Specialty Food Magazine is the leading publication for retailers, manufacturers and foodservice professionals in the specialty food trade. It provides news, trends and business-building insights that help readers keep their businesses competitive.
Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1194330
4 SPECIALTY FOOD SPECIALTYFOOD.COM CONTRIBUTORS Specialty Food is pleased to publish insightful and actionable articles from leading journalists and retail practitioners. J U L I E B E S O N E N W R I T E R F O R TH E N E W YO R K TI M E S A N D R E S TA U R A N T C O L U M N I S T F O R N YC G O.C O M Leadership Award Winners Producer Profile J A N E T F L E T C H E R W R I T E R O F E M A I L N E W S L E T T E R " P L A N E T C H E E S E " A N D T H E A U T H O R O F C H E E S E & W I N E A N D C H E E S E & B E E R Bay Area Bites Cheese Focus M A R K H A M S T R A R E G U L A R C O N T R I B U T O R T O S P E C I A LT Y F O O D A N D S P E C I A LT Y F O O D N E W S 2020 Outlook Category Education Global Eats TA N YA H E N R Y S A N F R A N C I S C O - B A S E D F R E E L A N C E W R I T E R Bay Area Bites N I C O L E P O T E N Z A D E N I S C O N T R I B U T I N G E D I T O R T O S P E C I A LT Y F O O D Category Spotlight D E N I S E S H O U K A S C O N T R I B U T I N G E D I T O R T O S P E C I A LT Y F O O D Trends & Happenings R O N TA N N E R V I C E P R E S I D E N T, E D U C AT I O N , G O V E R N M E N T, A N D I N D U S T RY R E L AT I O N S F O R T H E S P E C I A LT Y F O O D A S S O C I AT I O N FSMA Update MEET THE CONTRIBUTOR P H Y L L I S J E F F E R S O N Production director Phyllis Jefferson is an 11 year veteran of the Specialty Food Association, where she manages the production of print and online materials in support of the Association's goal of bringing value and service to its members and core constituents. Where do you live? I live in central Brooklyn in the Crown Heights section; about 45 minutes from midtown Manhattan. I'm a native Brooklynite. What's your fondest food memory? That's easy—being near my mother and two of her sisters at Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas—our major family gatherings when we were growing up. My Mom and aunts spent hours in the kitchen (whichever sister's kitchen they were in) where they worked as a team to cook and bake every item on the menu from turkey and beef or pork roasts down to dinner rolls, cakes, cookies, brownies, and tropical tarts such as coconut and guava. Except for the canned, jellied cranberry sauce everything was homemade by my Mom or her sisters. The aromas were incredibly enticing and as a little girl I couldn't help but be drawn there to see what they were doing in a manner that looked so effortless yet resulted in such delicious food and desserts. My love of baking started there. Do you prefer to eat in or go out? Go out, definitely! I'm a capable cook but I always prefer baking to cooking. I tend to limit cooking to those meals I prepare for my elderly mother on weekends. I much prefer to enjoy the cooking skills of others unless I have time to cook for a special occasion. What's your favorite food city? I haven't traveled extensively so the native New Yorker in me says New York, of course! Whatever cuisine you desire it is here and can likely be eaten at a restaurant in an hour or delivered in 30 minutes if you want to eat it at home. What's one of the strangest things you've ever eaten? Can you hear my colleagues chuckling? I am probably one of the least adventurous eaters here at the SFA so I tend to stay with traditional and avoid "strange." Nevertheless, I ate a shark sandwich in St. Louis of all places about 20 years ago. I liked the sandwich and interestingly, it broke the stereotype about where and what was considered "cutting-edge" food at the time. Homemade granola and a cup of chai –N.P.D. What's your favorite snow day treat? Triple chocolate brownies –J.B. We don't have snow days in Napa Valley! If we did it'd be Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. –J.F.