With Formaticum's Cheese Papers, you can wrap your cheese just like a cheesemonger. The coated two-ply papers allow cheese to breathe, unlike non-porous plastic wrap which can speed deterioration. The white sheets are printed with a map of U.S. cheese producers. A package of 15 11x14 sheets, plus 15 adhesive labels, is $7.50 at formaticum.com.

You may have been surprised as I was when Fabio's dish of beef carpaccio with "spherical" olives was crowned the winner  of last week's "Top Chef" elimination challenge. I was particularly puzzled at how the olives, created with a technique borrowed from avant garde chef Ferran Adria, could even meet the competition's basic requirement -- to prepare a lunch menu of "New American" dishes. California olives brined in small batches from an American artisanal purveyor, sure! But, a concoction of olive puree and alginate to form jelly-coated balls -- huh?

I don't doubt that Fabio's dish was the best tasting of the competition. But, if this was New American cuisine, what does New American mean anyway?

In the Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink, Cathy Kaufman notes the movement emerged more than two decades ago, when chefs such as Larry Forgione, Michael Romano, and Michael McCarty, "applied nouvelle cuisine's central tenets of impeccable ingredients, creatively manipulated, to existing American culinary traditions." One also thinks of Alfred Portale, Jonathan Waxman, and Judy Rodgers.

In The Food Snob's Dictionary, David Kamp's guide to the world of gastronomy, he defines New American cuisine as an "ambiguous label used to describe cuisine prepared by American chefs who cook with indigenous ingredients but don't hew to French-based kitchen orthodoxies."

I emailed Kamp to elaborate and comment on the New American-ness of Fabio's spherical olives:"'New American' is an inherently vague and slippery term, and has been since it came into currency in the early 1980s. In my romantic mind, the term should evoke some rustic bit of culinary Americana given a modern twist, e.g., roasted Hudson Valley capon with porchetta-style herb stuffing and, oh, a goat-cheese timbale on the side--the gastronomic equivalent of the Band's rockified old-tymey songs on 'Music From Big Pink.'"

"But not everyone thinks this way," Kamp writes "Wolfgang Puck has said that the pizzas he created at Spago in 1983 were quintessentially New American: Italian pies as reinterpreted by a French-trained Austrian immigrant who canvassed L.A.'s Jewish delis and Japanese fish markets. So, in that light, it's not necessarily a stretch for the 'Top Chef' guy to pass off his yolky, moleculista olives and Italianate carpaccio as New American."

Image: Bravo, flickr user FotoosVanRobin.

Let's say you like the idea of Nyotaimori (the practice of eating sushi off of a naked body), but you find the whole situation socially awkward, icky, and unsafe.

You may be in the market for Bodylicious X -- contoured, inanimate sushi platters sculpted to look like naked flesh. The trays, available in female and male versions, are 45 each (though you'll need three to form a complete torso) at DesignCode.

[via Charles & Marie]

FEATURED EVENT

A Conversation With Thomas Keller
Astor Center (399 Lafayette Street) presents, "Under Pressure: An Evening with Thomas Keller." The event is a celebration of Mr. Keller's newest book and will include an intimate conversation with co-author Michael Ruhlmann. Together they will discuss the unique methods used in the kitchens of French Laundry and per se. "Under Pressure" will take place in The Gallery on Saturday, November 22nd from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tickets: $125/person.

EVENTS THIS WEEK (November 19 - 25)

Whole Pigs at Back Forty
Back Forty (190 Avenue B) is now offering whole roasted pig served "porchetta-style" every Monday night. Chef de cuisine Shanna Pacifico prepares the pig by first boning it herself. The swine is then filled up with meat, fresh herbs, garlic, and seckel pears before it is slowly oven roasted. When ordered as an entree, the pig is sliced to order and served with seasonal sauteed greens and black beans. Large groups (up to 12 people) may also be served a whole pig any night of the week, provided they reserve the dinner one week in advanced. The whole pig dinner includes a starter, two sides, and pie. Monday night dinner: $24/person, $29/with wine. Whole pig roast: $600/group. (212.388.1990)

Vermont Smoke & Cure Tasting
Murray's Real Salami (Grand Central Market) will be offering samples of Vermont Smoke & Cure ham and pepperoni. The tasting will be led by VS&C CEO Chris Bailey. The free event will be held on Thursday, November 20th from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

The Educated Eater
CENYC is presenting, "The Educated Eater," its first seminar in its new Greenmarket Series on Good Food and the Environment. The seminar will focus on the term "natural" as it applies to food, and analyze through a Q&A discussion what the label really emcompasses. Also, there will be a discussion on organics and cage-free labeling. The Educated Eater will take place at First Presbyterian Church (12 West 12th Street) from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Tickets through Brown Paper Tickets: $5/person.

Fondue Takedown
The Fondue Takedown is returning to Williamsburg. Fondue enthusiasts may enter their favorite cheese fondue recipe for bragging rights and a $100 cash prize, or they can simply choose to be an antendee. Antendees may eat all the fondue they want and can also judge their favorite recipe. The event will take place on Sunday, November 23rd at Union Pool (484 Union Avenue, Williamsburg) at 5:00 p.m. Those who will to enter the contest may email Matt Timms. $10/person.

Joe Charity Concert
Joe the Art of Coffee is presenting a charity concert produced by one of their own baristas, Alex Andrews, and all performances will be by Joe employees. Proceeds will benefit Coffee Kids, a non-profit organization that helps coffee-growing families around the world with health care, education, and community development. The event will take place at HERE Art Center (145 Sixth Avenue) on Sunday, November 23rd at 7:30 p.m. Seating is limited, email to reserve tickets. $10/person.

COMING UP

Winter's Eve at Lincoln Square
The Lincoln Square Business Improvement District and Time Warner are hosting the 9th Annual Winter's Eve in Lincoln Square. The festival is an evening full of food tastings, entertainment, shopping, and in-store activities throughout the neighborhood, which stretches from Time Warner Center along Broadway to 68th Street. The free event will take place on Monday, December 1st at 5:30 p.m.

"For the first time I appreciated the strategic importance of the sesame oilsalt dipnot just because it tasted good, which it did, but because the suckers on the tentacles are still fully functional, and the coating of slippery oil prevents them from maintaining their death grip on your tongue."