Michael Batterberry, co-founder FOOD ARTS magazine

I was standing next to Michael Batterberry in the crowded Rainbow Room. We were listening to Reese Schonfeld as he revealed his plans for the launch of the TV Food Network.

It was 1993 and I’d guess just about everyone in the room was secretly hoping we’d be discovered, and he’d invite us, (beg us), to sign a contract for our future appearances on his network.

The more he said, the more our hopes were dashed.

After a few minutes, Michael turned to me and said, “Let’s go and have a glass of champagne in the bar, there isn’t a place for us here.”

From the outset it was clear there would be no room for anyone of Michael’s depth and breadth of interests. Michael and his wife, Ariane had the intellectual heft and undaunted persistence to raise the money for the publication of Food & Wine magazine.

Later, a bitter dispute with their partners resulted in the Batterberry’s ouster from this magazine. The tragedy eventually led to their next venture: FOOD ARTS Magazine.

Food & Wine lives on with a current circulation approaching a million subscribers.

FOOD ARTS also lives on as the most influential magazine for top flight restaurants.

Ariane lives on as publisher of FOOD ARTS.

Michael was managing editor. He too will live on as the generous visionary who encouraged the flow of ideas into the magazine. (He even allowed me space to discuss issues related to biotechnology.)

Michael earned the respect of legions of food professionals who admired him as a historian, as a great writer, a wonderfully witty speaker, an insightful forecaster of food trends and a mentor for innumerable chefs and other food folk.

We were so fortunate to have known and admired him.

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What is success? I asked this question and received this answer: “My son is a success,” he answered.

Inwardly I groaned. Crumbs, I thought, now I’m in for it. I resigned myself to suffering through a story about his son, Mr. Moneybags, complete with adorable grandchildren — the lot. “Oh,” said I. “Do tell me about him.”

So he did.

Turns out his son was a rotten kid from the day he was born. By the time he was 12, he had already been in trouble with the law. At 17, he dropped out of school and became a drug dealer. He made so much money, he was able to buy himself a monster expensive motor bike. Three days later he lost control of the bike and hit a tree.  In an instant he was paralyzed from the waist down. He’ll be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

The accident happened a few years ago. Since then, the son has invented several valuable tools that help paraplegics. He has testified before Congress on behalf of handicapped people.

He has achieved success in the journey of life.

I’m telling you this story because success has many faces. If you want a lifelong career that doesn’t conform with the norm, you must hold fast to your dream and not let others talk you out of it. On the other hand, when job hunting, it makes a whole lot of sense to consider working for a company that is in its ascendancy rather than one that looks as though its future could be dicey. For example, without wishing to dash any hopes, I wouldn’t set my heart on becoming a syndicated newspaper writer. Newspapers are vanishing like the smile on the face of the Cheshire Cat.

This morning in Nation’s Restaurant News online, I learned Panera Bread Co. has raised its full-year fiscal 2010 outlook after reporting a 33-percent jump in income for the second quarter and had a 14-percent jump in revenue…

In case you might be seeking work as a pastry chef or a bread baker or if you are interested in research and development, Panera may be just the place for you.

Alternatively look into the most forward looking supermarkets and discover the opportunities for employment at such fine organizations as Wegman’s. You may be surprised to find there really are many super jobs in supermarkets and in the best of chain restaurants like Chipotle.

A definition of success, after all, is whatever makes you happy.

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View of Hudson Valley

I am the most fortunate of women.

I live in the Hudson Valley.

Yesterday I went food shopping in Adams Fairacre Farms, a locally-owned super supermarket. It carries glorious fruits and vegetables, many organically grown by local farmers; fabulous fish — and smoked salmon supplied from a local smokehouse. There is free-range poultry, (including duck, goose, young turkeys and baby poussins), and pastured, grass-fed beef and lamb. There’s a huge variety of cheeses, creme fraiche and locally-churned butter.

There’s honey personally delivered by a neighborhood bee-keeper, farmhouse pickles and preserves, prize-winning cheeses from Valley cheese makers as well as ice creams and sorbets from a nearby creamery. There are handmade chocolates and cookies and a vast selection of breads, biscotti and cookies from nearby brick-oven bakeries.

The store doesn’t carry wines, but there are 167 wineries in this region and they are readily available. (Clinton Vineyards provided wines for Chelsea Clinton’s recent upstate New York wedding.)

“Aha,” thought I. Here’s a business — a food job!

There are more than a million visitors to the Hudson Valley every year. Many travelers are looking for a gift to take home to the kind person, who looked after the children or the dogs and cats.

How about a gift basket overflowing with artisanal foods and Hudson Valley wines? If you’d love to give such a present, imagine how much your friend would like to receive it!

No matter where you live, there are regional specialties to arrange in an attractive container to be hand delivered or mailed.

Offer your creative services to food shops, florists, hotels, bed and breakfasts, historical homes, wineries and wherever tourists gather together.

Suggest different price points and several options and be willing to do the mailing.

Give a commission to the sites that display your “for real” or photographed gift basket ideas or make a contribution to a local worthy cause with every purchase.

In this way you have your own business and you have benefited many others!

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