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EMOTION and FOOD WRITING
There's a wide range of topic to tackle about food than just the usual dining and recipes. Food writing
is not merely about food, but about how we experience it. Take, for instance, when novelist Pat Conroy wrote how his emotions
and food often play against each other in an article about his high school experience when a friend died and they were served
with macaroni & cheese after the service.
You don't have to be a culinary expert to write about food. Two
of the best food writers - Alan Richman and Jeffrey Steingarten - bring a larger worldview to their work, partly because of
their unconventional backgrounds. Richman, a food columnist for GQ, was a sportswriter and Steingarten, Vogue's
food critic, was a lawyer.
Even chefs don't limit themselves to the corners of their kitchen. Somewhere, in places we've never imagined,
are recipes people enjoyed for generations which culinary schools don't have knowledge of. That's
a story worth telling; an experience worth sharing. Something about food worth writing, and something worth reading
and/or watching.
Read an article about how balut has been a painful part of a man’s journey from falling in
love to mending his broken heart.
Read the full ARTICLE...
COURSE
OUTLINE
Day
1 : FOOD WRITING
1. Creative Writing Applied To Food
2. Food Subjects
- Food & Dining
- Science & Technology
- Diet & Fitness
- Health & Nutrition
- Agriculture
- Food Trends & Traditions
- Spirituality & Food
3. Experiencing Food/Feelings & Food
4. Food & Cooking Terms/Lingo
5. Choosing/Developing Your Subject
Day
2: FOOD AUDIO-VISUAL PRESENTATION
1.
Food Idea Development
2.
Concept Development & Management
- Types
- Categories
- Orientation
3. Food AVP Formats & Dynamics
Day
3: COOKING SHOW DEVELOPMENT
1.
Cooking Show Formats/Sub- categories
2.
Conceptual Design
3.
Host
4.
Gappings in a cooking show
5.
Segments
A Cooking
Show Is Not Just A Show About Cooking
Food Writing
by melchor df. escarcha
Fundamentally,
a cooking show is not just a show about cooking. Sounds redundant but this is a common mistake. There is more to it besides
cooking. Thus, the first step in understanding the dynamics of a cooking show is to explore its point of view.
There a
four major point of views within a cooking show format namely 1) the dish, 2) the kitchen, 3) the cook or the chef and 4)
the audience. Discussing all four points of view will take a lot of time, so let us just discuss one. In
particular the point of view of the chef or the cook.
The chef
as an orientation regarding the point of view is a cooking show that revolves around the culinary skills of the persona. Wherein,
all the actions and activities within the show defines the level of knowledge and skills of the chef as well as his or her
philosophy in cooking as a science and as an art. Thus, this cooking show emphasizes on the form
of cooking rather than the function.
The cook
operates in a different way. He or she is more concerned with the function of cooking rather than its form. Wherein, all actions
and activities within the show defines the level of experience and practical knowledge of the cook as well as his or her common
sense in cooking as a craft in the spirit of culinary alchemy.
A cook
or chef, given the differences, may approach a cooking show in two ways. First, the cook or the chef aims
to satisfy the want of the audience. This approach entails that cooking is a culinary action or activity
that defines socio-economic status. Meaning, eating well translates to having a comfortable life and not
necessarily a healthy one. Thus, the chef or the cook deliberately satisfies this want by carefully classifying dishes in
terms of socio-economic measures.
Second,
we eat to live or live to eat? The cook or the chef must answer this question before arriving at a visible
approach. When we eat to live, eating is a need that pertains to activity. And when
we live to eat, eating is a need that pertains to an action. Thus, when a cook or a chef satisfies hunger
as a needed action, cooking serves the emotional need of the audience. On the other hand, when a cook or a chef satisfies
hunger as an activity, cooking serves the biological need of the audience.
The tone
provides the content of the approach. A chef or a cook may go about in satisfying a need or a want by utilizing sentiments
or sentimentality. Sentiments refer to actions and activities that are uniquely created by the persona
of the chef or the cook. On the other, sentimentality requires the cook or the chef to identify the common
activities and actions of the audience in order to facilitate his or her projection as a persona Thus, there are cooks who
rely heavily on childhood comfort foods as common sentimental memories of the audience. While there are
chefs who employ sentiment through avant-garde dishes that are totally detached to the audience's immediate experience yet
the said dishes provoke the spirit of curiosity and adventure as the audience explores a unique culinary experience.
