Denise Drower Swidey | Culinary Producer | Writer | Food Stylist

catching up…

You’d think that for someone like me in food media, keeping up with my own blog or social media would be a priority, but life comes at us all pretty fast and furious these days. I love what I do – I just don’t have enough time to document it often enough.

Like everyone else, when the pandemic hit, I quickly had to pivot. My Tufts University food media class moved onto the Zoom platform in March, and I was so impressed at how resilient my students were, taking this scary new world order in stride.

On a lighter side, they shifted to cover the newly emerging pandemic food trends like dalgona coffee and sour dough bread. As they moved home or out of dorms, they also pivoted on their final projects I was blown away by the work they produced in May. You can read more about it here. I’m grateful to our guest speakers who joined us on Zoom and were able to help us process what was going on in the industry in real time. We lost some class time with the transition and unfortunately had too little time to truly tackle some of the harder issues that food media has been grappling with, especially since the spring. I’m looking forward to teaching the class again in January 2021 and digging in.

Meanwhile, I’m teaching two Zoom cooking classes in the next month. I will let you know how those go…. and if you are looking for terrific virtual kids cooking classes, check out the incredibly talented Jill Santopietro’s cooking classes here. Stay well + Stay safe!

• November 9, 2020

Launching the Food Flirts!

Thrilled to report that The Food Flirts, the new TV cooking show I’ve been helping to develop for the past year-plus, just debuted in prime time on PBS across the country on Friday, July 28, at 10 p.m. (right after The Great British Baking Show). More episodes coming this fall!

It’s a blast of a show, starring the inimitable Sheila and Marilynn Brass. I have previously overseen the cooking operations on shows I’ve produced, but as supervising producer on this project, I’ve enjoyed being involved in all aspects (including the food, of course). And getting to build this from the ground up with the all-star team of executive producer Bruce Seidel and the Brass Sisters has made it one of the most rewarding experiences of my career in food media. Please check it out!

Burger Meets Dosa full epsisode

Pastrami Meets Ramen full episode:

Not enough time for an episode? Link to a preview here.

Follow the Food Flirts on Insta and Twitter  and thanks for tuning in!

• July 30, 2017

My Latest Boston Globe Article

Two new firsts for me – my first time styling the photo for my own Globe Magazine piece (click on the photo). Plus an original video for each recipe thanks to the Globe’s very talented video crew, Anush Elbakyan, Emily Zendt, and Dana Sinerate. If you watch all 5 videos, you get a prize or at least a peppermint swizzle stick!

• November 19, 2015

Happy Four Prunes Day!

What – not a soul on the internet is celebrating today’s national food holiday and obviously trending hashtag, #fourprunesday ? Scroll down to my last recipe and you can make a delish dessert with prunes, other dried fruit and sherry and soon you won’t be able to count to four (just kidding, the alcohol burns off!).

• October 17, 2015

Food styling 101…

It was so inspiring to guest lecture at Boston University’s Gastronomy program last spring in Clara Silverstein’s food writing class. I got so busy that I never had a chance to post the results of the challenge we gave her students. They each got the same basic ingredients and after a lecture on food styling, had a chance to apply what they learned to set up their own shots. It’s fun to see the diverse, inventive set-ups and perspectives each student selected.

• September 17, 2015

Snow storm-worthy liège waffles

It only took three New England snow storms to finally nail those yeasty, caramelized, rich liège waffles! They get their sugar coating from Belgian pearl sugar that’s folded in after bulk proofing. These waffles have been making the scene in major cities and on ski slopes at $5 a pop. Here’s the recipe I used.  I ordered my Lars Own Pearl Sugar on line, but hear you can chop up sugar cubes as a substitute.

• February 10, 2015

Because growing zombies should make balanced food choices too!

So proud of the amazing art work our girls did for our hometown’s Halloween window painting contest. Thought I’d post some shots, especially since one is a twisted twist on one of my favorite images when it comes to educating little ones about making good food choices. The simplicity of the real ChooseMyPlate graphic makes it so easy to teach kids about healthy eating, especially when compared to an earlier version like this (which reminds me of the ancient Trivial Pursuit playing pieces). Our older daughter’s painting reminds me that I’ve neglected my ALS donation (smaller because I plunged, but promised none the less!) Just corrected that….do it now if you’ve forgotten too!

• October 27, 2014

iPop6 Plus, Joanne Chang-style

One of my all-time favorite cook books is Joanne Chang’s Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Boston’s Flour Bakery + Cafe (and not just because she included my plum clafoutis recipe!) I love how she anticipates your reaction to how the ingredients are about to interact with each other so you don’t panic if something looks like it’s going to curdle, is too dry, too wet, etc. Our girls made her pop tart recipe for a fall block party cooking contest, creating their own seasonal pumpkin filling that was well-timed  with the release of the similarly sized iPhone 6 plus! With their mad baking skills, their cleverness (that’s an apple peel plugged into “Apple Juice” for charging) and Joanne’s recipe, of course they won!

• October 25, 2014

National Hamburger Day!

I didn’t even know there was a national cheeseburger day – does that mean there is a separate national hamburger day? This link is for one of my favorite burger recipes. Ming Tsai’s soy-dijon marinade marries beautifully with ground beef for one heck of a juicy and delicious burger experience. Loved shooting this pic with talented Boston photographer Nina Gallant. If you are going to the Les Dames d’Escoffier conference at the end of October in Boston, be sure to catch our food styling workshop!here was a national cheeseburger day – does that mean there is a separate national hamburger day? This link is for one of my favorite burger recipes. Ming Tsai’s soy-dijon marinade marries beautifully with ground beef for one heck of a juicy and delicious burger experience. Loved shooting this pic with talented Boston photographer Nina Gallant. If you are going to the Les Dames d’Escoffier conference at the end of October in Boston, be sure to catch our food styling workshop!

• September 19, 2014