Before Julia Child and long before today's proliferation of cooking shows, there was James Beard, the first TV chef. He brought a love for fine cooking (and a sense of humor) to the small screen in 1946 and helped establish an American cuisine based on fresh ingredients. Famous for quips like, "If ever I had to practice cannibalism, I might manage if there were enough tarragon around," Beard went on the become America's first "foodie," and the award bearing his name is still the prize most coveted by chefs across the country. Larger than life (literally and metaphorically), American culinary icon James Beard was a complex, entertaining, beloved and frustrating friend and mentor to many. Openly gay even though his primary audience was middle-American housewives, Beard always kept his phone number listed and famously took calls from anyone who needed a little cooking advice. 

I Love to Eat (a love story with food) invites you to meet the man described as "the face and belly of American gastronomy" in this solo play that imagines a late night in Beard's Greenwich Village home where he shares recipes and cooking tips, gossips, spills secrets, fights loneliness, talks to his pest pal Julia Child on the phone, sings a song and even reenacts some of the wilder moments from his landmark 1946 television show, in which he infamously shared the screen with a certain cow named Elsie...

A few lucky audience members also get to dine on one of Beard's signature hors d'oevres -- lovingly prepared right in front of us as part of the play.