8
Dec/14

GINGERBREAD EXTRAVAGANZA: MADE IN NEW YORK

8
Dec/14
Citarella has re-created the Fulton Fish Market out of gingerbread for annual City Harvest fundraising display at Le Parker Meridien

Citarella has re-created the Fulton Fish Market out of gingerbread for annual City Harvest fundraising display at Le Parker Meridien

Le Parker Meridien, 56th St. atrium lobby
119 West 56th St. between Sixth & Seventh Aves.
Daily through January 4, free ($1 per vote)
212-245-5000
www.giving.cityharvest.org
www.parkermeridien.com

Gingerbread dates back thousands of years, to the time of the ancient Greeks and Egyptians; in the 1500s, Queen Elizabeth I had gingerbread cookies decorated to look like visiting guests, and in 1812, the Brothers Grimm published “Hansel and Gretel,” a story of two children who get trapped by a witch in a house made of gingerbread and candy. Wonderfully designed gingerbread cakes and cookies have been a longstanding Christmas tradition in America — and at Le Parker Meridien in Midtown Manhattan as well, where the annual Gingerbread Extravaganza continues through January 4. This year’s theme is “Made in New York,” with such inventive constructions made out of gingerbread as FIKA’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” centered by a mirror silhouette of Audrey Hepburn; Crave.It’s “Balancing Justice in NYC,” with Spider-Man battling an evil villain atop the Brooklyn Bridge; Great Performances’ “Katchkie Farm Gingerbread Farmhouse,” a tribute to the organic farm in Kinderhook; Citarella’s “Fulton Fish Market,” which smells a lot better than the real thing; Norma’s “The Great White Gingerbread Way,” celebrating Times Square and Broadway; Silk Cakes’ “Cookie Monster Takes a Bite Out of NY,” in which the Sesame Street favorite munches on Manhattan; Rolling Pin Productions and Sotto Voce Restaurant’s “Saturday Night Before Christmas,” with Santa, Mrs. Claus, and the elves partying at the much-lamented Palladium, Limelight, and Studio 54; Baked Ideas’ “City Harvest Holidays,” with the familiar City Harvest truck collecting food for the hungry; and Sullivan St Bakery’s “Domino Sugar Factory,” a snowy-sweet scene depicting the since-demolished refinery. Unfortunately, Cake Alchemy’s “Going Ape over New York,” with King Kong wearing a Santa hat, came tumbling down the other day and is no more. In addition, you can find Roberta’s “Made in Bushwick” at the pizza place on Moore St., “Lady Liberty & the Seven Year Itch” at Colicchio & Sons on East Nineteenth, and “Industrial Gingerbread in the Jazz Age” at Maialino on Lexington Ave. The event is a fundraiser for City Harvest; visitors are encouraged to vote for their favorite gingerbread display, with individual ballots available for one dollar each, either at Le Parker Meridien or online, with each buck representing four pounds of food. All voters will be eligible to win a five-day trip to the Parker Palm Springs in California.