.

Photos by Matt Palmer

Happy New Year: Oshogatsu at JANM

Between the sigh of relief that is Boxing Day and the last burst of merriment at the Feast of the Epiphany, it seems as if the holidays never end. Although in Japan the New Year is observed on January 1, the celebration extends through the 6th with flurry of festivities known as Oshogatsu.

Mochitsuki wins my vote for "Best Food Preparation Method for Venting Frustration." Members of Kodama Taiko turn from pounding drums to pounding mochi.

At the Japanese American National Museum, New Year traditions such as the mochitsuki (traditional rice cake pounding ceremony) demonstration and a performance by Kodama Taiko were presented on Jan. 8 to celebrate the Year of the Dragon. In addition, an onigiri-making contest was held, judged by foodies Russ Parsons, editor of the LA Times Food section; Lynn Chen, blogger, The Actor's Diet and Keiko Nakashima, owner of Sunny Blue, the only shop in Southern California that serves freshly made omusubi.

A sandwich is a sandwich, but an omusubi is a meal: freshly made rice balls are a light but satisfying snack on Santa Monica's Main Street.

Keiko opened her shop in the summer of 2010 to immediate and resounding approval from both locals and tourists, many of whom had no idea what omusubi was. Sunny Blue's rice balls are made of rice wrapped in sheets of nori. The menu features traditional omusubi fillings such as salty fish, Japanese pickles and vegetables like hijiki, kombu, and shisho. There are also contemporary twists on Japanese home cooking, such as everyone's hands-down favorite, Miso Beef, which is made with caramelized onions and homemade miso sauce.

Keiko and her staff make Sunny Blue's omusubi fresh-to-order for fast food with a healthy, homemade taste.

Most of us know omusubi as those frigid rice balls filled with spicy tuna or ume (pickled plum) in the deli section at Marukai or the Spam-filled morsels that have graced many a Japanese American potluck. Keiko and her staff make their omusubi fresh to order; many of the fillings are comfortingly warm, as is the rice that is used. A couple of omusubi with side dishes such as tsukemono or edamame is a light meal or very satisfying snack, a welcome addition to the lackluster cuisine typical of Main Street.

I've just seen a face - and it was made out of rice. Entries for the onigiri-making contest at JANM's Oshogatsu.

Fast forward to Keiko's duties as a judge at the JANM Oshogatsu. The entries to the onigiri contest were a bit atypical, even for the incredibly creative founder of Sunny Blue. Kids of all ages created their onigiri with rice and nori, but that was where tradition ended. They were also provided with dried fruits, olives, herbs, orange peels, and mixed nuts, which they used to make a variety of faces and animals.

Keiko surveys the non-traditional entries to the onigiri contest, which showed a lot of imagination. I wonder if she discovered any new recipes for Sunny Blue!

Another "hands-on" exhibit at Oshogatsu was the amezaiku demonstration by Shan Ichiyanagi. The Los Angeles-based artist has been creating these traditional sugar sculptures for nearly 40 years. At JANM that day, he and nephew Taka Ichiyanagi gave a demonstration of the centuries- old confectionery art, to the delight of onlookers from 9 to 90.

Taka Ichiyanagi creates a sugar sculpture to celebrate the Year of the Dragon.

Shan Ichiyanagi recalled seeing street artists making amezaiku when he was growing up in Sapporo. After meeting Masaji Terasawa while both were attending an English class at Reseda Adult School in 1971, Ichiyanagi asked the renowned artist if he would teach him how to create amezaiku. After shadowing the master as he worked his magic at Disneyland, Ichiyanagi would then practice his own demonstrations on neighborhood kids, who benefited from the beautiful and tasty results.

Ichiyanagi and his nephew Taka, who has been making amezaiku for ten years, are now sought-after performers at not only Japanese cultural events, but at bar and bat mitzvahs across the country. A photo album lying on a table at their JANM appearance was full of celebrities enjoying the sweet life with the Ichiyanagis and their gorgeous creations. But the theatrical aspects of sculpting fantastic creations out of molten sugar syrup belie a simple truth.

