The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition.
Out of the frying pan, into the fire
1. Going from a bad situation to one that is even worse ‡.
2. A day of discussion for chefs, restauranteurs, food media and food lovers for this conference on the nexus between food, restaurants and the media at MFWF‡.
‡ This saying often refers to the necessity of making a choice between equally difficult options.
This is a blatant plug. My Blog friends Ed, Jamie, Lucy and Stephanie are taking part in the gabfest section of The Melbourne Food and Wine Festival on Monday 3rd March 2008, known as Out of The Frying Pan. In Session One there's also an appearance by French Uber Blogger Bénédict Beaugé discussing global food trends with other Fooderati imports. And in another session, one of my culinary heroes David Thompson will appear too.
It's $135 a ticket. In the past I would have considered this a trifling amount, but having stepped off the corporate merry-go-round for a life more Zen, I have wondered whether to part with the lucre. I wondered also about the day long masterclasses, but gagged on the price.
I figured I'd spend less than half of the asking price - for just one day of masterclass - on food in Malaysia in May, and come away just as satisfied with the additional benefit of a swag of new blog posts. Out of the Frying Pan does however include in the ticket price, a showbag, lunch, 4 sessions and two Coffex Coffee 'experiences' (WTF? Now there's Marketing jargon to make you dry retch).
Out of The Frying Pan is tempting though if just to see some of my friends in action, but how does one choose between 'Media Trends 2009-2012' and 'Future Food, Future Media' or 'Recipe Writing, how to do it right, wrong and getting them published' or even 'The Politics of Food and how it works for a successful restaurant'?
Then in Session 3 I suppose it has to be 'Web 2 how to blog and how not to blog' over the 'So you want to write about food, a session for Chefs, foodies and the next AA Gill' option. Though for some this will be a hard decision. In Session 4 as in Session 1 there is just one presentation and this one is about the Future of Drinking, hopefully with a drink at hand.
Another dilemma. Why doesn't the program list the speakers in each session, surely some people's decisions would be influenced by that? Oh well, pot luck I suppose is the order of the day.
Tickets can be booked via Ticketmaster.
7 comments:
Good luck Sticky & should you get that freebie, please post about the event. Cheers, Gobbler
Thanks Gobbler, should I receive a ticket, I shall duly report with a precis on the event or possibly a treatise...and at the very least a snapshot of Ed et al.
Sticky, thanks for joining in. It should be a good day and discussion.
Gobbler, I'm guessing a few of us will report it. I may take my digtal recorder and have a second attempt at a podcast plugin bugs permitting (although I may give up in anger at trying to edit in Garage Band).
Sadly I won't be able to see all my friends in action as you aren't all involved in the one session. I wonder if anyone at MFWF would be willing to podcast some of the pieces - after the event - for those who would have liked to see more than one discussion in each quarter session?
Last year's event was a mixed bag and this year's program looks equally unpredictable, I feel. I'll be there, but not sure which sessions yet! Oh, and that Coffex Experience is more commonly called a run-of-the-mill cup of coffee. Wow.
Duncan, look forward to seeing you. I'll be interested to se what we all get out of it. I was given a vacpac of ground Coffex from the festival launch but will probably give it to the mission - poor buggers.
I look forward to this event, and Sticky you will be glad to know that the program has been updated and now lists each of the speakers in each session.
Their is still the problem of choosing which session to attend.
Cheers,
Jon!
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