Tuesday, June 8, 2010

See Chefs Bourdain & Ripert in Indianapolis: Tickets on sale July 19

The long-awaited follow-up to Anthony Bourdain’s New York Times bestseller “Kitchen Confidential,” hits bookstores today – giving fans plenty of time to read it before seeing Bourdain and fellow celebrity chef Eric Ripert in Indianapolis this fall.

Bourdain’s new book, “Medium Raw,” explores the changes in the subculture of chefs and cooks and the restaurant business over the last 10 years, when his blockbuster restaurant tell-all debuted.

On Sept. 30, Bourdain, who also hosts the Travel Channel’s "No Reservations,” will speak at 7 p.m. in Indianapolis along with friend and fellow celebrity chef Eric Ripert of the PBS show “Avec Eric” at “An Evening with Anthony Bourdain & Eric Ripert” at Clowes Memorial Hall on the campus of Butler University.

“An Evening with Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert” will be an evening of storytelling and observation providing a frank and provocative insight into what really goes on behind the kitchen doors.

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. on July 19 at www.TicketMaster.com and the Clowes Hall box office. Tickets are $25, $40 and $100. The $100 ticket includes admittance to a private reception with the speakers in the Krannert Room at Clowes immediately following the show.

Bourdain and Ripert were invited to Indianapolis by the Indiana Humanities Council and Spirit & Place Festival as part of the Food for Thought initiative. Financial support is being provided by BSA LifeStructures, Butler University, Café Patachou and a grant from the Efroymson Family Fund, a CICF Fund.

Food for Thought is a statewide program of the Indiana Humanities Council that encourages Hoosiers to think, read and talk about food online and in person through events, festivals, public conversations, reading programs, a traveling exhibit, community gardens and more. The Spirit & Place Festival, an annual event designed to stimulate conversation, collaboration, community building and action, has chosen Food for Thought as its 2010 theme.

“People from all over the state have been calling our office asking when tickets go on sale,” said Keira Amstutz, president and CEO of the Indiana Humanities Council. “These chefs are popular with foodies as well as the general public, and we’re looking forward to bringing them here for a conversation about how food and culture are interrelated.”

Pam Blevins Hinkle, director of the Spirit & Place Festival, said, "We chose Food for Thought as the 2010 festival theme because what we eat and how we eat illuminates important issues that need conversation. Food tells us volumes about our history and culture as well as our spiritual, social, and economic values. We’re excited to have such blockbuster speakers get the conversation started.”

About Anthony Bourdain
Anthony Michael “Tony” Bourdain is a chef and author who gained immediate popularity from his 2000 New York Times bestselling book, “Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly.” The book is a witty and rambunctious expose of the hidden and darker side of the culinary world, as well as a memoir of Bourdain’s professional life. He also is host of “Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations,” a culinary and cultural adventure program on the Travel Channel. A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and a veteran of professional kitchens, Bourdain is currently a chef-at-large whose home base is Brasserie Les Halles, a French restaurant with locations in New York and Miami.

About Eric Ripert
Eric Ripert was born in Antibes, France, and learned to cook at a young age. By 15, he left home for culinary school in Perpignan. At 17, he moved to Paris and worked for top chefs there, as well as in Washington, D.C., and in New York. He was recruited in 1994 as chef for Le Bernardin, one of the finest restaurants in New York and the world. It received four stars, the highest rating, from The New York Times more than 20 years ago, and has retained those stars more than twice as long as any other current four-star restaurant in the city.

About the Spirit & Place Festival
The Spirit & Place Festival stimulates conversation, collaboration, community building and action through collaboration among arts, religious, and civic organizations. Spirit & Place is a collaborative community project managed by The Polis Center, part of the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI. Major financial contributors include Lilly Endowment Inc.; Allen Whitehill Clowes Charitable Foundation, Inc.; the Indianapolis Foundation, an affiliate of CICF; Eli Lilly and Company; IUPUI/IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI; and the University of Indianapolis, as well as more than 200 other community partners and donors. For a free festival magazine or more information, call The Polis Center at (317) 274-2455 or visit www.spiritandplace.org. This year's Festival takes place November 5-14, 2010.

About the Indiana Humanities Council
The Indiana Humanities Council connects people, opens minds and enriches lives by creating and facilitating programs that encourage people to think, read, talk and listen. As a convener, leader and partner, the Council promotes the public humanities and engages Indiana’s community of minds to create stronger, more vibrant communities. Learn more at www.indianahumanities.org.

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