About the Food and Wine Diva
|
 |
| Lavoir in Viéville sous les Côtes |
|
The Food and Wine Diva is Summer Whitford, a professional chef, food and wine educator, writer, and cultural specialist. Simply stated, her philosophy is Dine Well. Live Fully. Travel Often. And the foundation of this approach to life is the happy result of living and traveling abroad.
Summer spent part of her childhood in Viéville sous les Côtes, a tiny village of 129 souls in the region of Lorraine in northeastern France. She and her family fell madly in love with everyone and everything, but most especially their dear friend, Alice Ancelin and her family. This loving, dear woman was not only a strong influence on Summer's values, but she became Summer's culinary muse. It was here that Summer's innate sense of food, wine, and entertaining began to develop.
She took great delight in learning about the history of Lorraine and the truest expression of France's patrimony--its food and wine. You could say that once smitten with la vie en France, Summer never looked back.
But it wasn't just France that changed her forever. She also lived in Germany and adored the fairy tale villages of Bavaria, the wonderfully endless range of delicious sausages, and of course....the wine.
|
 |
| Visit The Greenbrier |
|
Traveling throughout Europe was one of her greatest pleasures and these memorable experiences are what transformed her into a cultural magpie; today her never ending search for the beauty of other cultures is what fuels her reading, teaching, writing, and travels.
Summer has 20 years of experience "in the business" and her accomplishments include: owning and successfully operating a lifestyle and special event/catering business with her husband for 15 years, stints as Pastry Chef for 1789 Restaurant and Chef Roberto Donna's Galileo da Roberto Donna, and gigs as a Consulting Chef/Pastry Chef at other swanky restaurants in Washington, DC and St. Louis.
She has developed curricula and taught wine and cooking to enthusiasts and the trade for more than 15 years. Whether teaching at the French Embassy, a local community college, or The Greenbrier Resort, Summer makes every class fun and "edutaining".
Her television credits include work on two separate series for Discovery Channel as Kitchen Manager and Content Specialist for The Low Cholesterol Gourmet and Senior Writer and Editor for World Class Cuisine, a highly rated show which was syndicated in 72 countries. In addition to her role as Editor for the World Class Cuisine television show, Summer was the Contributing Editor and Food Stylist for the television series' companion cookbook by the same name. Recently, she was the featured guest for the new ABC series Cooking Up A Better Life With Misha.
Summer has won awards for her pastry work and is a member of numerous national and international food and wine organizations. When not traveling to wine country or her childhood home in France, she is writing about food, wine, and culture. She has written about travel for Trazzler.com, and regularly writes two e-newsletters a week on wine, beer, and spirits.
Most recently, she was the "book doctor" for a Member of Congress' memoir and a soon-to-be-published book about weddings. She also has her own book out now entitled, JOIN US AT THE EMBASSY which is a gastronomic tour of the embassies in Washington, DC from the countries of Afghanistan, Austria, Chile, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Kenya, and Portugal. JOIN US AT THE EMBASSY is written like a culinary travelogue cultural guide to each country and is a must for anyone interested in travel and the pleasures of the table. Learn more about the book >>
|
|
