MidAtlantic Wine + Food Festival 2015 MAWFF Program Guide | Page 40

hIStoRY oN A plAtE

The cobblestones of Oberod Estate set a perfect tone as guests
arrive at this 5-course dinner with 10 wines, based on a critical
part of our country’s culinary history.
This dinner honors American chef James Hemings, born in
1765, whose considerable and historic influences on American
food and culture include the introduction of macaroni
and cheese, ice cream, whipped cream and French fries for
the first time in America. Author and chef Ashbell McElveen
reports that Thomas Jefferson has long been wrongly attributed
with creating these dishes, which were actually Hemings’ genius
adaptations of French haute cuisine.
Chef McElveen, along with 4 other chefs, will not only create
a Hemings recipe, but also share his deep knowledge of
James Hemings and his influence on American cuisine, having
founded the James Hemings Foundation in 2014 to study, document, educate, and preserve African
Americans’ significant contributions to American iconic food and drink.

NAtIoNAl ChEfS

RyAn CLARK, Executive Chef / Owner / Author, Agustin Kitchen
He was Tucson’s Iron Chef for 3 consecutive years. He has excelled in the World Margarita
Challenge and was one of Food and Wine’s 10 Best New Chefs in the Southwest nominees.
He authored Modern Southwest Cooking.
FESTIVAL EVEnTS: Masters on the Main Line Winemakers Dinner, Pop-Up in Bucks County:
A 7-Course Winemakers Dinner, Quarry and Catch Winemakers Dinner
100 South Avenida del Convento, Ste. 150, Tucson, AZ | agustinkitchen.com
ChEFFED, FOUnDER, Sex on the Table: horny haute Cuisine
It is a cooking school and food line inspired by aphrodisiacs. He hosts special private
dining opportunities. This Swiss chef received a Michelin star alongside Chef A. Blockbergen
at Auberge du Raisin.
FESTIVAL EVEnTS: Cal-Ital Winemakers Dinner, Open THAT Bottle Winemakers Dinner,
Table on The Green: A Family-Style Winemakers Dinner
306 W. 51st St., New York, NY | cheffedny.com

history
James Hemings was born in Virginia into the most famous family in American slave history. Half-brother of
Jefferson’s wife Martha Wayles, James became the property of Thomas Jefferson at age nine. On July 31,
1784 Jefferson and his daughter Martha, and 19-year-old James Hemings, arrived at Le Havre, France.
Hemings began his culinary training immediately, apprenticed to a traiteur (caterer)
named Combeaux who provided Jefferson’s meals during the first year of his stay in
Paris. He subsequently trained under Jefferson’s female French cuisinière (cook),
and also a pastry chef. His most important training was under the chef of the
Prince de Condé, at Chateau Chantilly in the kitchen made famous by François Vatel.
Chateau Chantilly was the Michelin 5-star kitchen of 18th century pre-revolutionary
France. In 1787, Hemings became the Chef de Cuisine at the Hôtel de Langeac, which
was Jefferson’s private residence on the Champs-Elysées. The Hôtel de Langeac was
America’s first diplomatic embassy, and it was there that James cooked for Royalty
and the most discerning palates in France.
Now bilingual and a free man, James returned to America and to slavery, as America’s first black classically
trained Chef Cuisinier, serving as Jefferson’s maître-d’hôtel and chef in New York and Philadelphia. On
February 5, 1796, Thomas Jefferson signed Manumission papers, legally granting James his freedom from
slavery. James immediately went to Philadelphia, the center of 18th century sophistication in America.
It was the closest thing in colonial America to the grandeur of Paris.
Menu highlights: nettle mac and cheese with ham hocks, baby arugula with charred watermelon and
smoked blue cheese, pan-seared MidAtlantic sea bass with jumbo lump crab and oyster perlu, warm sweet
potato pone with crème Chantilly and Grand Marnier
Chefs: Ashbell McElveen, Alain Ivaldi, Darryl Harmon, Dana Herbert, Hari Cameron
Winemakers: Roxanne Wolf, Claude Boudamani
Wines: Woop Woop, Eagle Eye Winery, Chateau Lagrezette, Reichsrat von Buhl, Domaine Kikones, Cape Point
Vineyards, Dieu Donne Vineyards, Savage Wines, Bodegas Franco-Españolas, Rioja Vega, Crow Vineyard
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hEAThER FORRESTER, Private Catering Chef
Heather Forrester is a Private Catering Chef specializing in upscale cocktail and small venue
dinner parties after founding the Gilded Lily, producing high quality desserts for restaurants
and country clubs, and serving as Pastry Chef at Rue Franklin and Catering Chef with The Other
Woman, Buffalo, NY. She proposed and began a whole food, local, organic-when-possible
program in her daughter’s school and was recognized by Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, and
won grand prize from Kiwi magazine for her efforts, all while showing a profit.
FESTIVAL EVEnTS: Delaware Today Cal-Ital Winemakers Dinner, Historic New Castle Festival
Lunch Tour, Sunday Gospel Brunch

This 5-course dinner pairs wild game and fish, many caught
by local hunters and fisherman. Produce from Obisquahassit,
NJ’s oldest working farm, and home to Obis One Black Garlic.
Menu highlights: A taste of local spring boutique vegetables,
marsh rabbit rillettes, chilled pea soup with smoked duck
breast and black garlic lemon curd, grilled venison loin with
morel, pea and onion compote and crispy gnocchi, chocolate
olive oil cake with strawberries and black garlic salt
Chefs: Jake Waddington, Lucas Manteca, Ryan Clark,
Nic van Wyk, Bettina Perry
Winemakers: Kerry Damskey, Lori De Loach
Wines: Lagarde Winery, The Old Faithful, Chateau Lagrezette,
Domaine Kikones, Sula Vineyard, Hook & Ladder,
Cape Point Vineyards, Dieu Donne Vineyards, Savage Wines,
Bodegas Franco-Españolas, Rioja Vega

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