Delivery
is the last factor that affects the point of view of the chef or the cook. Delivery has two modes namely
1) personal and 2) collective. A personal mode of delivery requires a cook or a chef to adjust to the need
or want of the audience. On the other hand, the collective mode of delivery requires the audience to adjust to the chef or
the cook. How do we then evaluate if the delivery is efficient or not?
Ratings
and audience feed back are two of the major devices of evaluation. Ratings tend to be a reliable measure when the delivery
is collective. It is pure statistics, general and with no human touches whatsoever. Thus, ratings become
the cook's or the chef's indicator and basis with regards to implementing changes or adjustments that will improve the show
as well as retaining or reinforcing existing features that are popular to the collective. These changes, adjustment and reinforcements
are carefully subjected to the sense and sensibility of the chef or the cook as he or she tries to prescribe the changes,
adjustments and reinforcements which he or she thinks the audience need or want.
Audience
Feedback is far more personal than ratings. Letters, e-mails, awards or recognition and mobile sms messages
are types of feedback that retain a human component. Often, these feedbacks are more specific and personal.
Thus, feedbacks become the cook's or the chef's indicator and basis with regards to implementing changes or adjustments that
will improve the show as well as retaining or reinforcing existing features that are popular to the collective. These changes,
adjustment and reinforcements subscribe directly to the sense and sensibility of the audience.
In summary,
the chef or the cook as the core value that pertains to the point of view of a cooking show is affected by several factors
namely orientation, approach and delivery. These factors help define the cooking show as well as the market
it seeks to satisfy. As stated before, A Cooking Show is not just a show about cooking. Rather, it is about actions and activities
that are contained in a format that seeks to deploy a specific core value or point of view in cooking. In the process, the
form and function are defined within the parameters of science, art, and business, medium of communication and visual documentation.
BALUT and LOVE
By JL Caiņa
Balut is authentically Pinoy. Yet most Pinoys need a lot of
guts to eat this certified energy food. Some close their eyes or turn off the
light as they draw the egg toward their lips. Some loves the taste no matter
how disgusting they think it is. Afterwards is the guilty pleasure. An uncomfortable feeling as they savor a veiny unborn duckling which tiny feathers and claws now stuck
between their teeth. Yuck!
Guilt! Oh, yes! The guilt.
I heard someone say that the reason he doesn't eat balut is because these are aborted ducks. Well, yeah, true. Quite factual for an excuse to refuse a
dare, huh!
I probably know the
person who eats balut the best way, my girlfriend Toni. After slowly sipping
the soupy water like hot coffee from Starbucks, she then takes the yellow flesh out and hands me the rest: the duckling and
the hard white attached to the shell. I eat them while watching her take small
bites on the yolk clipped between her thumb and index finger. We usually eat
five nightly. I often joke about its aphrodisiac effect. She would smile. And sometimes, if lucky, the starry night
sky is witness to the rest of history. I guess it's the best way to eat balut:
with a little salt and she beside me.
It was a nightly leisure
interest during our younger years. But I haven't eaten balut the same
way for so long now. My apologies for wrong information given earlier. Toni is actually my ex-girlfriend. She
outgrew the activity. And there are aspects of me that, as with the rest of balut,
she can't sink her teeth into. It's been eight years since we ate balut
together, but the nights on the veranda still feels like every night I hear sellers sing to entice buyers. Now I eat alone and sometimes find myself unconsciously imitating how she used to hold the yellow part.
If she was with me,
I'd probably hear her say, "it tastes like a big chunk of cream cheese, only richer," and she would ask me, "how about that
fetus (as she calls it, from the friend who called it aborted ducklings)?"
I would answer, on
different occasions, always in an unsure tone, contemplating on its poignant taste while concocting a plan to charm her into
eating it, "chicken pie? Potted meat spread? Kikiam?
Caviar? Only sinful…"
But I never forced
her into eating it. She said she did but just doesn't like it. Not for how it looks like or for what it is, but because the taste is not good for her palate. I believed it. I always believe what she says. Though, I've realized when she was gone that the yellow part tastes more like a chunk of un-dissolved creamer
settled beneath the mug when you finished your coffee.
Recently, I met Toni
again at the mall. Like we used to every now and then for reason we both don’t
know. So much has changed, she observed.
Now, there are balut sold inside the mall. I bought for each of
us before we went to eat in an Italian restaurant. “How many can you take
now?” She teased. “Just
one?”
