In her search for soul mates, Renee Whyte knew what she was looking for. The right ones would have passion, creativity - and a really good set of knives.
She was, after all, forming a food group.
Like book groups, informal food groups have been around for decades. They may be coeds cooking together or couples dining monthly in a gourmet supper club. Some groups are restaurant-centric, others are home-bound. Some appeal to professionals, and others to stay-at-home parents who need a night off.
Renee imagined an intimate gathering of epicureans, sharing stories and a champagne sabayon. So she put her wish out there (on the Internet) and discovered six strangers so culturally and racially diverse, they would be a casting agent's dream.
They are black and white; Korean, Indian and Hungarian. Married and not, from the city and the suburbs, they are 30- and-40-year-old women who share a remarkable indifference to carbs and calories and a conspicuous preoccupation with taste.
The group, which recently settled on the name Forking Delicious , is starting its second year. It's a boisterous, in-your-face clan of accomplished cooks whose training ranges from extensive to none at all. And the members are far more interested in the pleasures food brings than in any attempts at perfection.
"In this group there's none of the judgmental attitudes or the competitive one-upsmanship" that can happen, says Lesu Ali, a group member who was born in Detroit to Bangladeshi parents and grew up in a Greek neighborhood.
And Renee, who started the whole thing, couldn't be more delighted: "Everybody," she says, "brings something different to the table."
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Renee grew up in Roslyn, the oldest daughter of divorced parents. Her mother was an artist with a day job cleaning other people's houses.
At 11 years old, Renee was responsible for the grocery shopping as well as the cooking. Her Aunt Pat would drive to the market, but Renee controlled the list as well as the budget, always finding a way for Pop-Tarts.
Being the cook gave Renee a bit of power over her two younger sisters, and challenged her to learn about menus and spices and making something from almost nothing. At Roslyn Elementary, she says, she read recipe books in the library while friends were immersed in Charlie Brown's adventures.
Often - too often, she recalls - dinner was breaded chicken legs and a Hungarian dish with cabbage in vinegar and butter.
