Elizabeth Chorney-Booth is Calgary-based freelance writer. A former rock ‘n’ roll journalist, Elizabeth writes about food, local events, community, travel, business and other lifestyle topics for a number of magazines and newspapers in Canada and beyond. More importantly, along with fellow writer (and CBC radio columnist) Julie Van Rosendaal, she’s the co-editor of Rolling Spoon, a website that mashes up music and food culture.
What was the food highlight of your year?
I got to go on a culinary tour of Poland, which was really cool. Five days of eating sauerkraut and sausage. And I managed to pack in nine different kinds of perogies, which is a dream for a 1/4 Ukrainian girl from the Canadian prairies.
What was the music highlight of your year?
Seeing Neutral Milk Hotel on two consecutive night in Toronto this January. I bought In the Aeroplane Over the Sea the day it came out and never got to see them live. It was a moment that I thought would never happen and I was brought to tears several times during both concerts.
Was there a moment when food and music came together in a memorable way?
We bring music and food together every day on Rolling Spoon and I love it when the musicians we talk to about food get really really into it. One of our biggest enthusiasts this year was the lovely Kelly Hogan, who loves food even more than I do. She sent in a recipe for her mother's habanero gold jelly, which my co-editor Julie made and it was beyond delicious. We also threw a really fun pie party to celebrate our first anniversary, where we had music booming and over 80 people came out to share pies that they'd baked. That was pretty cool.