When Art Dresses for Dinner
Some spicy talk with Homeira Goldstein
Composer Richard Wagner broadened the way we experience opera, and now Homeira Goldstein is expanding our definition of art. Towards this end she has created an impressive website, but it’s not for self-aggrandizement, nor is it simply for the promotion of studio or gallery art, but rather for the promotion of art “in every aspect of our daily life. The website is about bringing food, form, fashion, fun, and art together because everything is interrelated.”
Homeira Goldstein. Photos .
Her goal remained clear
The genesis of this endeavor, and we’ll get to it in a moment, goes back to 1992. Goldstein and her family had moved to Manhattan Beach from the Westside the year before, and Goldstein was feeling a bit out of place since, like cats, we do not always land on our feet but need some time to discover and adjust to our new surroundings.
However, a former mayor and city councilmember, Jason Lane, proved to be encouraging. “He thought that I needed to be involved (with the local art scene),” Goldstein recalls, “and he said, ‘Embrace your city and do something about it.’” So she took a seat on the arts commission.
But what was she interested in for herself? A television show, perhaps?
“In those days,” Goldstein says, “talk shows were very popular. I wanted to interview visual artists, and I was told if I wanted I could have a cable (station) free, but my obligation would be to program it.”
She declined, because her son, Joshua, was still quite young. Even so, Goldstein did a couple of public access shows that were apparently well received. Be that as it may, her idea of looping all of the arts together was not embraced because the television stations she was in touch with did not think that ads would bring in sufficient revenue to support it.
From 1992 to the present Goldstein’s conception evolved, “but my goal was always the same,” she says. “The whole idea was to bring art to the community and to expand the art audience. That has been my main focus.”
By the year 2000 the Internet was a viable platform, and that’s about the time Goldstein became serious about establishing an online presence. Over the years that followed, while never ceasing to be involved in other endeavors, such as Arts Manhattan, Goldstein zeroed in on exactly what she wanted her website to contain.
But one look at it, and the viewer knows that the visual arts is just one component. And, for the most part, it seems to highlight the dining room rather than the drawing room.
A palette for the palate
It begins with a trip to the market, buying food, preparing food, cooking food; it begins also with one’s choice of tableware, or tablescape, a term Goldstein often uses, which includes everything from tablecloth to napkin rings, eating utensils, plates, serving dishes, and table decor. And then, of course, there’s the music, the lighting, the art of the walls–whatever it is that collectively is adding up to a personalized ambiance.
Sure, one can throw something together haphazardly and hope that it sticks, or one can use a discerning eye.
Goldstein compares the process to a painter with a blank canvas, carefully deciding which colors to use and where to put them.
“Food brings people together,” Goldstein says. “We all eat. You may like pop art, I may like traditional art, somebody may like sports, but one thing brings all of us together, and that’s food. Even if we like different foods, it still brings us together.”
And then, when we sit down at the table with family and friends, we indulge all of our senses. We smell food, appraise it visually, taste food, and often touch food. Okay, we may not hear food, but isn’t that a nice Chopin étude that’s wafting gently from the background?
Homeira Goldstein didn’t grow up in a normal American household where ketchup, mustard, and maybe Tabasco sauce had places of honor on the dining room table. She was, however, raised faraway in a privileged household where meals were taken seriously, and the eating etiquette no less so.
“Everything starts with mayonnaise or cream, butter, ketchup,” she says. “I didn’t grow up with that. I grew up with tasty, flavorful food, and that’s how my palate was developed.”
Now we’re approaching the heart of her website.
“If I give you different spices, different herbs to taste,” Goldstein says, “you start thinking, How does this taste? It’s just like when you look at visual art, you keep looking at it and different images develop. Different things come to your mind and to your eye.
“It’s the same with your palate,” she adds. “The more you pay attention to it, the deeper you get in understanding or tasting the flavors.”
Goldstein acknowledges that palates are different and that some people are allergic to this item, some to that. We’re individuals, after all. Nonetheless, “Developing the palate is like educating a child to look at a piece of art, because with art you develop your eye and with food you develop your palate.” At its most basic, this is about developing the senses, all of them.
The fine art of dining
What this has been leading up to is the line of spices and rubs that Homeira Goldstein has created, each packet with a specific mission: to enhance fish, chicken, steak, pork rack, kabob, pasta, and other entrees.
The packets are attractive and each contains a recipe. “Everything is 100 percent natural,” she says; “no fillers, no chemicals.” Moreover, they can do wonders for a quick meal, one of the catch phrases being “Cook fancy food fast.” Right now, these spices and herbs are available only on Goldstein’s website, but we’ll be seeing them elsewhere before too long.
Goldstein is known locally as an important promoter of artists and art, and this isn’t changing anytime soon. She’ll be putting the work of artists on her website, some is already there, but she’ll also continue to organize occasional exhibitions at the Manhattan Beach Art Center, which she’s been doing for several years. The next one is slated for early November.
The new website is just one more in a string of projects and endeavors that Goldstein has undertaken or supported, and one day she even hopes to open a venue where dance concerts and art performances could be presented. She’s done much to elevate the arts in the South Bay, and clearly intends to continue. In her own words:
“I have a lot of ideas of what I want to do.”
For more information, or to explore Homeira Goldstein’s website, go to homeirastyle.com.