Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy

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The author of nine acclaimed cookbooks and a two-time James Beard Award winner, Diana Kennedy provides an intimate look at the leading expert on Mexican cuisine. 

This film is co-presented with Portland Food Map

A Q&A with director Elizabeth Carroll, chef Alice Waters (Chez Panisse), chef Gabriela Cámara (Contramara & Cala), The New York Times food writer David Tanis and cookbook author & moderator Lesley Tellez can be viewed here.

Diana Kennedy: Nothing Fancy is an intimate, candid perspective into the curious world of cookbook author and British ex-pat Diana Kennedy — widely regarded as the world’s expert on Mexican cuisine. At five feet tall and 97 years old, Diana is larger than life: a foul-mouthed fireball far more feisty and energetic than her age and petite frame let on. Author of nine Mexican cookbooks, she has spent over 60 years researching and documenting the regional cuisines of Mexico. Kennedy has lived ‘off the grid’ on an eight acre ranch outside Zitácuaro, Michoacán since the 1970’s: composting, growing her own crops, and using solar power to run her home. Aware of her own mortality, she is working tirelessly to solidify the legacy of her life’s efforts, with the hope of turning her home into a foundation for culinary education in Mexico.

81 minutes.

Not Rated. 

Directed by Elizabeth Carroll

Official website