Selfman & Others Public Relations

03/20/2023

Do you remember Connie Martinson, host of "Connie Martinson Talks Books"? She interviewed many of my clients over the years. Beginning when we still pooh-poohed cable, her program ran from 1979 to 2015! For years she also hosted the final panel at the LA Times Festival of Books. No one I know ever figured out how to get their clients on that panel, though we all tried!

Her obit was in today's LA Times, but under her maiden name, Constance Frye. Nice lady -- and unlike some, she always read the book before interviewing the author and was always prepared with good questions.

Condolences to her family and friends.

View Constance Frye's obituary, send flowers and sign the guestbook.

02/28/2023

CHSC’s March program!
CCulinary Historians of Southern Californiapresents a lecture, “Endangered Eating: America's Vanishing Food," by renowned culinary historian and author Sarah Lohman on Saturday, March 11, 10:30 a.m. LIVE IN-PERSON at the main Central Library’s Mark Taper Auditorium, 630 W. Fifth St., Los Angeles, CA 90071. A reception with themed snacks follows the lecture. The program is free and open to the public; reservations are requested: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/culinary-event-sarah-lohman-endangered-eating-americas-vanishing-food-tickets-557540357217.

Sarah Lohman takes us behind the scenes of her next book, due out October 2023. “Endangered Eating: America's Vanishing Food” explores rare and endangered foods across the country. Lohman shares stories of her travels — including local California adventures in the Coachella Valley learning about date varieties found nowhere else in the world. She'll end the talk with a reading, the first time a part of her upcoming work will be shared. A video of today’s presentation will be postponed until October on the CHSC website, chsocal.org

About the presenter:
A culinary historian and author of the bestselling book “Eight Flavors: The Untold Story of American Cuisine,” Sarah Lohman focuses on the history of food as a way to access the stories of diverse Americans. Her work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and NPR. She has lectured across the country, from the Smithsonian Museum of American History in Washington, DC, to The Culinary Historians of Southern California. Her current project will be released from W.W. Norton & Co. in October 2023.

Parking information:
Central Library parking: 524 South Flower Street Garage. Saturday $1 flat rate with validation (9:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.), available at the library's Information Desk (first floor). The validation is a small barcode imprinted on the parking ticket. Credit card or debit card payments can be made at the exit gates. Cash payments can only be made in machines at the P-1 level of the parking garage before returning to your car.

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SAVE THE DATE – CHSC’s April program:
Saturday, April 8, 10:30 a.m.
“ L.A.'s Community Cookbooks: Overview & CHSC Project,” with Suzanne Joskow
– LIVE in-person at the downtown Central Library, Mark Taper Auditorium. Details to follow.

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About the event organizer, Culinary Historians of Southern California:
People with a passion for food beyond the knife and fork founded the Culinary Historians of Southern California in 1995 as an affiliate of the Los Angeles Public Library. Typical of library patrons, they sought an intellectual as well as gastronomic approach to food, but not at the expense of taking themselves so seriously that they would forget to have fun.
Today’s membership of about 250 men and women spans a range of ages and occupations.. It comprises not only food professionals, from chefs, writers and academics to product purveyors and restaurateurs, but also people in fields such as marketing, television, theatre, and museums. And then there are those simply intrigued by the mysteries of food and pleasures of the table. For more information, visit chsocal.org.

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08/22/2022

Contact: Media Relations/Flo Selfman
[email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

The Culinary Historians of Southern California Presents
“Who Was Typhoid Mary?”
by actress-scholar-author Leslie Goddard
Saturday, September 10, 2022, 10:30 am. Free via Zoom

The Culinary Historians of Southern California presents a lecture, "Who Was Typhoid Mary?” by actress-scholar-author Leslie Goddard on Saturday, September 10, 10:30 a.m., via Zoom. The program is free; link to follow.

About this event:
Leslie Goddard, “Who Was Typhoid Mary?”

Between 1900 and 1907, an Irish immigrant cook named Mary infected dozens of New Yorkers with typhoid fever. Tracked down through detective work, she was finally taken into custody and quarantined on an island off Manhattan, where she died decades later. Goddard tells the remarkable story of the woman known as Typhoid Mary and why she is remembered as the first “healthy” carrier of a deadly bacteria. At the time when we struggle with serious questions about the threats of epidemics, Typhoid Mary’s story couldn’t be more timely.

