Practicing Gastronomy with Alicia Towns Franken

by Erin Carlman Weber

On March 28*, we're kicking off the Practicing Gastronomy discussions, a series of informal monthly chats with professionals from all corners of the food and drink world. Here's a preview of our first guest.

Alicia Towns Franken thinks wine should be on every table, and that includes those in the delivery room. The Boston-based sommelier and consultant christened both of her children with a dab of Krug rosé moments after they were born. She brings this same principle of lighthearted pleasure, plus her vast knowledge of all things wine, to her pursuits as an educator through tastings, seminars and charity events around the country.

Alicia got her start at Back Bay steakhouse Grill 23, where she was working as a server to finance her neuropsychology studies at Harvard. Her path took a sudden turn down a different road the day she sampled a glass of wine that gave her goose bumps. She asked immediately to be part of their wine program, and eventually she was made wine director. During her tenure as sommelier, Alicia expanded their wine offerings from a two-page menu to a 1,000-bottle list, and earned accolades from Boston Magazine, Les Dames d’Escoffier, and Wine Spectator.

These days, Alicia is a wine consultant and works charity events, participating in seminars, tastings and panel discussions. She’s also an accredited Wine Location Specialist and an ambassador for the Center for Wine Origins, where she works to educate consumers, the media and policy makers about the importance of accuracy in wine labeling. To perform work like hers, Alicia feels it’s vital to be open-minded, with a strong sense of fun and flexibility, and to have a passion for sharing knowledge in an accessible and respectful way.

Alicia will be sharing much more of her wisdom on building a career in wine as our first guest in the Practicing Gastronomy discussion series. Please join us as we sit down with Alicia for an informal chat about her life as a sommelier, consultant and educator in the world of wine, including what it’s like to work a charity event that goes through 100,000 wine glasses.

EVENT INFORMATION:
Practicing Gastronomy with Alicia Towns Franken
Monday, March 28*
808 Commonwealth Avenue
Room 109
4:45 - 5:45pm

*Originally scheduled for March 21. Date revised March 15.

Outside of the classroom: Avi Schlosburg & Slow Money

by Avi Schlosburg

I’m a second-year student in the Gastronomy program, and I’m focusing on policy and systems. I’m also a research and development intern at Slow Money. Slow Money is a nonprofit organization working to catalyze venture capital and investments into small food enterprises across the country. Their model is similar to Slow Food, with a large national umbrella organization that incubates smaller local chapters. These local chapters are bringing entrepreneurs together with investors, finance experts, and various food systems stakeholders to get money flowing into regional and local food systems.

When I moved up to Boston from Maryland in January 2010, I was scrambling around to find a job or internship relevant to my Gastronomy studies. I came across a position on Sustainable Food Jobs for an Executive Assistant/Social Media Expert with Slow Money and of course applied. I didn’t even get a “thanks but no thanks” and was pretty bummed about it, despite being wholly under qualified. Still, getting a position with an organization like Slow Money was basically the reason I picked up my life and moved to Boston.

After settling for a temp job at MBTA for the summer doing mindless work that had absolutely no relevance to what I was studying or wanted to do with my life, I decided I needed to convince Slow Money to give me another chance. I didn’t have anything to lose, so I emailed the contact person on their website and poured my heart out about how I wanted to create a just and sustainable food system and how my past experiences would help Slow Money do just that, which at the time was a bit of an exaggeration. Now, seven months later, I’m writing grant proposals, helping to organize their national event, and conducting extensive research for their nationwide communications efforts.

In all the work I do for Slow Money, I find myself relying heavily on the knowledge I have accrued in the Gastronomy program. From discussing Slow Money’s impact on the growth of alternative food systems when I write grant proposals to writing reports on the market and investment potential for CSAs, alternative supply chains, and organic farms, I find myself consistently using my library of books and articles from my last year as a student of Gastronomy.

The moral of the story? Boston University Gastronomy program + being creative/proactive/maybe a little pushy = working on things you actually care about.

This is the first in a series of posts from Gastronomy students on how they're putting their classroom knowledge to work and expanding their education through internships and volunteer opportunities. To write about your own internship, volunteer position or job, send an email to gastronomyatbu@gmail.com.