Remember October? I had this idea to do a Roundtable discussion on the current food, restaurant, farm, etc scene in Columbus. I had great feedback on this idea, but then I was stricken with the plague and didn't follow up. Then the holidays hit, and blah blah blah. I'm lazy, okay? Anyone who's ever emailed me already knows that. (sorry, kitties)
I still think it's a great idea and I'm ready to get it off the ground. Ideally, I'd love to do a VLOG - that's video blog, in case you don't know. I'd love to have about 10 people, and some of you have already emailed me to let me know someone who'd be great for it or you'd like to do it. I'd like to have as diverse a group as possible.
So, the general idea is: we will all get together at a local restaurant (who has already offered their services); hopefully it will be a slow night so that we can talk and everything. I thought maybe we could have a family-style, casual meal. Nothing fancy, nothing super expensive, just some good food and wine. I'd like maybe everyone to come prepared with 10 questions or issues they'd like to discuss - I don't really know anything about moderation, so perhaps if anyone has skill in that area, they could offer to collect the questions ahead of the time and select the best ones.
One idea which came up is doing a "central Columbus" roundtable and then a suburban rountable. I know that Powell has a great food & restaurant scene which unfortunately I don't pay as much attention to as I should. A Powell restaurant has also offered their services, so if you think that's a good idea and are interested in doing Powell, please let me know!
So, here's what I think we need:
- I'd like to have 3 videos; I have one video camera, so we'd need 2 more; doesn't have to be fancy.
- someone who has some clue about recording voices and video
- someone who has some editing skillz
- a moderator
- 10 really cool people to talk about food
I should probably mention that I don't have money to pay anyone, but I really think this event is about the city of Columbus, and not about ME. I hope to turn this into an ongoing, casual thing, even if it ends up being a podcast. I'd love for all of us to share our desires and things we love about our city and beyond. I think the best way to see Columbus become a better food city is to start encouraging those who can change it.
I think once we have our initial roundtable, we'll be full of topics going forward - future topics might be ethnic dining, minority-owned restaurants and groceries, favorite locally-produced products, things we'd like Columbus chefs to do, who knows where it might go?
Let's throw out a date in February. How about you guys let me know what day/time works best for you and we can go from there?