“People like candy in general," said Ichiyanagi, "and I create something out of that."

Amezaiku master Shan Ichiyanagi shows off the dragon that Taka created on-the-spot, ushering in a sweet 2012 for all.

2011: The Last Piece of Pie

While talking to Karen last night about the impending changes that come with a new year, namely the much-anticipated shift of consciousness in 2012, I couldn't help but think of the things I hope will endure. One of these things has to be my tried-and-true recipe for quiche. Although it began as a formula for the traditional Lorraine, with time and dietary requirements, the dish evolved into a way for me to embrace the differences among my friends and their palates. I happened to be making up a batch of the savory pie as she and I chatted: one smoked salmon and a ham and cheese for Seiji and Kenzo.

This quiche "shreds": Cheddar and Swiss is my go-to combo, but feel free to experiment.

I wrote this snapshot of a much-loved recipe in 2007 after nearly three decades of making it for numerous gatherings, to impress boys (especially my nephews!), and even to enter it in a pie contest. The joy of my quiche, which has been adapted to suit every taste and dietary restriction, is as much in the process of making it as in the experience of eating it. I have yet to find the best title for this piece, and am open to suggestions - as I am open to requests for yet another new ingredient to add to the pie.

You can please everybody all the time with two flavors per batch. "Grown-up" smoked salmon and spinach parties with "kids' special" ham and cheese. Guess which one the grown-ups will sneak pieces of...

Quiche Story Redux

Go to Trader Joe’s and get one block of sharp cheddar and one block of Swiss; each piece should be about the size of a Betamax tape. Also, get a dozen eggs, a pint of cream, a medium-sized piece of smoked salmon, fresh dill, a bag of spinach and some green onions.

Go to Ralphs and buy two frozen deep dish pie shells. The original recipe was for one quiche, but since Phil broke the dish with the recipe painted on it, you couldn’t remember how many eggs it took, and somehow over time, it evolved into a dozen. Hence the two pie shells. It’s just as well. One would never be enough anyway, and since Shiho and Joselyn are lacto-ovo-pisces vegetarians, they can eat the one with salmon. It’s funny how they don’t think fish is meat. It still has a face, but no legs. Maybe that’s the difference.

The quiche always makes a dramatic entrance from the oven, so don’t start it when you get home so that it comes out just as guests arrive. Besides, you have to pull dishes out, vacuum, dust, and find something to wear. Putter needlessly at these tasks until a couple of hours before everyone arrives.

Thaw a package of six pieces of bacon in the microwave and cook it. Costco has two pounds of thick cut bacon from Canada for $10. It’s a deal, and incidentally, the best bacon I’ve ever had. It’s not Canadian bacon, which is almost like ham, but bacon from Canada. It takes about a year for me to finish a two-pound package.

While the bacon cooks, you can start shredding the cheeses into the big stainless steel bowl. There is enough to eat small wads of it with bits of bacon, but don’t overdo it. Wash the spinach, take the stems off and tear it, and chop up the green onions. Set this mixture aside.

The eggs and I: Save up calories for this one; it's a doozy with heavy cream and a dozen scramblers.

Tear the salmon into little pieces. Curse the phone, because it rings as soon as your hands are covered in fish oil. While you are washing them, the machine picks up. It’s Alice, and she’s bringing Vicki with her.

Finish breaking up the salmon, and chop two or three sprigs of dill to go with it. Put the rest of the dill in the refrigerator. In about three weeks, you will take it out again, the herbs shriveled beyond recognition, and throw it away.

The phone rings again. It’s Jolene, who will be late. As soon as people start arriving, we all start guessing how late she will be. It’s a good thing she always stops at the Chinese bakery, probably part of the reason she is so tardy. Nobody can be mad at you if you bring over a box of old-fashioned almond cookies, the kind made with honest-to-God lard.

