Exploring the Upside of Gluttony

Food experts will come together on November 11, 2015, to discuss gluttony as a good thing.

Can Gluttony Be A Virtue? explores the role of feasting in modern society and the way food can offer social and psychological outlets. Author Francine Prose (Gluttony), UCLA medieval historian Teo Ruiz, and chef, LA restaurateur, and former contestant on Food Network’s The Next Iron Chef Eric Greenspan visit Zócalo to discuss when too much is a good thing. Evan Kleiman, host of KCRW’s Good Food, will moderate the panel.

The panel will take place at the Redondo Beach Historic Library at 7:30pm on Wednesday, November 11, 2015. Admission is free and reservations are strongly recommended.

This event is presented in conjunction with two current Getty exhibitions exploring the early art of food The Edible Monument: The Art of Food for Festivals and Eat, Drink, and Be Merry: Food in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

The Event

Can Gluttony be a Good Thing?
Moderated by Evan Kleiman, Host, KCRW’s Good Food
Redondo Beach Historic Library
309 Esplanade
Redondo Beach, CA 90277

Valet parking will be available. Admission is free; reserve online.

Learn more about Zócalo events at Zócalo Public Square.

The Exhibitions

The Edible Monument: The Art of Food for Festivals
Through March 13, 2016, at the Getty Research Institute at the Getty Center

Elaborate artworks made of food were created for royal court and civic celebrations in early modern Europe. Like today’s Rose Bowl Parade on New Year’s Day or Mardi Gras just before Lent, festivals were times for exuberant parties. Public celebrations and street parades featured large-scale edible monuments made of breads, cheeses, and meats. At court festivals, banquet settings and dessert buffets displayed magnificent table monuments with heraldic and emblematic themes made of sugar, flowers, and fruit. This exhibition, drawn from the Getty Research Institute’s Festival Collection, features rare books and prints, including early cookbooks and serving manuals that illustrate the methods and materials for making edible monuments.

Eat, Drink, and Be Merry: Food in the Middle Ages and Renaissance
Through January 3, 2016, at the J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center

The cultivation, preparation, and consumption of food formed the framework for daily labor and leisure in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Illuminated manuscripts offer images of the chores that produced sustenance, cooking techniques, popular dishes, grand feasts, and diners of different social classes. Food had powerful symbolic meaning in Christian devotional practice as well as in biblical stories and saintly miracles, where it nourished both the body and the soul.