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Does your meal really exist if you haven’t photographed it? In an age when everyone is a food critic, and chefs are some of our biggest celebrities, many of us seem more focused on documenting our food experiences than actually eating it!
Join The Age’s Dani Valent, Pulitzer Prize-winning food critic Jonathan Gold (City of Gold, MIFF 2015), chef Shane Delia, Gelato Messina’s Declan Lee, intolerable foodie Kate McLennan and food blogger Emily Naismith as they discuss the trend of foodie-ism and whether it has gone too far.
Jonathan Gold is a food critic who currently writes for the Los Angeles Times and has previously written for LA Weekly and Gourmet. In 2007 he became the first food critic to win the Pulitzer Prize. He is the subject of City of Gold, screening at this year’s MIFF.
Shane Delia, chef and owner of Maha, has been lighting up Melbourne’s food scene for years. The award-winning chef and restaurateur, best known for his original culinary style of cooking, is also the star of his own TV series, Shane Delia’s Spice Journey (which has aired in over 135 countries), author of Maha Middle Eastern Home Cooking and a charity ambassador.
Kate McLennan is an award-winning comedian, actress and writer. She is the co-writer of The Katering Show, where she plays an intolerable foodie alongside her food intolerant mate, Kate McCartney. The pair have also written Bleak: The Web Series, which launched in 2014 on everyone’s favourite TV channel, YouTube! Bleak is currently in development with the ABC. Her TV appearances include It’s a Date, Comedy Up Late, Winners & Losers, House Husbands, SlideShow, Offspring, The Project and The Mansion. Kate has appeared in thirteen Melbourne International Comedy Festivals and has performed stand-up comedy throughout Australia and in the UK, US, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Declan Lee became a restaurateur in 2007 opening A Tavola and Omerta – two successful, hatted restaurants in Darlinghurst, which forged their reputation on the simple ethos of quality, using house-made creations and ingredients. With the same partners, he opened the highly successful Thai eating house Muum Maam in Surry Hills. His greatest achievement so far, however, is the rise and rise of Gelato Messina, one of the most prolific food businesses of our time.
Emily Naismith is the creator of Emoji Food Review, a website where she writes restaurant reviews and recipes with emojis. She’s the senior creative at Right Angle Studio and writes about things like traveling to Ballarat to get Pizza Hut ‘’The Works’ and exposing the Hungry Jack's 2-for-1 Whopper myth for The Thousands.