Keep the edges of the pie crusts from burning by covering them with a thin collar of aluminum foil. Take a fork and prick holes in the bottom and sides of the pie shells. Don’t ask me why, I saw this in a book somewhere. I think it aerates the pastry and helps it cook more evenly. Or it just provides the illusion of homemade pastry that involved more effort than pulling it out of the freezer.

Pile the dry ingredients into each pie shell, alternating the spinach-cheese mixture with bacon for one, salmon and dill for the other. Another vegetarian alternative is actual vegetables, like fingerling potatoes, zucchini and butternut squash that have been roasted in the oven. Who knew they could taste so good?

There are just some ingredients that I just can’t substitute in order to accommodate dietary needs or allergies . Rodney, who is lactose intolerant, just brings his pills along. He isn’t about to give up my quiche because of a little discomfort, and so far, I haven’t found any great substitute for cream and cheese.

Okay, I wasn’t really looking.

Beat the entire dozen eggs into the big white bowl and add the cream. Put in a healthy dash of salt, grind about a two-inch-wide shadow of black pepper and a pinch of nutmeg over it, and stir.

Carefully pour the egg mixture into the pie shells with the big Pyrex cup. This takes a bit of time, because you have to let the liquid drip and settle between all the layers of ingredients. This should use up almost all of the egg mixture, but don’t overfill them as they will drip messily onto the baking sheet, forming clouds of overcooked egg batter.

Put the pie shells on a large cookie sheet and bake for about an hour at 350 degrees. During that hour, you can finish dressing, fuss over the living room, and unwrap the rest of the food. Operation Quiche dominates the entire kitchen, making it impossible to cook anything else for the party. While you are picking up the ingredients, be sure to buy some hummus and pita chips, carrot sticks, prosciutto, cheeses, olives, whatever.

Love's labors luxe: A crisp and nicely browned top means the egg mixture is cooked, but the quiche is still moist and cheesy within. Let it stand for a few minutes before cutting.

After about 40 minutes, check on the quiches. They are done when you poke them with a steak knife and it comes out clean. By this time, hopefully people have started to arrive. Depending on your oven, you may need an extra 10 minutes, 20 tops.

Bask in the glow of compliments from people who’ve had it before, as they always sniff appreciatively at the savory aroma that fills the kitchen. Enjoy their enthusiastic endorsement to newcomers who have yet to discover this delicacy.

You should have enough to serve approximately 12 happy guests, some of them twice. Make sure that the non-vegetarians leave plenty of salmon pie for Shiho and Joselyn.

Epilogue:

Shiho is no longer a vegetarian. And only once did I make a "real" pie crust, it was as easy as the old expression goes. For the LACMA pie contest, everything had to be homemade. So I found a simple recipe for pâte brisée. A dry run is always advised for a new recipe, so a few days before the contest, I gave this a whirl and was really impressed with how simple it was to make such a flavorful crust.

The day before the contest, I made a new batch for the pie contest and refrigerated it overnight per the recipe. But when I unwrapped it the next morning it shattered into a dry crumbly mess, due to the fact that I had not added enough water. With the contest a few hours away and the entry requirement for a freshly baked but cooled pie, I hastily made another batch of pastry and hoped for the best.

The resulting quiches looked good, and I sampled the second one, which was filled with Kenzo's ham and cheese concoction. The crust was acceptable, but I was struck by the simplicity of this "new" recipe.

Kids don't like mushrooms or ground nutmeg. And all cheese is yellow. So I make their quiche by simply piling shredded cheddar cheese and ham or bacon in the pie tin and pouring plain, unseasoned eggs and cream over it before seasoning the remainder for the grown-ups' version.

Kids know what they like and aren't afraid to tell you so. My wish for the new year is that we all can cut to the chase, the way an eight-year-old's palate does. To me, changing consciousness will mean improving old recipes while adapting more readily to new challenges and embracing possibility. Happy New Year!