While strolling through Vienna’s
Naschmarkt, a crowded mile-long
open-air market famed for its colorful
vegetable stands, Ingrid Schlögl and
Susanna Gartmayer stop to inspect
some carrots. Schlögl shakes her
head. “If they’re not crispy,” she says,
“
they won’t sound right.”
Gartmayer nods in agreement, and
the women rummage with a little
more urgency. Failure to find the
right ingredients will present a slight
problem. The women have band
practice today.
Considered a novelty act when
it formed in 1998, the 12-person
experimental ensemble known as
the Vegetable Orchestra is now a bit
of a sensation. People have started
to appreciate its music—performed
solely on fresh produce—which has a
kind of tribal/jazzy/electronic qual-
ity. Today, the group plays to packed
houses around the world.
Before each concert, the musicians
go off in search of fresh instruments.
Schlögl, who plays carrot flutes and
zucchini trumpets, says crisp veggies
“
usually make cooler sounds and
take longer to fall apart.” Gartmayer,
who plays the pumpkin drum and
celeriac bongo, tends to focus more
on size. “A bigger pumpkin just
sounds fuller,” she says.
At the Naschmarkt, the women
finally find a stalk of celery that’s
firm enough to string and strum like
a guitar, but there’s a problemwith
the pumpkin they’ve picked. While
it makes a nice sound when slapped,
it’s too big to carry home. They
leave it behind. “Don’t worry,” says
Gartmayer with a grin. “We’re used
to improvising.”
—
MOISESMENDOZA
LEICESTER, ENGLAND
•
Not long ago, a
small, Moroccan-themed eatery in this
unglamorous city hosted a celebrity.
It wasn’t a huge surprise, as Maiyango
ranks among Leicester’s finer dining
establishments, and its head chef,
Phillip Sharpe, produces sophisticated
dishes like terrine of smoked guinea
fowl, ham hock and mango. Still, even
the best restaurateurs can be forgiven
a few ji ers when the queen stops by
for a bite.
“
Ah, hmm, it was interesting,” says
headwaiter Abby Laarousi. He gestures
at the small window in the kitchen door.
“
There were a lot of faces there.”
As for what Queen Elizabeth II
ordered: the trio of “tagine spiced” lamb
withroot vegetabledauphinoise. Anddid
she like it? Laarousi smiles. “She ate it.”
With that, he goes back to work, ask-
ing a nearby diner what he’ll be having
tonight. “I’ll havewhat she had,” theman
says, ordering the lamb.
—
CHRISWRIGHT
PLAYING
WITH FOOD
AN UNUSUAL ENSEMBLE MAKES
SWEET (AND SAVORY) MUSIC
TABLE FOR QE2
A SMALL ENGLISH EATERY CATERS TO A BIG ENGLISH GUEST
VIENNA
SWEATINGWITH THE OLDIE
America’s original “fitness
personality” holds court
Few aerobics instructors
can get away with telling
their students, “I want
to give you a li le lick,”
let alone threatening
to follow them home
a er class. But
when the aerobics
instructor hap-
pens to be Richard
Simmons, pre y
much anything goes.
Simmons, who for three decades has
been one of America’s most successful
fitness gurus, continues to connect
with his hard-core fan base by leading
a weekly class at his Beverly Hills
aerobics studio. Though his trademark
Afro is a li le smaller these days, the
diminutive 64-year-old has lost none of
his manic energy.
On a balmy Thursday evening,
Simmons makes his grand entrance
sporting red spandex shorts and a
tank top covered in red feathers and
rhinestones. He bounds around the
room, hugging and sometimes kissing
each of the 70-odd students. Enrollees
are mostly female, ranging in age from
19
to 90. All of them are smi en.
“
He makes exercising fun,” says Iris
Goldman of West Hollywood. “And when
youwalk in here, you feel loved.”
“
Look at Daddy!” Simmons screams
suddenly, launching into a workout rou-
tine inwhich he plays an oddball mix of
singer, comedian, dancer, DJ andmime.
“
I’m so hot in these feathers I’mgoing to
lay an egg!” he yells. And then, “I love you
more than bu ered-down biscuits!”
A erward, Simmons explains that his
wild-and-crazy shtick is ameans to an
end. “It’s great to get people excited about
their health,” he says. “They come in here
jubilant: ‘Richard, I lost five pounds and I
put on jeans I could never get into!’ That’s
just the best thing in the world to hear.”
—
CHRISTOPHER KAZARIAN
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIF.
20
JANUARY 2013
•
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