If you’re hungry for a good read or craving a film you can sink your teeth into, you won’t want to miss this year’s St. Louis Jewish Book Festival (Nov. 6 to 13) and the St. Louis International Film Festival (Nov. 3 to 13).
Each is serving up subjects and events to satisfy the gourmet and gourmand.
On this year’s meet-and-greet menu is Phil Rosenthal, star of Netflix series, “Somebody Feed Phil,” and author of “Somebody Feed Phil the Book.” Rosenthal is this year’s featured foodie at the St. Louis Jewish Book Festival. His cookbook presents behind-the-scenes stories from every episode of the first four seasons of his series and 60 of the show’s most requested recipes.
Food Network’s “Girl Meets Farm” star Molly Yeh (author of “Home is Where the Eggs Are”) and bagel expert and Cathy Barrow award-winning author of “Bagels, Schmears, and A Nice Piece of Fish: A whole Brunch of recipes to Make at Home,” get together as part of a cookbook panel on Tuesday, Nov. 8. Authors will share stories, recipes and cooking secrets while teaching the audience new spins on traditional Jewish foods.
Food-centric subjects screened during this year’s St. Louis International Film festival include “Love, Charlie: The Rise and Fall of Chef Charlie Trotter,” An interesting look into the career of culinary icon Charlie Trotter and his legendary restaurant, where he was the toast of Chicago. Owner of one of the world’s top fine-dining destinations, Trotter, a gastronomic revolutionary and a culinary bad boy, paved the way for the likes of Anthony Bourdain and Gordon Ramsay. Directed by Rebecca Halpern, the film presents an unvarnished profile and chronicles the passions of a master chef; screening Nov. 3. it’s sponsored by Parker’s Table.
“I Mysteries,” an Italian film directed by Mauro Maugeri and Daniele Greco, is a visually stunning, powerful and breathtaking documentary that unveils a world of traditional religious feasts as spectacular and beautiful to watch as they are extremely dangerous to perform. The four Sicilian towns of fishermen and farmers portrayed in the film spend many months preparing for events that ultimately unfold in a very few hours, bringing communities together to achieve the fullest expression of their collective identity.
For tickets for the complete schedule for the events and screenings at both festivals, visit St. Louis International Film Festival and St. Louis Jewish Book Festival.
