By VANESSA McCRAY
TRAVERSE CITY -- You have to eat, so eat well.
That's the philosophy of Amanda Danielson of Traverse City restaurant Trattoria Stella. Eating well, and learning about it, is easy at the Epicurean Classic, a three-day buffet of classes, tastings, dinners and receptions held Thursday through Saturday in Traverse City.
The food event attracts nationally known cookbook authors and chefs who present classes on everything from soup to nuts -- or at least, from salads to sugar pulling.
"The variety of classes that are offered allow participants to really, really learn food from some of the best people in the world," Danielson said.
She is scheduled to lead three wine-related classes, including a cheese and wine course with Laura Werlin, a James Beard-award winning author of multiple books on cheese. Trattoria Stella also will host one of 10 chef dinners at area restaurants Friday evening.
The Classic, now in its fifth year, is based at Northwestern Michigan College's Great Lakes Campus. More than 60 classes and demonstrations are planned, as well as receptions and the chef dinners, said co-founder Mark Dressler.
"It's just a lot more of what we've always done," he said.
Organizers made ticket changes this year. Tickets to cooking demonstrations are no longer sold individually. Participants may purchase a one-day, $129 pass for Friday or Saturday's cooking demonstrations and the tasting pavilion. A two-day pass costs $229, and the $375 "gourmand pass" gives access to more events. Single tickets are sold for the receptions and to the tasting pavilion for Friday or Saturday. Admission to tasting classes are sold separately from passes.
Many of the guests are authors of new or soon-to-be published cookbooks. But one need not have gourmet tastes to enjoy the sessions.
"The novice has as much to gain as the serious foodie," Dressler said. "It's a great place to meet new friends."
More than half of the attendees come from outside Michigan, he said.
Jennifer McLagan, an Australian-born author who lives in Toronto, will discuss the techniques behind her new book "Fat: An Appreciation of a Misunderstood Ingredient, With Recipes."
"It's a contrarian point of view," she said. "I am trying to argue that people need to put fats, animal fats, back in their diet because that's where the flavor is."
In sessions titled "Fat, It's Not a Four Letter Word," McLagan will show how to make pork cracklings and render fat, among other tips. McLagan said these basic cooking skills have been forgotten in the low-fat craze.
There are foodies who appreciate the satisfying heft and flavors of fat. Readers waxed poetic in response to an online New York Times posting that included the recipe for McLagan's bacon mayonnaise. The dressing inspired an "Ode to Bacon Mayonnaise" from one respondent, and an exclamation of delight from another, who proclaimed the desire to "marry this recipe."
Bacon "arouses a lot" of emotions, McLagan said.
Also appearing at the Classic is folklorist and culinary anthropologist Polly Adema. She's readying for the publication of her book "Garlic Capital of the World: Gilroy, Garlic, and the Making of a Festive Foodscape" about the town of Gilroy, Calif. Her research examined "the way food becomes symbolic of a place and becomes an icon for marketing the place."
"Food becomes a text that can be read almost like a book... to understand how people in different groups ascribe meaning to their lives," she said.
In Traverse City, Adema will lead a class on salts from around the world. The guided tasting includes finishing salts from France, Hawaii and the Himalayas.
"Foods go through cycles just like fashion does," Adema said. "Salts are really in fashion right now."
She also will join a wine expert to present a class on alternative pairings of sparkling wine and fish, beyond the classic combination of champagne and caviar.
The Classic brings "national talent" to Traverse City, but also highlights the wine, agriculture and culinary culture of the region, Danielson said.
"What we wanted to do was just to have a world-class food and wine event locally, and I think we deliver on that event," Dressler said.
For more information, including class schedules, guests, prices and registration, go to the Classic's Web site at www.epicureanclassic.com. Some passes will be available at the door.
