About David Shalleck

I am a chef. I specialize in the western Mediterranean style of cooking. It is a very agreeable way to eat. However, I don’t have a restaurant. But I have worked and cooked in just about every part of the food business.

I have been around the arts and the culinary art for a long time. I have a degree in set and lighting design. My mother is a fine artist, my father was a television director, and my brother designs performance spaces. My “graduate” school-of-life was a five-year and very immersed food-driven work/live sojourn in France and Italy on land and at sea. That experience is featured in my book.

Working in food television was an easy blending of this background. A kitchen in a television or photography studio makes sense to me. You’d be amazed how much goes into cooking food no one will eat! Don’t worry, its taken care of and very little, if any, is wasted. And writing about food whether in prose or a recipe is ironic considering I didn’t do very well in freshman English!

Simplicity with food took a while for me to grasp. Part of the allure is that it’s been around for a very long time. And much of what’s crave-able is a timeless desire. It bodes favorably for well-being and is available to everyone.

For example, take a thick slice of a perfectly ripe red tomato, put a room temperature chunk of real “fior di latte” mozzarella cheese on top, drizzle some supple extra virgin olive oil over, add torn fresh basil, sprinkle some coarse sea salt, and finish with a few turns of freshly ground black pepper. I am sure you’ll agree, just like the perfect bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich, this isn’t going out of favor any time soon.

It is very gratifying to choose ingredients-- then slice, dice, sear, sauté, simmer or roast toward the enjoyment of flavor to be shared with others.

The Italians have a famous proverb that says, “at the table, no one gets old.”

This makes me hungry.