Hacker CinemaThe Big Night In with John Foreman
TV series
The Big Night In with John Foreman was an Australian variety show airing on Network Ten and Ovation. It premiered on 3 December 2005 and concluded its first series 6 January 2006 then returned for another season in October 2006. It ran overnight, usually starting at either 11.30pm or past 12am. The show's premise is based on having musical acts perform and give interviews in a late-night chat show format with a bigger focus on musical guests and interviews with those guests. It was hosted by John Foreman, a renowned Australian musician who has appeared on shows such as Good Morning Australia and Australian Idol as a musical director. The show was notable for its premiere when an in-depth and engaging interview was featured with Russell Crowe. Crowe later performed two songs for the show. This episode also featured guests Tina Cousins and Deborah Conway. It often included ad lib promotions by the cast and guests, in a style reminiscent of Graham Kennedy's variety programs.
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Reminds me of the risotto scene early in "The Big Night" (1996), which is also an interesting movie generally in the context of this discussion. The scene is about Italian immigrants trying to run a restaurant in America, and revolves around the kitchen dispute that happens when an American customer requests a side of spaghetti to go with the risotto.
Big Night: also a great startup movie.
I might take issue with the (implied) assertion that Chicago lacks a food culture, or that the average citizen of (say) Rome is necessarily steeped in one.
I grew up with a pretty strong culinary tradition (Sicilian-American), and it was only when I left home around 17/18 that I realized how privileged I was to have a grown up with a father and grandfather that were extraordinary cooks. My grandfather was master baker at Gonnella for decades, a genius in many ways, and my father is easily following in his footsteps.
My family was not rich, but I would not have traded their cooking skills to have grown up eating in the most expensive restaurants.
It was not unusual growing up to have homemade bread around.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs887.snc4/72084_1507521417181_1508676473_31100003_2373676_n.jpg (From my dad's fb)
My father bakes pastries as a hobby, at one point, he made three large bins full of different types of cookies because work was slow and he needed to keep busy.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs124.snc1/5331_1078752418224_1508676473_30208370_1023986_n.jpg
While my grandfather was more traditionally Sicilian in his style, my father is more Chicago. His deep dish pizza will knock your socks off, and sausage and peppers with fresh baked Italian bread is the stuff of champions.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-snc1/v1976/129/117/510304405/n510304405_1060548_3762.jpg (Arancini, Octopus salad, Pasta salad, and Caponata)
I always took it for granted. When I moved out, I missed it. As I got older, I praised it. When my grandfather died, and I realized that I had spent a solid week talking about food, even the Priest talked about it, I realized that I need to get serious about doing it. When my father passes, it's up to me and my brothers to keep things going. Without it, all I have is the name.
So I'm a big advocate of building and rebuilding a culinary culture. It's easy for me, because mine never disappeared, but I understand it's more difficult for others whose families immigrated earlier, or whose cultures were purposely stamped out, to build that. And I think, for most people it's about enjoying cooking, and understanding the ingredients, for me, a culinary culture can't just be about assembly. It's about everything from philosophy to ideology, sex and love, family, emotion and science. And so much a person's personality and memory is wrapped up in how and what they cook. This Christmas, the first Christmas without my grandfather, my father made a traditional Christmas dinner, and it was heaven. One of the dishes was called Scacciata, a salty bread with tuma cheese that's just incredible. It was wonderful, but it was uniquely my father's creation, and I realized that I would never have it exactly the way my grandfather made it ever again.
I love America, but to be completely honest, the only thing I've ever considered emigrating over is the food culture. I get so envious of other countries that if I ever I do decide to leave (doubtful), that will be the reason.
This was long and somewhat meandering, but I'll leave you with this final scene from The Big Night, one of my favorite movies:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oerP7FRMWa8