The Rise of the Foodie Generation: The Evolution of Our Relationship With Food
A Zoom Conversation with Mark Furstenberg '60, Baker, Consultant, and Writer
To DC-area residents, Mark Furstenberg is a local legend who is widely credited with introducing us to “world class bread,” an assessment proclaimed by Phyllis Richman the legendary restaurant critic for the Washington Post. Mark is a celebrated baker, and his offerings of pastries, breads, and other savory foods are currently available at Bread Furst located in the Van Ness neighborhood. Bread Furst is Mark’s third food establishment.
Mark is currently finishing a book that includes his reflections on the changing food scene in America. He has taken stock of our relationship with food that has evolved from the simple meals he ate during the World War II era, through the discouragement of cooking that followed the war, to the rise in the interest of food in the Eighties, the glamorization of food that began in the Nineties, to where we are now. Are we on the verge of a broader and more tempered attitude and interest towards food? Join Mark as he shares his observations and addresses your views and comments.
Mark Furstenberg ’60 was cruising through life with careers in government, industry, and the news media when at age 50 in 1988, he concluded that he needed to reinvent his career. Although he did not know how to bake bread, he thought that having been a home baker all his life, he could learn. He opened Marvelous Market in July 1990, the first bakery in Washington, D.C. to offer traditional European breads. The concept and quality of his breads were so novel to the city that customers stood in lines that extended down the street to buy the two loaves to which they were limited. The bakery was a retail sensation, but success was short-lived and the bakery closed in 1994 because of too quick expansion. In 1997, Mark returned with The BreadLine, a restaurant a block from The White House serving traditional bread-based street foods that won him nominations from the James Beard Foundation as best chef in the Mid-Atlantic, ratings as a top restaurant in America by Zagat, and selection as one of the Washington Post’s favorite spots. In 2005, Mark sold The Breadline and began consulting with other bakeries like Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bakery and Zack Golper's Bien Cuit. He developed the bread program for the Napa Valley campus of the Culinary Institute of America. In 2014, Mark decided to fill a void in Washington D.C. for a neighborhood bakery and collaborated to open Bread Furst. Bread Furst also operates a café in the Phillips Collection. In 2017, Mark was named by the James Beard Foundation as Outstanding Baker of the United States. Mark graduated from Oberlin with a degree in Government and earned a Master’s degree from Brandeis.