That’s a far
cry from the five we used to eat together. “It’s too early,”
I said, checking out the time on my mobile phone. It was one o’clock. But the truth is I seldom ate balut since she left. Eating it feels like chewing all the daunting things she said about me being a regular guy.
She looked at me with
a blank emotion for a moment, probably thinking that I was monitoring the time I was spending with her. I returned the phone to my pocket to avoid discussion about whether I wanted to see her or not. Toni is like balut with the shell intact, you’d never know which among the duckling, or the
yellow part, or the hard white reigns in size. The emotion I see on her face
is something I can’t decode, so I desperately tried to avoid her little brown eyes.
We both grabbed the
balut resting on the table like two spectators. I let her choose. She pointed out that it’s a good appetizer while we wait for the pasta we ordered. I held mine like a baseball I wanted to pitch towards her, or perhaps towards my own
head. She was trying to pinch open the shell with her French manicured nails,
so I took it and knocked it gently on the table. I removed the broken shell and
hand it back to her. We both stare at the egg for a moment. A memory suddenly flashed before us. That task was mine when
we were together. It was a relief that she took it quickly because my hand was
shaking. So were my knees. “Now,”
I said to myself, “this balut could be of use.”
"I should eat the duckling,"
she said half-smiling. I peeled mine instead of commenting. My heart and mind were wrestling against each other with concern and suspicion. Then I caught on my peripheral vision tiny stars that suddenly appear on the corner of the person who used
to be my star. “It's not so warm,” she said, almost whispering, and
put the egg down on the table.
"It must be the air
conditioner," I said. I lied the same way she did. The egg I was eating could burn my tongue.
I noticed the tiny
loops of entrails of the half-bitten duckling Toni didn’t finish. Exposed
like her real emotion she's trying to mask with dismay about the balut. I
put mine next to it and covered them with a table napkin, "we don't have to finish it," I said, then put them at the corner
end of the table as the pasta arrives.
The truth is revealed
as she follows the eggs with a forlorn gaze, and then at me. No matter how hard
she tries, she cannot love balut wholly like she cannot love me completely.
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Situations of Place
In terms of environment and ambiance, situation of place pertains to space where particular
kinds of relationship between sitcom characters exist and will exist nowhere else but in that space. Sitcoms like "MASH" and
"Just Shoot Me" are good examples of situations of place. MASH featured doctors in the Mobile Army Surgical Hospital in the harsh backdrop of the Korean War while "Just Shoot Me" featured
Fashion Magazine Personnel in the vicious backdrop of New York City.
Coming up with
sitcoms that center on situations of place is a bit tricky. Writers or groups of writers focus their writings on the specific
culture of the immediate environment and ambiance. Thus, when you are writing about the people in a police station, you are
basically writing about the culture inside the police station and how it affects the characters within it.
The common mistake
of comedy writers is the inability to identify cultures from relationships. Culture provides the rules
and guidelines of human actions and activities in a given set of parameters that occupy space. The culture
inside an urban hospital is different from the culture inside a rural hospital. Thus, culture is relative and its effects
to human behavior are also relative.
At present,
sitcoms produced in the Philippines
severely suffer from a wide case of identity crisis. In the level of approach, cultures and relationships
are generally lumped into one monstrous creation. As a result, the sitcom does not work and retreats to
a more domestically safe creation, the gag show.
If you look
around, there are a lot of interesting situations of place. One can set a sitcom in a Chinese restaurant,
in a police station, in a local government unit, in a funeral parlor, in a beauty parlor, in a wet market or in an office
of a senator. What is important is that the writers are able to accurately survey the prevailing culture of the said space.
And when I say culture, it pretty much covers actions, activities, events, situations, characters and dialogue.
Whenever I go
to the Land Transportation Office in Makati, the type
of culture that it has as a space always amazes me. Basically, it is a rich source of characters, events, situations, actions,
activities, dialogues and relationships that operate within a unique culture that caters to both the rich and the poor.
This visually distinct feature is a good premise for a situational comedy as it tries to understand, in a funny way,
this unique and fascinating culture in the midst of socio-political class relations and tensions.
Because the
culture is the main target of the sitcom, it serves as a character as well. If the culture changes, then
the sitcom ends. For example, a police station that moves from a culture of corruption to a culture of
professionalism exhibits a change in culture. Thus, the elements within this culture will also change.