Leslie Goddard is an award-winning actress and scholar who has been presenting history programs for more than fifteen years. She holds a Ph.D. from Northwestern University specializing in American studies and U.S. history as well as a master’s degree in theater. A former museum director, she is the author of three books on history and currently works full time as an author and public speaker. Goddard portrays memorable women from the past and tells historical stories so that lessons from the past are more entertaining, educational and inspiring.
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CHSC’s upcoming 2022 programs:
Saturday, October 8: Constance L. Kirker and Mary Newman, “Cuckoo for Coconuts"

Saturday, November 12: Nancy Harmon Jenkins, “Martha Ballard’s Diaries: A Kitchen and a Garden on the Maine Frontier” (late 18th, early 19th centuries)

Saturday, December 10: Lenore Newman, “Poutine on Mars: Culinary Tradition in Unusual Places”

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About the event organizer, Culinary Historians of Southern California:
People with a passion for food beyond the knife and fork founded the Culinary Historians of Southern California in 1995 as an affiliate of the Los Angeles Public Library. Typical of library patrons, they sought an intellectual as well as gastronomic approach to food, but not at the expense of taking themselves so seriously that they would forget to have fun.

Today’s membership of about 250 men and women spans a range of ages and occupations.. It comprises not only food professionals, from chefs, writers and academics to product purveyors and restaurateurs, but also people in fields such as marketing, television, theatre, and museums. And then there are those simply intrigued by the mysteries of food and pleasures of the table. For more information, visit chsocal.org.

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08/05/2022

SAVE THE DATES -- Culinary Historians of SoCalif's upcoming programs Sept.-Dec. 2022!

- September 10, 2022:
“Who Was Typhoid Mary?” by Leslie Goddard

- October 8, 2022:
“Cuckoo for Coconuts" by Constance L. Kirker and Mary Newman

- November 12, 2022:
“Martha Ballard’s Diaries: A Kitchen and a Garden on the Maine Frontier” (late 18th, early 19th centuries) by Nancy Harmon Jenkins

- December 10, 2022:
“Poutine on Mars: Culinary Tradition in Unusual Places” by Lenore Newman

All FREE on Zoom, Saturdays at 10:30 a.m. Details to follow later.

08/03/2022

Contact: Media Relations/Flo Selfman
[email protected]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

The Culinary Historians of Southern California Presents
"Antonin Carême: Mr. Nouvelle Cuisine of 1820"
by Charles Perry
Saturday, August 13, 2022, 10:30 am. Free via Zoom

Culinary historian Charles Perry presents a program on the massively influential innovator Antonin Carême, the first modern French chef

The Culinary Historians of Southern California presents a lecture, "Antonin Carême: Mr. Nouvelle Cuisine of 1820," by Charles Perry on Saturday, August 13, 10:30 a.m. via Zoom. The program is free; link to register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/historian-charles-perry-on-antonin-careme-mr-nouvelle-cuisine-of-1820-tickets-395575255237

About this event:
Since the 18th century, French cuisine has periodically reinvented itself as new. The usual tendency has been to claim a return to simplicity, but the first towering figure, Antonin Carême, claimed only to be moderne. During the Romantic Age, as cook to figures such as Napoleon, the Prince Regent of England and Czar Alexander I of Russia, he was riding the wave of the future, but his extravagant creations are forgotten today. It’s a pity -- if you take the trouble to make them, they are magnificent.

Charles Perry majored in Middle East Studies at Princeton and UC Berkeley. A year of study in Lebanon got him interested in food, so after an eight-year detour as a staff writer at Rolling Stone in the Seventies, he became a food writer, culminating in 18 years at the LA Times food section. He is the president and co-founder of the Culinary Historians of Southern California.
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About the event organizer, Culinary Historians of Southern California:
People with a passion for food beyond the knife and fork founded the Culinary Historians of Southern California in 1995 as an affiliate of the Los Angeles Public Library. Typical of library patrons, they sought an intellectual as well as gastronomic approach to food, but not at the expense of taking themselves so seriously that they would forget to have fun.

Today’s membership of about 250 men and women spans a range of ages and occupations.. It comprises not only food professionals, from chefs, writers and academics to product purveyors and restaurateurs, but also people in fields such as marketing, television, theatre, and museums. And then there are those simply intrigued by the mysteries of food and pleasures of the table. For more information, visit chsocal.org.

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Culinary historian Charles Perry presents a program on the massively influential innovator Antonin Carême, the first modern French chef.

07/14/2022

While I can't take credit for placing a two-page feature in the Russian Panorama newspaper, I will say that I named the Grand Finale concert, "On Wings of Peace." It's Saturday, July 23, at Disney Hall. Go to www.iPalpiti.org for complete schedule of concerts for this wonderful festival featuring young professional musicians from all over the world, under the baton of Maestro Eduard Schmieder.
Concerts are tonight through Saturday in La Jolla and Encinitas, and July 20-23 in LA! A different program every night!

“iPalpiti’s strings were completely unified and opulent… absolutely bloomed… delivering a deep, rich bass in a movement from a C.P.E. Bach “Hamburg” Sinfonia in A, floating almost Stokowski-like in pater J.S. Bach’s “Air” with terrific control of dynamics. Schmieder then presided o...

