2020 Distinguished Alum Rhoda Boone Lane (’97)
2020 is the first year HSPVA Friends is honoring not one but TWO Distinguished Alumni — siblings Rhoda Boone Lane (Visual Arts ’97) and Will Boone (Visual Arts ’01) — at the 14th Annual Encore Luncheon! For table and ticket purchases at our event honoring Rhoda and her brother Will, visit us here.
Rhoda has a pretty unique job title — she is the Food Director for Condé Nast — but what exactly does that mean? In Rhoda’s case, it means putting all of her visual arts education, photography experience, and culinary training towards producing video content online for Bon Appetit and Epicurious. Below, you’ll find several of our favorite series that she produces. Be sure to watch for cameos by Rhoda (especially in “Gourmet Makes”)!
1. Watch your favorite celebrity learn to cook with “Back-to-Back Chef“
In this series, celebrities visit the Epicurious Test Kitchen to try recipes in real time with a professional chef — the catch is, they have to do it back-to-back. That means the chef can’t see what the celeb is up to, and the celeb can only go off spoken instructions from the expert! Stand out guests include Natalie Portman, Al Roker, and Hailee Steinfeld, among others.
2. Compare your skills to industry pros in “4 Levels“
Think you bake like a pro? Is your grandmother’s lasagna recipe truly gourmet? Find out on this show, which demonstrates “4 levels” of a recipe or cooking skill. Our favorite is the episode on pancakes, but there’s a lot to choose from!
3. Recreate your favorite guilty pleasure snack on “Gourmet Makes“
Pastry chef Claire Saffitz gives a gourmet make-over to favorites like Cheetos, Skittles, and Snickers bars, with painstaking precision and exacting standards. Who knew tempering chocolate could be so entertaining? Just watch out for the Third Day curse…
4. Improve your cooking skills with the “Basic Skills Challenge“
Do you know how to open a champagne bottle? Can you peel and chop a butternut squash? How about tossing pizza dough? Laugh along as 50 people try to demonstrate these skills, some with more luck than others.
5. Check out Rhoda’s own videos, articles, social media, and online portfolio.
Not only does Rhoda produce videos (and sometimes step in to demonstrate, or to save other chefs on camera!) but she uses her education at the French Culinary Center to test recipes, contribute articles, and more at both Bon Appetit and Epicurious. You can see her food-styling portfolio at her personal website, and her Instagram is amazing — follow her now if you haven’t already!
Get tickets to the 14th Annual Encore Luncheon, where Rhoda will be interviewed live on stage!
