Why do you think it’s time for a new way of entertaining?
Most of us want to entertain at home, yet few of us have the time, space, cooking skills or confidence to host full-fledged dinner parties. Even those of us who can and do cook complicated meals often find ourselves looking for something new. That’s where at-home tastings, or tasting parties, come in. They’re a whole new way of entertaining—as well as fun, delicious, sensual, interactive, educational, novel, and incredibly uncomplicated to pull off. No cooking, and minimal preparation and clean-up, is necessary.
How and why did you develop the concept of tasting parties?
I was teaching cooking classes and realized how important it was for my students to get to know different ingredients and their own palates. At the same time, I noticed how popular wine tastings had become and, because I’m a true chocolate addict, decided to develop a guided chocolate tasting experience. Once I began hosting them for companies and private groups, I realized just how incredibly effective tastings are as ice-breakers. Also key: they are very uncomplicated to put together.
Seeing a need for a new way of entertaining, I decided to empower people to host tastings at home. In writing Tasting Club, I extended the concept of tastings beyond wine and chocolate to encompass other food and beverage categories that I felt were worthy of tastings and connoisseurship. Other than wine and chocolate, these include beer, tea, cheese, apples, honey, cured meats, balsamic vinegar, and extra virgin olive oil.
For whom did you write Tasting Club?
Everyone! At-home tastings are extremely democratic—they are truly for everyone: children and adults, men and women, and people everywhere. Children (three and older) tend to enjoy apple and honey tastings the most, while the guys especially love beer, cheese, and wine tastings. Tea and chocolate tastings are popular with women. Plus, since at-home tastings usually cost less than dinner parties, they’re an affordable way to entertain. And, anyone can host them—especially with the increasing availability of specialty food and drink items at shops and over the Internet.
How is Tasting Club formatted?
The first chapter, called “The Basics,” introduces the concepts of tasting parties and deep-tasting (or slowing down and savoring food and drink in a structured fashion to get super-acquainted with our palates), and provides all of the nuts-and-bolts needed to host a tasting party. For instance, readers will learn how many people to invite, how and when to host a tasting party, and what basic materials they’ll need. After that, they can choose any chapter they’d like. We decided to place the wine chapter right after the basics chapter, since people are most familiar with wine tastings.
What is your favorite part of the book?
I love all of the tables, which break down the varieties of the foods and drinks. Just by reviewing these tables (such as “Grape Varietals” in the wine chapter), readers will get a really good grasp of the range of items within each category. I also love the “Choose Your Accompaniments” section of each chapter, since I was able to be really creative, coming up with appropriate drinks and foods to serve at each tasting. (The recipes were fun to develop as well.)
Finally, I love the deep-tasting “scripts” and tasting grids, which truly make deep-tasting non-intimidating. The scripts include all of the questions participants should ask themselves when evaluating the samples, and the grids even include descriptive terms that can be used when describing the foods and drinks. Both features demystify deep-tasting—for all of the tasting participants.
Was writing Tasting Club difficult?
Writing Tasting Club couldn’t have been more fun! Since I tested each tasting at least once (most twice), I’d never before entertained as frequently! A few times, I hosted more than one tasting per week! Testing them all out was terrific: I became even more convinced how uncomplicated and fun at-home tastings are.
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Why do you think it’s time for a new way of entertaining?
