This year Orlando Weekly restaurant critic Faiyaz Kara spoke to 16 Orlando chefs about some of the hottest current topics in the dining industry: issues of cultural appropriation in food. What does it mean to be an immigrant chef in America today? Who owns a cuisine, or is it even possible for a cuisine to belong only to certain people? And are diners voting their opinions on the topic with their dollars, or do they even notice?
We also take on the issue of sustainability and ask how chefs are combatting food waste in their kitchens. In one kitchen, scraps are used to make creative meals and snacks for staff; in another, they actually are converted to energy that powers the restaurant.
As well, Orlando Weekly names the third recipient of our annual BITE Award; we reveal where to indulge in special tastes like sumptuous Asian pastries and scarily convincing fake meat; learn a delicious solution for the lionfish scourge in our waters and how to know if a Neapolitan pie is the real deal; and talk to natural wine expert Samantha Lawless about the next Orlando trend to watch for: natural wines.
We hope you enjoy this guide as much as we enjoyed putting it together. Go take a bite out of Orlando!
BITE editorial 2019Editor: Jessica Bryce Young
Writers: Faiyaz Kara, Holly V. Kapherr, Jenny De Witt, Jessica Bryce Young
Photographer: Rob Bartlett
Designer: Melissa McHenry