06/02/2022

The Culinary Historians of Southern California Presents
“The Kingdom of Rye: Russian Food and National Identity”
by Darra Goldstein
Saturday, June 11, 2022, 10:30 am. Free via Zoom


The Culinary Historians of Southern California presents a lecture, “The Kingdom of Rye: Russian Food and National Identity” by Darra Goldstein on Saturday, June 11, 10:30 a.m. via Zoom. The program is free; link to register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-kingdom-of-rye-russian-food-and-national-identity-by-darra-goldstein-tickets-350903701417?

About this event:

A culinary historian explains the roots of Russian cuisine and identity.

Darra Goldstein explores Russian national identity and cuisine from the earliest times to the present. Ever since Peter the Great opened his country to the West, Russians have struggled with ambivalence toward outside influences, with Western culinary trends either embraced or rejected depending on political leanings. Today, foreign food is once again fraught. The economic sanctions imposed by Western powers following the 2014 annexation of Crimea led Russia to ban certain imports. Widespread food shortages jumpstarted a revival of archaic techniques and artisanal production, transforming Russia’s gastronomic landscape and causing new forms of nationalism to play out in the culinary sphere.

Darra Goldstein is the Willcox B. and Harriet M. Adsit Professor of Russian, Emerita at Williams College. The founding editor of the journal Gastronomica, she is also the author of six award-winning cookbooks. Darra has consulted for the Council of Europe on using food as a tool for tolerance and diversity and has held distinguished fellowships in food studies at the University of Toronto and the University of Melbourne. She currently sits on the board of the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts and is a member of the advisory “Kitchen Cabinet” of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. In 2020 she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Association of Culinary Professionals

Upcoming CHSC events:
Sat. July 9, 10:30 a.m.: Richard Foss, "Dickens’ Diet in Books and in Life"
Sat. August 13, 10:30 a.m.: Charles Perry, "Antonin Carême: Mr. Nouvelle Cuisine of 1820"

05/11/2022

Country music star Mickey Gilley died May 7, 2022, at 86. He was a longtime PR client where I worked from 1979-80. Photo is of me and agency receptionist (the late) Linda Stewart at Gilley's Club in the San Fernando Valley. hjgh

05/03/2022

Contact: [email protected]
For Immediate Release:

Culinary Historians of Southern California’s May 14 program:
“What She Ate and Why I Wrote About It: Women, Food, and Biography" with author Laura Shapiro

The author of an innovative culinary biography explains how looking at women's diets reveals elements of their lives.

Sat, May 14, 10:30 a.m. PDT, FREE via Zoom

Culinary Historians of Southern California presents a free lecture, ““What She Ate and Why I Wrote About It: Women, Food, and Biography"” with author Laura Shapiro on Sat, May 14, 10:30 a.m. PDT, free via Zoom.

Biography as it's usually practiced rarely pauses at the kitchen table to examine the food. Yet ordinary meals give us an incomparable vantage point on anybody's life, whether it's a person who loves to eat or a person who couldn't care less. After all, food happens every day; it's associated with every appetite, and it's entangled with all the social and economic conditions that bear upon our days. What She Ate takes up the lives of six very different women—Dorothy Wordsworth, Rosa Lewis, Eleanor Roosevelt, Eva Braun, Barbara Pym, and Helen Gurley Brown—and tells their stories by putting the food right up front.

Event is free but registration is required: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/culinary-program-laura-shapiro-what-she-ate-and-why-i-wrote-about-it-tickets-331981033207?

Laura Shapiro was a columnist at The Real Paper (Boston) before beginning a 16-year run at Newsweek, where she covered food, women’s issues and the arts and won several journalism awards. Her first book was Perfection Salad: Women and Cooking at the Turn of the Century (1986), which the University of California Press reissued in 2009 with a new Afterword. She is also the author of Something from the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America (Viking, 2004), named in the Wall Street Journal as one of the five best books on American food; and Julia Child (Penguin Lives, 2007), which won the award for Literary Food Writing from the International Association of Culinary Professionals. Her latest book is What She Ate: Six Remarkable Women and the Food That Tells Their Stories (Viking), which Susan Stamberg of NPR called "seriously and hilariously researched culinary history.”
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Upcoming CHSC (chsocal.org) programs (virtual events via Zoom):
• June 11: “The Kingdom of Rye: Russian Food and National Identity” by Darra Goldstein
• July 9: "Dickens’ Diet in Books and in Life" with Richard Foss

• August 13: "Antonin Carême: Mr. Nouvelle Cuisine of 1820" with Charles Perry, CHSC president/co-founder; food writer at Los Angeles Times for 18 years

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For information, please visit CHSOCAL.org

12/14/2021

Longtime publicists will recognize these. I had most of the phone numbers and addresses memorized.