Situation of place is an interesting approach that requires extensive
understanding. This article is just exploring the tip of this approach. There are heap loads of requirements
and techniques that we need to explore as we try to construct a sitcom in this manner. Hopefully,
this will enlighten you in terms of understanding situational comedies. Because sitcoms are not gag shows.
PUNCH
IN FICTION WRITING
Fans were dismayed
when Fil-Am boxer Brian Villoria lacked follow-up on punches thrown against his opponent.
His fist undoubtedly has strength, but what could have been the problem?
He was waiting for
an opportunity to knock Niņo down. That was his plan, his climax. Boxing analysts believe that it was a bad strategy. Even the
guys who were on his corner were pressing him to keep on pulling punches. He
should’ve kept on punching rather than wait for an opportunity for a “big blow” to finish the Argentinean.
The same way applies
on fiction writing. You need to keep on throwing punches (events, plotpoints)
to build on to the climax, rather than wait for an opportunity to do it. An ending
that was not established is weak and unconvincing. Furthermore, weak plot attacks
can make you lose readers before they even reach the near-climax point. What’s
the point of watching the whole Villoria match if you’ve already lose interest on his performance? If you don’t like what’s happening, or if there’s nothing really happening, in a story,
would you turn the page to continue reading?
Boxers have
a game plan laid-out with his couching team. Fiction writers on the other hand
plan their story in advance through outlining. Whether it’s on an index
card or on a spreadsheet, it would guide you on the whole writing process from “once upon a time…” to “…and
they live happily ever after.” It may change a bit, or key events may switch
positions as you write, but that’s the foundation from which the whole piece will be worked on.
The next time you
write, don’t expect the climax to come like God’s grace. You don’t
even pray for it; you build it through careful plotting.
MAINSTREAM FICTION WRITING WORKSHOP
Facilitator:
JL Caiņa
Published Mainstream Fiction Writer/Scriptwriter/TV Analyst
Application:
- Genre Fictions/Novellas (Tagalog
Pop Novellas, Harlequin/Mills&Boons proto-type Romances, Young Adult Novels)
- Mainstream Short & Long Story
DAY
1 - Elements Of Fiction
1. Measuring Cup of Fiction - Aristotle's The Poetics
2. The Pitch: Idea Generation
3. Premise Construction
4. Short Story vs. Novel
5. Story Types That Sell
7. Getting to know the Big P - Plot
8. Building Chains - Plot Outline
9. Plot vs. Story
10. Rearrangement & Design: The Story Outline
11.
The Era Of Movies: Fast Pace Plot
12. Exposition, Conflict, Struggle, Resolution
13. Pop The Bubble: Misconceptions
And Mistakes in Fiction Writing
DAY
2- Ready, Set, Go!
1. Mainstream/genre vs. Literary Writing
2. Chapter & Scene Breakdown
3. Viewpoint
4. Keys to Killer Beginning
5. Show vs. Tell
6. Leitmotifs In Fiction
7. Subplots, Multiple plots
8. Character
& Plot
9. Character Development
10. The 3-Acts Structure
DAY 3 - Scene Sculpture
1.
When is a scene a scene?
2. Do/Don't Begin at the Beginning
3. Setting
4. Length: A Little Boy's Attention Span
5. When it Ends
6. Scene Focus
7. Plant-Payoff
8. Keys To Effective Dialogue
9. Era Of TV: Cliffhanging
10. Sex Scenes
11. Action Scenes
12. Comic Scenes
13. Ending
14. Revising
15. The Markets
GOAL
OUTPUT OF THE WORKSHOP:
An initial draft of a mainstream short story or/and an initial chapter and outline of
a mainstream/genre novel.
OUR WORKSHOPS:
Us
and our affiliates offer workshops from Mainstream Fiction Writing to Drama and Comedy Writing to Alternative Scriptwriting.
Our
apporach is non-academic with immediate learning results applied to solid output.
