Feasting and Fasting with Gogol, a literary evening at Savoy
This dinner commemorating the 202 anniversary of Nikolai Gogol's birth, was curated by Gastronomica Magazine founder and editor-in-chief Darra Goldstein (who is also Professor of Russian, in the Department of German & Russian, Williams College), and the chef and founder of Soho's Savoy restaurant Peter Hoffman. One of the originators of the farm-to-table movement, Peter Hoffman added his own twist to dishes mentioned in Gogol’s story “The Old World Landowners,” which one of the guests, artist Vitaly Komar (pictured), describes as, “An anti-dietary never-ending cook book about eternal love!” Darra Goldstein provided comments on Gogol's tortuous relationship with food and digestion, and comments on the presented dishes. The New York Times and Huffington Post also wrote about the evening.