They traveled from The New York Times food section, with publication, books and Blogs on their minds. A train ride to Upstate Berkshires on Saturday was met by a sellout crowd to glean frpm these very successful food writers of America. Writers, not of food as many suspected, but rather, places to see, have seen or not been scene. Judith Jones, of Julia Childs fame and now home cooking, Christine Mulke, field reporter, Oliver Strand, creator of yelp and kill to eat documentaries, Amanda Kludt, food blog leader, Kim Severson, Times Newspaper extraordinare, and Amanda Hesser, food diary and secret admirer of Koennigsberger Kloppse. The food moment was tense as could be for such an event. Finally, Gord Travers, the man with leppard shoes, and chairman of The Mount, was called upon by the moderator. Would he question the streets of NY or would he try to stop our embarassment of living here in the hills? His question, direct and to the point was, yes, about locally grown Beef. A quick flurry and we realized that the only organically grown beef is in Vermont. After that, we never did get a chance to discuss the definition of free range Chickens, never mind, the fact that most of us eat vegetarian cows anyway. Now they were shifting into our territory, mentioning Home cooking and where it comes from. Judith Jones was leader of the pack. She worked with Julia Childs and knows her stuff. At her experience level, she's seen it all and her new book proves it. As the rock of the panel, Judith re-introduced home cooking, but also stopped short of embarassing the blog community. She opened the door for Kim Severson to have some fun with newspaper writing and to sell enough subscriptions to the NYTim es during the book signing to collect the change needed to take a next train back. Our Moderator, chosing to sit during the entire panel discussion, pumped the panel about their favorite places. To this, it was clear that almost everyone in the audience needed a car to get from place to place, which was different than the lives of famous food panelists, who by God never need one anyway. Suddenly, the audience was in awe when they heard the 50,000 hit time-bomb that lands each day for Amanda Kludt on her www.eater.com website, At this point, I stood up to comment on a few things. Besides, I contribute on health issues to a well known food magazine and to the website www.freebeerbuddy.com regarding the technical issues of drinking healthy with food. I was also quoted once in Whole Foods Magazine this Summer. To get started, I had to mention the time a few years ago that my 92 year old mother, living at her farmhouse in the Shaker Hills was making her Roladen dish. Then, all of a sudden, the local police department sent a team of 6 trained swat officers to search the hills behind her farm for an escaped convict. She would not let them go on this mission without having a full stomach. The next time, it was the fire department who showed up after seeing smoke in those same hills. They sent their battalion and found themselves with the same home cooking dilema. Our beloved food writers make or break the restaurant scene in America's cities and around the world, but it is in our homes where healthy good food lives on. Our society lives and brea t hs by blog and twitter volumes that run wide and not so deep. It is the little old lady, never alone in the Shaker Hills, that demonstrates the core of fellowship that fills the depths of aquifers and wells of our society. The book to read that supports the strength of Home Cooking is by Judith Jones, who realizes that it is not by blogs or twits but the written word that brings substantial food news to the priviledged in America. Let's Pray for Healthy foods and drink, but know that our stomach is still the Judge, Jury and the Ruler. The Stomach takes front page in our lives and be prepared to keep the Underberg German bitters handy.

Mark Earl Dallmeyer