FEDERATION NEWS - The Jewish Georgian

July-August 2012 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 19
Taste of Atlanta founder always remembers her roots
By Brian Katzowitz
Whether it is the first tear-inducing
taste of bitter herbs at Passover Seder or the
latest flavor creation of hamentashen during
Purim, food has always played an integral
role in the Jewish experience. Its preparation
before holidays drives interaction
between generations of families, and its
absence at Yom Kippur defines the spirit of
repentance.
This has never been lost on Dale
DeSena. As the founder and president of
Atlanta’s defining food event, Taste of
Atlanta, she understands the role food can
play in bringing neighborhoods together
and helping to shape a city’s cultural output.
“We want to give people the chance to
sample some of Atlanta’s great restaurants
and allow them to learn how to recreate
these recipes in their own kitchens,”
DeSena explained. “Our mission is to turn
tasters into diners.”
While maybe not completely fulfilled,
this mission has been carried out successfully
in Taste of Atlanta’s ten years of existence,
but its foundation was laid many
years earlier.
Growing up in a Jewish household in
Savannah, DeSena was exposed at a young
age to her grandmother’s traditional Jewish
recipes, in one of the epicenters of classic
Southern food. While it would not become
apparent until later in her life, her upbringing
in this crossroads of cuisine taught
DeSena an appreciation for food’s role in
the community.
She earned a degree from the
University of Florida and gravitated toward
sponsorship sales and advertising, before
forming an idea for the next phase of her
career.
“After spending years working in a
number of different roles for the Atlanta
Jazz Festival, Alex Cooley and Peter
Conlon [Atlanta’s legendary concert pro-
May 18 was a proud day for Torah
Day School of Atlanta, when Moshe
Caplan, TDSA Class of 2003, addressed
nearly 1,000 undergraduate and graduate
students, their families and friends,
and faculty members of Polytechnic
Institute of New York University as
valedictorian. Moshe stated in his moving
speech, liberally sprinkled with
humor, “Success marks a completion,
but failure is an opportunity to reassess
and improve your idea.” He then went
on to recount his first assigned project at
Polytechnic, in which he and his classmates
failed miserably, but clearly
recovered fully.
Graduating with a combined bache-
moters], I recognized a need for a foodthemed
event in the city,” DeSena said.
Shortly thereafter, in 2001, DeSena
founded Taste of Atlanta and began introducing
locals to the city’s varied restaurant
options, under a modest 30,000-square-foot
tent at Lenox Square. Without major corporate
backing, DeSena relied on the grassroots
marketing skills she honed while
working in event planning, to sell tickets
and convince restaurateurs to participate.
Within just a few years, the festival’s
popularity grew. As Atlanta’s restaurant
scene began to produce “Top Chef”-worthy
talent and more upscale and diverse dining
options, DeSena worked to keep pace.
The event outgrew Lenox Square and
moved to roomier quarters at Atlantic
Station. No longer having to knock on
doors to solicit participation, Desana found
that restaurant owners were reaching out to
her and her team, to get involved with one
of the city’s hottest cultural offerings.
Like its host city, which has shed its
reputation of being strictly a rib joint and
Waffle House town, Taste of Atlanta has
expanded and diversified its offerings. It
now encompasses 10 city blocks on Spring
Street and offers three full days of restaurant
tastings, cooking competitions, and
chef demonstrations. DeSena, however, has
not forgotten her upbringing and always
includes a dash of her Jewish heritage in
Taste of Atlanta’s recipe book.
“Every year, we try to incorporate
something Jewish into the festival, like
offering a number of Israeli wines or featuring
traditional Jewish recipes,” she said.
Regardless of how many people Taste
of Atlanta caters to or how big it gets, the
event will always appeal to those with a
taste for homegrown cooking and a hunger
for epicurean knowledge. It is these essential
ingredients that have made DeSena’s
enterprise a success.
lor’s and master’s degree in computer
science and cybersecurity, Moshe’s thesis,
“Cybersecurity of Critical
Infrastructure: Recent Attacks and
Research in the Field,” reflects his keen
interest in computer science, as well as
the safety and security of our country,
many organizations, and the individuals
within them. Currently pursuing job
opportunities with the federal government,
Moshe interned with the United
States Secret Service, as well as Emory
University and the Georgia Institute of
Technology.
Born in Boston, Massachusetts,
Moshe grew up in Atlanta. His family
spent one year in Israel, when he was 11
Curtis Stone and Dale DeSena
years old. When asked about his experience
as a student at Torah Day School,
Moshe responded, “TDSA taught me to
always challenge myself; to always
attempt to accomplish more than was
expected of me.” He added, “This is
something I think about every day in my
academic studies, religious activities,
and interpersonal interactions. All of my
accomplishments today began many
years ago as a student at TDSA. This is
a testament to the excellent and
extremely dedicated faculty and administration
at TDSA, each of whom has
inspired me to constantly work harder to
achieve my goals in all areas of my
life.”
Food samples are prepared at the
2011 Taste of Atlanta
Attendees enjoy samples from Takorea
TDSA grad’s reach and grasp are both impressive
Moshe’s sentiments regarding his
education clearly reflect the Torah Day
School’s mission to “inspire each student
to love G-d, to observe the Torah,
to strive for personal excellence, and to
pursue life-long learning.”
“We take incredible pride in the fact
that one of our students has achieved so
much success at such a young age, and
that he has taken lessons acquired at
TDSA and applied them in adulthood,”
said Rabbi Naphtali Hoff, TDSA’s head
of school. “The Torah Day School’s
‘family’ looks forward to seeing our
current students follow in Moshe’s footsteps
and succeed in whatever field or
arena in life they choose.”