About
Jon “Mick” Vann has been a ravenous fan of the foods of the world, especially those of Mexico, the Southwest, the Southern U.S., Thailand, Vietnam, China, and Spain since he was old enough to appreciate their flavors. Mick began working in restaurants at the age of 14 and has performed every job under the food service roof for 44 years, from busboy and dishwasher to bartender, to award-winning chef, to manager and owner, in all manner of different dining venues. He was a contributing food writer and restaurant critic for The Austin Chronicle for 18 years. He held a series of wildly popular pop-up, invitation-only dinners back in the day in Austin, with music writer and ethnic food expert Mike Quinn, before anyone knew what pop-up dinners were. They featured the music, foods, and wines of Tuscany and Morocco. He co-authored, with consulting partner Art Meyer, The Appetizer Atlas: A World of First Courses, which won “World’s Best Foreign Cookery Book” at the 2004 Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. Vann and Meyer also presented a seminar with tastings on the foods of the Philippines at the 2003 IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals) Conference in Montreal. In 2013 they also co-authored How to Open and Operate a Restaurant (Home-Based Business Series) for Globe Pequot Press.
Vann is a food writer, cookbook author, restaurant consultant, kitchen designer, recipe developer, and food blogger, who grew up in Austin, TX. He is currently based in Driftwood, Texas, in the hill country southwest of Austin. He is a winner of the 2006 Harry A. Bell Travel Grant, awarded by The Culinary Trust and the International Association of Culinary Professionals, for travel costs associated with researching a cookbook. Vann has had recipes published in The New York Times, Texas Monthly Magazine, Austin American Statesman, The Austin Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, Dallas Morning News, San Antonio Express News, Salon.com, eGullet.com, and Sautewednesday.com. He has written food and travel articles for chow.com. He also has recipes published in The Herb Garden Cookbook by Lucinda Hutson. Mick has finished an eBook titled Old Mex, New Mex, and Tex Mex · Favorite Recipes of Regional Mexico, New Mexico, and Texas, to be followed shortly by an eBook titled Strips of Bliss · The Bacon Zealot’s Cookbook, with 200+ Dishes for the Baconoisseur.
Currently
Mick is currently working on Tastee Bowl! An Atlas of the Globe’s Best Soups, with 200+ Recipes. It is a collection of over 200 of the most delicious soup recipes from around the world, with exhaustively researched chapters dealing with the etymology and history of soup, the role of soup on the menu and in popular culture, the different types of soup, varied thickening methods of soups and the tools used to thicken, as well as the basics of stocks, the building blocks of a great bowl of soup. The recipes come from 48 countries, representing every global culinary region, as well as five regions of North America. The recipes include vegetarian, meat, poultry, and seafood-based options, including both hot and cold soups The recipes range from complex stews to easily-assembled soups, meant for both the adventurous chef and the most basic, recipe-challenged home cook.
Chefs love soups almost as much as diners. Like constructing sauces, soups allow a chef to show their skill in balancing flavors. A soup can be made ahead and held for a long time before service, and leftovers generally freeze well. Soups are an economical way to use up leftovers, or to take advantage of food products when they are on sale, or when they are just past their peak. And as most price-conscious cooks know, little surpasses a pot of soup when the pocketbook is low, or a chef needs a low food cost/high profit item on their menu.
A bowl of soup can be the opening to an elegant feast, a between-course palette cleanser in a multi-course meal, a between-meal snack or a pick-me-up, a restorative to warm you up or cool you down, a stand-alone meal, or a post-party, sobering-up treat before sleep. It can be mild and easy to digest sustenance for the youngest, the old, or the sick or infirm. A steaming bowl of soup can be the perfect mood lifter when you really need one; a soup or stew is one of the ultimate comfort dishes. Nothing satisfies quite like a well-crafted bowl of goodness.
Link to Mick’s Austin Chronicle Articles
https://www.austinchronicle.com/authors/mick-vann/
Blog
Gustidude · Musings on Food and What Not
http://gustidude.blogspot.com/