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THE GOOD WORD Vol. 7: Nick Normile of Foodie at Fifteen
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THE GOOD WORD Vol. 7: Nick Normile of Foodie at Fifteen
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| twitter.com/foodieatfifteen |
The Good Word is a new weekly Meal Ticket feature where we ask Philadelphia food people questions. We're going to start by highlighting the city's many excellent food writers and bloggers, with eventual plans to extend beyond the scribeosphere. The questions will be different every week unless we come across a really sweet one we want to reuse. Want to nominate a future Good Word candidate (yes, you can nominate yourself), or submit ideas for questions? E-mail drew.lazor@citypaper.net.
In this installment of The Good Word, we're chatting with Nick Normile, the now 16-year-old who writes the blog Foodie at Fifteen. Normile, who's entering his junior year at Lower Merion High School, juggles classes, cross country and SATs with a weekend apprenticeship at Lacroix at the Rittenhouse. (This is a kid who celebrated his birthday at Per Se.) For the record, the young cook says he wants to study business in college, with long-term plans to attend culinary school and eventually open his own restaurant.
We know you stage at Lacroix on the weekends, but we don't know how you landed the gig. When did you start and how did you get in?
One day about three years ago, the Inquirer did a special in the food section about cooking classes and demonstrations in the area. I saw that Lacroix was holding something called "Shopping with the Chefs," where people would go with the chefs at Lacroix to Di Bruno's, try some cheeses and pick out some ingredients, and then go back to Lacroix. The chefs would then show the guests how to cook the ingredients, and the guest would get a finished three-course lunch. I convinced my mom to let me go to this and I really enjoyed it. It was just me and a few adults and I was just talking with the chefs the whole time, telling them how I liked to cook, and at the end of the lesson, the chef told me that I could come back on weekends, which I've been doing ever since.
In addition to Lacroix you've apprenticed at Osteria and Amada. All top-notch spots � all with excellent beverage programs. Do you ever feel jipped that you can't partake in wine and cocktails due to your age, given that they're important to a dining experience?
Yeah, I definitely wish I could try wine. Wine is kind of similar to cheese in terms of production (that it takes a lot of care to produce, that there are so many varieties from everywhere, that it tastes different depending on where it's from) and it really interests me. I'm going nuts on my 21st birthday.
Read on your Twitter that you believe there's a "strong correlation between food and my mood." Do you mean that you gravitate toward certain foods when you feel a certain way, or vice versa — do you find certain foods affect your mood, for better or for worse?
When I said that, I meant that the food I eat affects how I feel. It is definitely true that how we feel determines how we eat, but I think the reverse is true, as well. Eating good, whole, healthy foods makes me feel good, whereas heavy, fatty, processed food, when not eaten in moderation, makes me feel like crap (cheesesteaks, hamburgers). It goes deeper than that, but that's the basic idea.
Do you pack a lunch to bring to school, or do you eat cafeteria food? If you pack, run us through your average brown-bag meal.
I always pack a lunch. If I'm in a hurry, I'll do something like peanut butter, banana and dulce de leche on this great whole-wheat bread from a nearby bakery. If I have more time to prepare something, however, I'll crisp up the skin on a sous vide chicken breast and put it in a Tupperware with some grilled asparagus.
Future rising star in the food world? Maybe. That PB&B sounds delish! I'm keeping my eye on Nick, I see great things in his future.
See you on Top Chef 10: Philadelphia!
if philly has to wait till #10, I'm gonna be mad!!!
Another great interview.
He's spot on with his comment about the quality of the food affecting his mood and overall sense of well being. Compounding over-eating with a selection high in sodium and cholesterol not only leaves you feeling lethargic, but it's always very detrimental to your health. That 'stuffed' feeling isn't good for you as it causes imbalances in blood pressure. Add to that the cancer link with preserved foods- known yet ignored for so long- and you'll see what the average American diet does to both the individual and the healthcare system(of course, in regard to the latter issue, diet is by far not the only thing to blame).
Here's an article that's about 40 years late:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8202188.stm
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