To many it is simply a sweet summer night cookout food served with butter, but to farmers like Zaid Kurdieh, corn on the cob has a more visceral meaning.
Kurdieh has been chasing a flavor dream for the past 35 years: a corn tortilla he had once in college during a family-style meal. At 9 a.m. this Sunday, Sept. 8, the audience in the New School’s Tishman Auditorium was captive, listening to his account of his quest to recreate what had become the foundation of his work in the food industry. Zaid was one of several speakers for TOPIC48’s first delve into the education world: bringing community, collaboration, and corn to the table. Welcome to the Corn Symposium.
TOPIC48 is a for-profit business co-founded by architect Mira Envine and food industry professional Johanna Kolodny. Their name references what they hope to become a prosperous and effective business model: one topic, forty-eight hours. At $100 a ticket (which goes to lodging, travel, and other symposium expenses), the idea is to have the first day be a lecture series on technique, practice, and theory, with the second being dedicated to technical application. Corn is the first topic to capture them, but it will certainly not be the last.
Speaking along with Kurdieh, the farmer, was Victoria Blamey, chef of Gotham Bar and Grill, detailing her own search for the right corn, and on her collaboration with Zaid from farm to table.
“My approach to corn is very complicated,” Blamey said during her part of the discussion of the tentativeness she inhabits during food selection and cooking. She and Kurdieh detailed working together in the kitchen, collaborating with different techniques, tastes, and styles of corn and corn making, as well as discussed the cultural significances of corn in their lives.
On how he’ll know when he’s found his way out of the “maize,” Kurdieh said: “if I taste it, I know it.”
Of the 14 panel discussions, included were talks from New York University’s Professor Marion Nestle on industrial agriculture, The New School’s Professor of Anthropology and Food Studies Alyshia Galvez, on her book “Eating NAFTA” (published August 14th, 2018), and a run down by Jorge Gaviria on how to make the perfect corn tortilla.
“Corn is also a metaphor for politics,” said Nestle during her talk.
“People keep asking us if this is the first year, or telling me that because they can’t come this year they’ll come next year, but we hadn’t thought ahead,” said Kolodny of the turnout. “We’re enjoying doing it, let’s do more.” Because TOPIC48 was meant to be for any niche interest, the possibilities are endless. She said even butter could be a possible topic covered in years to come.
“Our goal was taking this as a learning process,” she said. Envine said that she envisioned not only the Corn Symposium but TOPIC48’s mission as “continuing education for those working in food.”
Attendees of the Corn Symposium seemed to be mainly food service professionals (though it was open to the public and free to New School students and faculty). Kolodny said the event’s date was intentional as Sunday and Monday are the most common days off in the food industry. Monday, Sept. 9, was dedicated to practical application of the techniques mentioned during Sunday’s lectures throughout various kitchens in New York City.
Vicki Freeman, who was there not only as a Mexican restaurant owner, but whose husband was speaking as well, said she “had never understood the process of tortilla making until Jorge explained it step by step.”
Sara Ruiz, one of Freeman’s employees, was also in attendance.
“It’s not usual to find an event dedicated to corn. I didn’t know popcorn was so ancient, or that it’s its own species,” she said laughing. Of the event as a whole, Ruiz said, “[Envine and Kolodny] are trying to bring people together.”
“We just want people to walk away happy,” said Kolodny. Excited chatter and hugs of congratulations to the panelists filled the lobby of the University Center. A line for lunch began forming on the stairs to the event cafe, and small bundles of discussion began to engulf the room. Jeremy Envine, who flew out from California to support his daughter’s event, was overcome with enthusiasm.
“It’s been a fantastically interesting morning!” Ervine said. “Nobody understands the corn. It’s like quantum mechanics — in that people think they understand, but they don’t.”
Photos by Lauren Hoffman