There’s a new food publication in town that you’re going to want to see. It’s called edible Orlando, and it’s dedicated to “celebrating Central Florida’s food culture.” It does that and more with well-written stories and gorgeous photography. If the inaugural issue is any indication, you’re going to want to subscribe to this one.
Edible Orlando, which is capitalized only at the beginning of a sentence (even though it’s part of a network of publications from Edible Communities; go figure) has a masthead that includes Kendra Lott as publisher, Katie Farmand as editor, and Pam Brandon, managing editor. Flog readers know Brandon as one half of the Divas of Dish. Her easy-going and witty writing style is paints beautiful word pictures. Farmand, nee Brandon, is also the writer of the nationally recognized Web site The Thin Chef, a beautiful blog of Farmand’s recipes, paired with sumptuous photography.
The first issue also includes articles by local novelist Bob Morris, herbalist Emily Ruff and Santa Fe-based cookbook author Deborah Madison. There are also photographs by two of my favorite photographers, and former colleagues, Julie Fletcher Heimbach and Gary Bodgon, and Jupiter-based Stephen Grasso.
Edible Orlando officially launched Tuesday with a party at Whole Foods at Turkey and Sand Lakes Roads. It was a perfect location for the event, and who knew Whole Foods had a party room? Actually, it was held in the space that usually is the cafe where people can eat the prepared foods they buy in the market, and in the kitchen/classroom area. The whole Whole Foods team did a terrific job and served up some tasty tidbits for the guests to nibble on, including portobello sliders, grilled shrimp, and little disks of goat cheese.
And talk about pressure on those preparing the food: the room was filled with a Who’s Who roster of Central Florida’s foodie community, including some of the area’s top chefs and several of the people who produce local ingredients the chefs are using more and more. I’m sure we’ll be reading about all of them in future issues, which will come out quarterly, like the seasons.
For a list of places where you can pick up edible Orlando, click here.
