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A Taste of the Stew

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By JEFF HOUCK | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 25, 2007

FESTIVAL DEL SABOR: Centro Mi Diario and CentroTampa.com will celebrate CENTRO Mi Diario with another Festival del Sabor Latin food festival on Oct. 13 Ybor City's Centennial Park. The festival, which runs from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., coincides with Hispanic Heritage Month

''Food always plays an integral part of Hispanic culture, and family recipes tend to be passed on from generation to generation,'' says Orlando Nieves, Centro's general manager.

To celebrate that heritage, amateur cooks are encouraged to submit their favorite traditional family recipe for live judging in three categories: appetizers, entrees and desserts. Cash prizes will be awarded for first, second and third place in each category.

Another highlight: there are plans to showcase what they claim is the longest Cuban sandwich in Tampa, provided by Arco Iris Restaurant. For more info about the contests contact Giovanni Gutiérrez at (813) 259-8475 or ggutierrez@centrotampa.com.

PART OF AN IMBALANCED BREAKFAST: Last week, I asked readers to share their favorite breakfast cereal memories from childhood in exchange for boxes of Frosted Krusty O's cereal from "The Simpsons Movie."

Scott Fowler of Valrico wrote, "My favorites growing up were Quisp, the space alien, and Quake, his earth-bound 'roided up miner nemesis. They would have battles sort of like 'Spy vs. Spy' during Saturday morning cartoons. The cereals were both pretty much the same.(Cap'n Crunch only in different shapes) As I recall, Quake disappeared rather quickly while Quisp hung around for several years before returning to his home planet."

Michael O'Donnell of Wesley Chapel argues that "the greatest spokesman for cereal was the guy who sang 'No more Rice Krispies! We're all out of Rice Krispies!' to the music of the "Vesti la giubba," the tragic aria from 'Pagliacci.' When WUSF-FM did a retrospective of Luciano Pavarotti's performances a couple of weeks ago, I was singing along [using] the Rice Krispies version. OK, so I'm a cultural cretin, but I'm also an MBA and in our marketing course, the instructor made the point that advertising is [for the consumer] to remember the product. Forty years later, I still know what product Kellogg's was plugging."

EPCOT EATS: One of the best food festivals in the country kicks off Friday with the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival at Walt Disney World. Now in it's 12th year, the six-week festival offers samples of traditional native food from around the world, chef demonstrations and book signings, wine and cheese seminars, pastry events, cooking with kids demonstrations and the always fantastic Party of the Senses.

Celebrity chefs appearing this year include: Food Network host Keegan Gerhard (Oct. 14); Roy's restaurant founder Roy Yamaguchi (Oct. 18); "Iron Chef: America" master chef Cat Cora, (Nov. 4); and Todd English of bluezoo in Orlando (Nov. 8).

For more information - and to see photos from the kickoff later this week - go to my blog, The Stew.

GETTING CONVERSATIONAL: Speaking of Gerhard, he's one of two guests this week on my Table Conversations food podcast. The noted pastry chef hosts the show "Food Network Challenge" on Sunday evenings. He talks during the podcast about the difficulties of making food art in pressure situations – and about the nerves a chef feels when it comes time to walk a creation to the judges' table.

The second podcast is with Laura Hall of Amana appliances, who talks about the 40th anniversary of the first countertop microwave oven, the Amana Radarange. The company introduced a special edition Amana Radarange with convection this month and created a new cookbook titled "Fast Food Redefined: 40 Years Ago Amana Invented a New Way to Cook," available free. You can find the link to the free cookbook on my blog.

Hungry for more? Read Jeff Houck's multimedia food blog, The Stew.

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