EVENT DETAILS

Comfort Food for Our Times: Jenn Harris '07 LA Times and Chef Jessica

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Over the past year, people leaned into comfort food during the pandemic -- and not just at home. Many LA chefs completely reconfigured their menus to serve pizza, fried chicken and burgers instead of their usual specialties. And at home, people baked bread and desserts, cooked mac n cheese, served up lots of pasta. Jenn Harris received her BA in Literary Journalism at UCI and is now a food writer for the Los Angeles Times. In this lively and informative evening, Jenn will talk about her path to food writing, new trends in food journalism, and what’s happening in the LA food scene. Chef Jessica VanRoo will share comfort food recipes that you can recreate at home. Both speakers are half-Asian and will talk about anti-Asian racism and its impact on Asian restaurants.

The menu will include tomato feta pasta, basic no-knead bread, and fried rice.

Jenn Harris is a columnist for the Food section and host of “The Bucket List” fried chicken show. She has a BA in literary journalism from UC Irvine and an MA in journalism from USC. Follow her @Jenn_Harris_.

Jessica VanRoo is the Director of Culinary Education at UCI where she teaches culinary classes to students, staff, and other corporate clients. She is currently developing advanced culinary courses for young learners and the public.