Alice Waters,Meet DC Chefs

Last weekend, I enjoyed volunteering for (and eating at) Lydia Bastianich’s inauguration dinner with the nicest, most hardworking people you’d ever want to meet. It was a treat to watch Bastianich in action: to hear her speaking Italian to Felidia chef Fortunado Nicotra or to see her taste from a huge pot of duck ragu as DC chef Barton Seaver worked across from her in a lovely home kitchen.

Regardless of good intentions of the dinners– on the heels of Bourdain’s Alice Waters rant on DCist  and Gothamist— there has been mounting criticism in undercurrents, on The Feedbag and elsewhere that DC chefs didn’t share the spotlight with those from anywhere else:

 And we hate to be the first to tell you, Alice, but flying twelve different chefs from around the nation into DC, when you’ve got some perfectly nice ones in town already, might defeat the purpose of your enviro-rants.

Were local chefs slighted by the event, despite that many of them were likely tied to their own kitchens during the city’s busiest weekend in decades? 

Will Obama’s term in Washington lead to more national recognition for local chefs?

We’ll soon find out.

UPDATE: See a response here.