One of the things that I’ve been remiss about since the banh mi book came out is the fact that I can’t do a full-blown book tour. I love to cook, chat and eat with people but book tours are expensive to finance and I mostly pay my own way. Our online conversation are terrific but some people benefit from reading and watching, attending in-person events.
Since that is unlikely, here's a possible solution: a 30-minute video of a talk and cooking demonstration that I did in early October at Google headquarters in Venice Beach (Los Angeles). I was jazzed to get the invitation because I not only did I get to present one of my favorite foods, but also to set foot inside the “Binoculars Building” designed by Frank Gehry.
You enter the architectural landmark below the binoculars:
I collaborated with Google engineer Katharine Ng and their corporate chef Bill Billenstein to give the lowdown on the sandwich ant then let folks loose at a DIY banh mi bar. My goal was to inspire Googlers to mine their surroundings to make Vietnamese sandwiches.
We planned for 50 and there were about 75 people who attended. Some of them confessed to ditching meetings to have a banh mi lunch. It was standing room only and Katharine said afterwards it was the largest attendance that they’d had for such an event. (Go banh mi!)
The jammed packed video includes discussion of:
- banh mi history
- cooking and ingredient tips
- a demo of how to make the daikon carrot pickle
- the banh mi bread recipe back story
- tips on making excellent banh mi
Going into the Google gig, I knew it would be videotaped. Hopefully, you’ll be informed and entertained, as if you were there.
If you have questions or comments, let me know. Thanks to Google for making this happen.
For more of me talking about banh mi, watch or listen:
