Rather than give out traditional prizes, we have invited a group of our favorite food personalities to screen the final program and each award a “Chef’s Choice” badge to their favorite film. Films receiving a Chef’s Choice award will be noted in the program and on our website. The Chefs we’ve invited are not all professionals, but they are all passionate about food, agriculture, and cooking. Meet our judges:
Alice Waters, chef, author, and proprietor of Chez Panisse Restaurant in Berkeley, California, is a pioneer of a culinary philosophy based on using the freshest organic seasonal ingredients. In 1996, she founded The Edible Schoolyard in Berkeley, a model public education program that involves students in all aspects of the food cycle: planting, harvesting, and cooking. The Edible Schoolyard Project has grown into a non-profit with the goal of building and sharing an edible education curriculum from kindergarten through high school. Waters is Vice President of Slow Food International, and the author of 10 books, including 40 Years of Chez Panisse: The Power of Gathering. (Photo by Brigitte Lacombe.)
Bruce Cole publishes, edits, and washes the dishes for Edible San Francisco. He began publishing Edible San Francisco in 2006, and in two short years, the magazine has become the food culture authority of the vibrant San Francisco Bay Area gastronomic scene. Bruce has long had a passion for delicious and sustainable food and got his start in publishing when he launched one of the first food blogs, SauteWednesday.com in 2001. Bruce proudly plays the role of resident blogger for Edible Communities’ blog, EdibleNation.com.
A freelance food writer since 2002, and San Francisco resident since 1994, Marcia Gagliardi is best known as “the tablehopper.” Her free seven-year-old cheeky weekly e-column (tablehopper.com) is chock-full of insider news and gossip about the SF restaurant and bar scene, along with reviews, culinary events, and even star sightings in restaurants. Marcia wrote a groundbreaking guidebook, The Tablehopper’s Guide to Dining and Drinking in San Francisco: Find the Right Spot for Every Occasion, has a late-night dining app (Tablehopper’s Top Late-Night Eats in SF), and a weekly segment on KGO 810AM called You Gotta Eat This.
Karen Solomon has been a well-published food writer for over a decade. In addition to the Asian Pickles series, she’s also author of Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It and Can It, Bottle It, Smoke It (Ten Speed Press/Random House). Additionally, she’s the author of The Cheap Bastard’s Guide to San Francisco (Globe Pequot Press) and contributing author to Chow! San Francisco Bay Area: 300 Affordable Places for Great Meals & Good Deals (Sasquatch Press). She has served as a judge for both the Eat Real Festival Contest and the Good Food Awar
Patty Unterman opened Hayes Street Grill in 1979 with her partners. The restaurant celebrates its 34th anniversary in March. She was the restaurant critic at the San Francisco Chronicle, then the Examiner and now publishes the newsletter Unterman on Food and a website, Untermanonfood.com. She has published food and food travel stories in Gourmet, Food & Wine, Bon Appetit, Afar and other publications as well as 5 editions of the San Francisco Food Lovers’ Guide. She was a founding board member of CUESA and the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market. She lives in San Francisco with backyard chickens and a vegetable garden.
Sam Mogannam is the much-loved owner of San Francisco’s Bi-Rite Market, Bi-Rite Creamery, and founder of 18 Reasons, a community space that invites people to explore art, food, and community. According to a recent article in 7×7 about SF tastemakers, he’s also been called the Mayor of 18th Street on a number of occasions.
