Speakers took the stage at Stand Up Live Monday evening, not to tell jokes, but to share their passions about everything from food blogging to buying local to “The Unexplainable Awesomeness of the Burrito.”
Ignite Food kicked off the first food-featuring segment of Ignite Phoenix at CityScape last night. In coherence with the growing food frenzy for downtown Phoenix residents, Ignite Food showcased 16 speakers who discussed a variety of food-related topics.
Speaker Justin Beckett, 36, was a nominee for the People’s Best New Chef of the Southwest 2012 by Food & Wine magazine. His presentation brought humor to the comedy theater as he described the food-sampling marathon he decided to endure. Dubbed his “eat-a-thon,” Beckett explained his experiences visiting 24 restaurants in 36 hours.
“I have found a marathon I am very good at,” Beckett joked.
Beckett gave his final pieces of advice on the subject of marathon food-tasting.
“You should be able to lick all ten fingers by the time you’ve finished a good meal,” Beckett said. “But pace yourself and be prepared to be very full.”
Another speaker was Charleen Badman, a 40-year-old chef and co-owner of FnB in Scottsdale who recently lost 125 pounds in her pursuit for healthy eating.
The concept of Badman’s presentation was starting from scratch. She said children develop eating habits at an early age and are often raised on school lunches that claim the vegetable of a meal is the tomato sauce on pizza.
“The lunchroom needs to be treated just like a classroom,” Badman said. “It took me 22 years to realize that I was cooking great food without taking care of myself.”
With this goal in mind, Badman began cooking nutritious meals for Arcadia Neighborhood Learning Center to foster the knowledge about healthy eating she never had as a child.
Badman encourages chefs to adopt a school and emphasized that buying local is the backbone of FnB, where providing nutritional vegetarian and vegan alternatives is a priority along with reaching out to make a better community.
Dominic Armato, 35, is a contemporary “food nerd” who has kept a food blog since 2006 without any formal training in the restaurant business. In his presentation, “I want YOU for the Food Nerd Army,” Armato described the impact customers have on the dining scene.
“People need to be more like soldiers,” Armato said in defense of small restaurants that do not typically get as much publicity.
Armato gave the audience a list of tips for “organizing a food army” in order to help local eateries thrive and protect the hidden gems.
“We have to find the good stuff and fight for it,” he said.
Phoenix resident Rebekah Cancinio, 29, came to watch her friend Brian Sun, who gave a presentation about burritos. As an avid supporter of local restaurants downtown, Cancino said she had been looking forward to Ignite Food because it was so different from other Ignite events.
Phoenix resident Lindsay Bayuk, 25, has been to three Ignite Phoenix events before and was excited to hear about the new food angle.
“The downtown food scene is vibrant but missed,” Bayuk said. “I’m excited they decided to have an Ignite Food because it would be a pretty dull life if people didn’t care about the food they were eating.”
Although Ignite Phoenix has had eleven main events, Ignite Food is the first of its kind, said Chris Lee, lead organizer for Ignite Food.
The idea was presented three years ago but was not set in motion until six months ago through the partnership of Ignite Phoenix and Stand Up Live. Lee said he hopes this will be the first of many Ignite Foods.
“You never know what you are going to get with Ignite Phoenix and we thought food was a big enough subject to attract a crowd of all types of people,” Lee said.
Shannon Brown, general manager of Stand Up Live said that tickets sold out within 49 minutes. She said the work that Ignite Phoenix has done makes her optimistic about the future as well.
More than 400 guests were present for the food-themed event, Brown said. The second level of the theater was reserved for food samples from Arizona sponsors.
“Ignite Phoenix has such a good team. They are all about the community and that is really refreshing,” Brown said. “Not only does a place like Phoenix need this, the world needs this.”
Contact the reporter at nbarret1@asu.edu
