I’ve been writing a Wine & Food blog for years . . . but only for myself, in a notebook, old school style. I am not sure why I hesitated to post or share my renderings. I suppose it had something to do with how personal it feels, which is certainly a dichotomy, since the genre Wine & Food allows me to entertain artistic and cultural outlets that are, by nature, very social. My fondest memories are founded on wine and food experiences that befriended me with people of different ages, sexes, ethnicities, social classes, and -dare I say it- even dissenting political affiliations. I will never forget a memorable moment when Wine & Food was the catalyst for a growing association between completely different classes of people. It may come as no surprise that this memory was born in New Orleans, where our innate welcoming nature, along with our cultural focus on food/beverage/music, often facilitates human engagement amongst strangers. Nearly 10 years ago, after a long hiatus pursuing my career elsewhere, I was in NOLA, working for Swirl Wine Bar & Shop. We had a frequent customer who often arrived before the happy hour rush, thereby leaving time for more personal interaction. She (let’s call her Madison) had a zeal for all things bubbly! Madison often shared her vino with others (including new patrons), and long conversations between us would ensue. What should I pair with the etouffee that I’m cooking on Wednesday? What should I take to the outdoor concert tomorrow? Hey, do ya’ll want to join me? I can bring this bubbly! One day, Madison came in with a broken limb, devastated because she couldn’t work. For months, I had conversed with her about life, love, food, wine, music . . . yet, I had NO idea what she did for a living. I reflected on this experience as compared to my prior experiences on the East Coast, namely the DC area, where a conversation at a bar or social event would start with: What do you do? In other words: How much money do you make? How successful are you? The conversations rarely focused on the person and his/her passions. Needless to say, this was an eye-opening revelation for me. The next time I went to DC, while at a networking event for marketing, I answered the question: What do you do for a living? With: I drink for a living! The inquiring lobbyist laughed and walked away.
Fast forward to the present. I now live back in New Orleans. Due to Covid-19, I am jobless and fearful of the lasting effects that this pandemic could have on our hospitality world, aka our economic mecca. Covid-19 took away community as we knew it. We were forced to rely on social media and virtual communication to connect with others. To me, it felt like looking through a windowpane at the real thing, which was within reach, albeit untouchable. I was akin to my four-legged friend sitting on our screened-in porch, wagging her tail at the sight and sound of others, but then pawing at the obstacle that blocked true interaction. Virtual interaction was, at best, a Band-Aid approach: a temporary and partial solution to the problem of connecting with others, but not a long-term resolution for breaking down the screen.
I was not a social media guru. To be honest, technology scares me. As noted, I’ve been writing a blog as a journal in notebooks, and my calendar is still maintained on paper. Zoom?! Web-ex?! I hadn’t heard of either platform. I had a prediction: All of this will blow over in 1-2 months. Our jobs will come back. The screen doors will re-open to allow face-to-face interactions and person to person(s) experiences, especially in the spheres where I fly: wine, food, music. With this timeframe in mind, I put a wine keg in the house. The keg was transported to the front lawn in the evenings, replete with disposable cups, face masks, a sanitizing station and a self serve keg pour. True, I still had my front porch screen barrier, but I had my Band-Aid solution. More importantly, I didn’t have to rely on technological apparatuses and social apps to share and socialize. In my head, I had it all figured out.
However, Covid-19 didn’t go away in 1-2 months. In fact, it’s intent has been made clear: it’s hanging out for a while. I was forced to adjust and adapt. Thanks to my friend and tech guru, Chad Marshall, I finally entered the modern world of virtual technology. This past summer, I hosted wine education zooms and partnered with Chef Susan Spicer for virtual wine and food pairing sessions. I was pleasantly surprised to see participants go the extra mile, stopping at two different locations for food and wine (Rosedale and Swirl) and logging in weekly for an hour of online interaction. I suppose isolation forces all of us to find alternative ways to connect. I am gradually staking a presence on social media outlets, particularly Facebook and Instagram. (Twitter may never get a grasp on me, but progress comes in stages!) While my career path remains in limbo, as well as the progress related to our hospitality sector, I’ve decided to re-position my company VinoSolutions to allow for virtual wine education sessions, private tastings for your friends/family, wine shopping/concierge services, and most recently, small private party wine pairing dinners. My friend and business partner, David Paternostro, hand rolls and cuts his own pasta (old school Italian style) and makes handcrafted sauces that will put to shame what you find in a jar or can. Our collaboration has proved to me that my passions don’t have to succumb to a pandemic; I simply have to be creative in how those passions are shared. And patient. And tolerant of change. And subdued in my inclination for rabid outbursts.
Perhaps posting and sharing my blog will give me the momentum I need to re-envision ways in which to continue to share mutual passions with others. I hope that your responses and comments will instill a different sense of community and help to eradicate the droves of loneliness that infiltrate my jobless days. Or, perhaps it will give others something better than the news to read! I don’t have a real plan as to how often I’ll post, nor any strict guidelines as to what I’ll specifically post about. The common thread will certainly embody aspects of food, wine, music, and culture. Sometimes old memories/stories will pop up, and sometimes I may do an educational excerpt on something cool, such as Sake. All I know is that I’m ready to start sharing.
Comments