Prokofiev and profiteroles

A rare evening off tonight allowed me a foray to Broders' Pasta Bar for a tasty Sunday dinner. I went with my friend Steve Copes, concertmaster of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and admitted foodie. He's a great restaurant guide as well as a terrific cook - the kind who whips up homemade gnocchi, pressed herbed chicken and poached pears for a random weeknight meal, just because. We bumped into MN Orchestra violinists Dave Brubaker and Aaron Janse enjoying a leisurely meal. As they were leaving we compared our dishes and Aaron waxed poetic on the marvels of guanciale, which made me smile.

I've always wondered about the strong correlation between being a musician and being a foodie. Part of it comes, I'm convinced, from a musician's understanding of careful preparation yielding an aesthetically pleasing result; we appreciate the composition of beautiful ingredients under skillful hands into an artistic expression of flavor and aroma. It's a creativity that we grasp innately as something very close to our own work.

It's not surprising, then, that many musicians are also quite accomplished cooks. MN Orchestra bassist Dave Williamson is infamous for his "cooking parties", where he opens his home to dozens of colleagues to cook up a storm in his kitchen (often emptying his pantry in the process). In fact, many members of the bass section are excellent cooks - give acting principal bass Fora Baltacigil any ingredient and he'll come up with some toothsome concoction fragrant with spices and redolent of his native Turkey. Violinist Mike Sutton makes a mean Ethiopian wots, complete with injera. And Sam makes some of the best roast chicken ever (thanks for bringing me some that day, Sam!).

I read far more reviews for restaurants than I'll ever be able to actually go to, impatiently wait for new episodes of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations and devour (pun intended!) books like Bill Buford's Heat. Maybe musicians' foodie tendencies come from our intense focus on our work, which is most often a long-term venture (the results of practice can take weeks to manifest) and our need to have a hobby that is visceral, where the results are immediate and gratifying. Or maybe it is simply the pleasure of sharing a table with our friends and colleagues, and the delight of good food, good drink and good company that often continues far into the night...