The Ultimate Gathering Place
WHY THE QUINTESSENTIAL TABLE?
The ancients believed that the world was divisible into four elements—earth, water, air, and fire. But the philosophers and scientists, Plato and Aristotle suggested that there was a fifth element, an invisible, higher, and all-pervasive element known as the "ether."
Over the centuries, as Latin and Greek language and culture influenced the evolution of the West, the words "quinta" (Latin for "fifth") and "essentia" (Latin for "element or essence") were combined to form the compound adjective "quintessential," meaning the fifth, best, or ultimate essence or level of something.
Quintessence means epitome, essence, soul, spirit, ethos, nature, core, heart. In short, everything we do that matters centers around the table. We gather, we eat, we write, we sing, we coach our children with their homework or encourage their drawings. We engage in conversations of everything under the sun. If beds are short we can sleep on the table. If threatened, we feel safer under the table. Each culture has its version of a table, and those who break bread together are likely to stand up for each other when put to the test.
French chemist and gastronomist Hervé This expounded upon this notion with chef Pierre Gagnaire in Cooking: The Quintessential Art (University of California Press 2008). He writes that “in the hands of a great cook, a meal is capable of touching us as a love song does.”
These offerings are my love song to YOU, who dare to join me around the table!
Susi Gott Séguret has been intimately involved with food and flavor since, as a toddler she first felt the burn of a radish, just pulled from the soil, still speckled with black earth, and washed it down with a gulp of fresh spring water that flowed out from under a moonshine still. This intrigue grew during early years of organically farming all the ingredients that graced the family plate, from honey to duck eggs to pig’s tongue to home-brewed beer.
When, in the late 80’s, she moved from the sorghum fields of Appalachia to the wheat fields of France, following a musical venture, there were other tastes to assimilate along with several hundred cheeses to meet first hand, not to mention an arsenal of wines.
Following two decades of spreading Appalachian music and tastes around Europe, Susi returned to her North Carolina roots, spearheading the Seasonal School of Culinary Arts in Asheville. Sessions have now spread to Ithaca, Sonoma and Paris as well, and incorporate local chefs, local ingredients, and local brews in each destination.
Susi holds a diploma in Gastronomy from the Cordon Bleu and the Université de Reims, a degree in Environmental Studies from Warren Wilson College, and is a Certified Culinary Professional through the IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals), where she currently serves as Chair of the Food Writers, Editors & Publishers section. She is also a Certified Specialist of Wine through the Society of Wine Educators.
Editor of multiple cookbooks and contributor to several compilations, including Room in the Bowl (a collection of gumbo notes), Susi is author of Appalachian Appetite: Recipes from the Heart of America, Child of the Woods: An Appalachian Odyssey, Cooking with Truffles: A Chef’s Guide, and A Chef’s Book of Favorite Culinary Quotations: An Inspired Collection for Those Who Love to Cook and Those Who Love to Eat.
Passionate about elements of taste and style, and how they extend from our palate into our daily lives, Susi strives to blend music, food, words and images into a tapestry for the senses, which she shares generously with all who cross her path.
“The dinner table is the center for the teaching and practicing not just of table manners but of conversation, consideration, tolerance, family feeling, and just about all the other accomplishments of polite society except the minuet.”
—Judith Martin, as quoted in A Chef’s Book of Favorite Culinary Quotations