Tastes From the Melting Pot

The results of Prudhomme's own research are about to show up on K-Paul's menu: seven side dishes based on grains such as wheat berries and bulgur, which will accompany the likes of blackened fish and bronzed chicken. "In all these years, we've never done [grains] at the restaurant," he says (see recipe, page F6).

Prudhomme will demonstrate recipes at 3 p.m. Saturday in the Melting Pot kitchen; 1 p.m. Sunday in the Garden Kitchen; and 1 p.m. Monday in the Melting Pot .

AKASHA RICHMOND When people on the Hollywood A-list want healthy but chic food at their parties, they call Akasha Richmond. The Los Angeles private chef and caterer handles dishes as varied as grilled tofu skewers with Thai chili sauce, and organic beef burgers. Her specialty is easy recipes using soy milk or tofu, which she will demonstrate this weekend at the festival.

Richmond got her start as chef at L.A.'s Golden Temple, one of the city's first vegetarian restaurants. Her passion was "foods that heal," and she soon was catering for actors including Billy Bob Thornton, Richard Gere and Winona Ryder.

So what are the beautiful people craving these days? Richmond says organic meat and healing ingredients -- such as pomegranate juice and green tea -- are big. Some of her most requested items for parties:

· Green tea lemonade and pomegranate martinis.

· Shot glasses filled with soy milk smoothies or cold creamy tomato soup (also made with soy milk).

· Vegetarian appetizers, such as Vietnamese spring rolls made with tofu.

"My clients want healthy ingredients -- even when it comes to their martinis," she says with a laugh.

Richmond will demonstrate recipes at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Home Cooking kitchen and 11 a.m. Sunday in the Garden Kitchen.

ED LADOU A pizza professional for 29 years, Ed LaDou is the owner of Caioti Pizza Cafe in Studio City, Calif. He was the first pizzamaker at celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck's Spago restaurant in Los Angeles. His demonstrations at the Folklife Festival will highlight classic Neapolitan pies of tomato, mozzarella cheese and basil as well as his own creations. For example, the Pacific Rim pizza is fashioned with chili-and-garlic sauce, leeks and peanuts. "What it really is about is a starch-and-topping culinary form," he says.

LaDou is following with interest the latest trend of artisanal pizzamakers: "using regional ingredients, top-notch flours and quality wood-burning ovens to make creative pizzas that are not homogenized." A current favorite at his own restaurant is a combo topping of Jerusalem artichoke, applewood-smoked bacon and fresh dill, which he says "we can proudly call American style."