CREATIVE WORKS
How To Create
A Cooking Show
Tuition Fee:
n The tuition fee P4,000 per head
n Group Discount: 3 members : 3,000 per head
Cooking Show
Genres
n Kid Show
n Educational/ Informative
n Livelihood
n Game Show
n Celebrity Talk
n Reality
----------------------------------
Subjects
3rd
Body : Cooking Demonstrations
4th
Body :Chow Out
Instructor
JL Caina
Television
Analyst
Television
Food Writer/ Program Creator
n Program Creator/ Makuha Ka Sa Tikim (abs-cbn)
n Television Food Writer/ Sarap TV (abs cbn)
Freelance Online/
Print Media Food Writer
n Natives Wish
n MOD Magazine
----------------------------------
Subjects
1st
Body : Starter/ The Subject Matter
2nd
Body: Authority on the Subject Matter
Instructor
:
Mel df. Escarcha
Concept Development
and Management Specialist (Television)
Writer (Television)
---------------------------------
How To Create
A Cooking Show
CHIPS Creative
Enhancement Special Program
Television
Format : Cooking Show
Workshop Outline
1st
Body : Starter/ The Subject Matter
n History of the Subject Matter (AVP/Live
Talk)
n The Ingredients of the Subject Matter (AVP/ Live Talk)
n Spiels : Prelude to the Next Body
2nd
Body: Authority on the Subject Matter
n Background of the Authority
n Studio Introduction of the Authority
n Inspection of the Ingredients
n Preparation of the Ingredients/ Start Cooking
n Spiels : Prelude to the Next Body
3rd
Body : Cooking Demonstration
n Actual Cooking
n Commentary
n Plating
n Spiel : Prelude to the Next Body
n Recipe Rundown
4th
Body : Chow Out
n Tasting
n Discussion ( Panel or Forum)
n Prelude to the next episode (AVP/ Spiel)
----------------------------------------------------
Questions :
Send E-mail or Click Any of the Following Links
e-mail address
irish_patatas_entertainment@yahoo.com
related links
Tuition Fee:
n The tuition fee P4,000 per head
n Group Discount: 3 members : 3,000 per head
Registration:
For registration
arrangements, please text or contact this mobile "phone number" 0920-8793237/ JL Caina.
The venue of the registration is @ Future Prospect, Marikina Shoe Expo, Araneta Center Complex, Cubao, Quezon City.You
can register anytime, just let us know through the provided contact number.
SCHOOL OF ARTS AND ANIMATION @ MINDTAP STUDIOS
* In ANIMA: Creating 3D Animated Shorts
(Special Program)
This intense one-year training program on 3D animation
focuses on technical skills vis-a-vis the conceptual component of creating a 3D animated flick. It also tackles areas of specialization
and a walk-through in standard studio procedures for the production of 3D animated shorts.
The 3D Animation Process
Pre-production
Scriptwriting for Animation
Advanced Techniques in Character Animation
Character Development and Design
Art and Composition in Background Design
Animatic
Sound Design and Engineering
Production
Story and Dialogue Treatment
3D Modeling and Texturing
Rigging your Characters
3D Animation Basics
Advanced Techniques in 3D Animation
Art of Lighting and Rendering
Post-production
Motion Graphics and Special Effects
Sound Editing
Compositing and Digital Editing
Elective:Mel Scripting for MAYA
Elective:3D Animation using Freewares
Elective:Intellectual Property Rights
Elective:Web Design and Development
Schedule of Meetings:
Saturdays and night classes only
Duration: 12 months
Enrollment Fee: Php 120,000.00
Contact Number : 7295951 (Maila / Bong)
(http://www.mindtap-ph.com/MODULE.htm#scriptcom
===================================================== DRAMA WRITERS’ CABLE TELEVISION WORKSHOP
:
LEVEL 1: Drama Anthology Single Drama Writing====================================================== MELODRAMA
and KOREAN DRAMAS One of television's most diverse program types is the melodrama. It encompasses an extensive
variety of aesthetic formats, settings, and character types. Melodramatic formats include the series, consisting of self-contained
episodes, each with a classic dramatic structure of conflict/complication/resolution in which central and supporting characters
return week after week; the serial, which features a continuing story line, carried forward from program to program (this
is typical of soap operas -- The Teleseryes); the anthology--a non-episodic program series constituting an omnibus of different
self-contained programs, related only by sub-genre, and featuring different actors and characters each week. Yet, Korean
Dramas somehow can separate and define melodrama drom the usual soap opera, Teleseryes. Find out why... Get
To The Heart Of Dramatic Writing. DRAMA WRITERS’ TELEVISION WORKSHOP Now offers ... LEVEL 1: Drama Anthology
Single Drama Writing Registration On-Going… Workshops : This Summer 2008 Workshop Fee: P 5,000 For
Registration & Inquiries email us For more details click: http://the-chips1.tripod.comEmail: irish_patatas_entertainment@yahoo.com
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