I’ll never forget the first time I spoke with award-winning chef Clive Berkman. I called to interview him about an online contest he is hosting for his upcoming book: “Cooking With Clive, Creating ‘Empty Bottle Moments’ With Those You Love.” It was a memorable call because he thought I was someone else.

“Is this you again? What do you want? I already told you … that’s way too much!” he yelled, including a few choice words I won’t mention in this post. “So if you think I’m going to pay that for a TV then you’re …”

“Um, Rich Becker with Copywrite, Ink., calling from Las Vegas.”

“What? Who?”

“Rich Becker … your brother introduced us by e-mail.”

“Oh!” he laughed. “I am sorry! I thought you were someone else.”

“As long as it wasn’t because your brother introduced us,” I mused.

Of course, when Berkman talks about empty bottle moments in a broader context, he doesn’t mean mistaken identities as much as children’s birthdays, engagements, graduations, and other treasured celebrations that define our lives. We savor the moments much like we would a shared bottle of wine, he explains, and then the empty bottle represents the memory of the occasions and with whom we shared them.

Cooking too, he says, is much like life. We’re all in the kitchen with successes and spills, glorious celebrations and the occasionally burnt meal. The empty bottles that remain at then end of the day are much like the reminders of every tender moment and unnerving chaos — a hand-painted bottle of Champagne here and a small bottle of Tabasco with a cracked top there.

The empty bottle metaphor is one of several reasons Berkman’s cookbook stands out from the rest. While you’ll find dozens of mouth-watering recipes such as Kathleen’s Pralines and a Wild Mushroom Ragout in Flaky Pastry, Berkman complements his creations with empty bottle moments from his20experiences cooking for presidents and celebrities at Charley’s 517 and later Clive’s in Houston.

The stories tucked inside are similar to his recipes: they’re quietly unpretentious while illustrating a real zest for life. And his various book promotions are handled much the same way.

In April, Berkman launched an online contest with the winner receiving a dinner for 20 people. In May, he started a series of one-minute cooking vignettes on YouTube. In June, he offered to sign his book for anyone who preorders a copy. And just recently, he offered empty bottle cooking classes at the Texas Institute of Photography. There’s more in the works too. Berkman has considered teaming up with a company like Williams-Sonoma or another retailer to host a kitchen remodel and has several appearances scheduled well in advance of the book’s release.

Is there a method or is it all marketing? Much like everything else he does, it’s not all marketing. Berkman says he enjoys bringing people together and providing the opportunity to share an experience.

“I have a philosophy about cooking, about people, and about life from my time as a restaurant manager and chef,” says Berkman. “Most cookbooks cover the recipes, but there are other ingredients that make them richer and more delicious … like the ribeyes I prepared for Van Halen or the election dinner for President Bush. What good is a great meal without knowing the people behind it or those who will enjoy it?”
In most cases, Berkman says, he prepared the meals based on the freshest ingredients available and the people he was serving. In fact, he intends to do the same for whomever wins the catered dinner for 20 guests.

As he told me in April, he can work with them to make a menu with local products like lobsters in Maine for sake curry soup or lamb in Colorado with rosemary and corn polenta. No matter who wins, you can expect the event will be an empty bot tle moment, which would not be all that different from the empty bottle moments bloggers tend to write about every day.

In fact, Antony Berkman, president of BlogCatalog, immediately asked me that question shortly after reading the post about his brother’s online contest. He called me from Cabo San Lucas to ask.

“Why don’t we ask all bloggers to consider writing about one of their favorite empty bottle moments?” he asked. “I’m serious. It would make a great post for them to consider.”

It might even make a great meme. Share one memorable empty bottle moment and then ask five friends to do the same, with a nod to the chef who coined the phrase. You never know. Sometimes it’s the personal stories from bloggers that help them stand out, anything and everything from how they met a fellow blogger to a brief instant of mistaken identity that will always decorate my friendship with the chef.

Also, for everyone interested, Berkman recently added several sneak peek pages highlighted on his Web site. The book, which will be pu blished in August, features 256 pages with 80 full-color photos. It retails for $30.

Richard Becker, is an accredited business communicator and president of Copywrite, Ink., a strategic communication and writing services firm with experience on more than 1,000 accounts. His blog Copywrite, Inc. is based upon his observations on communication and marketing from the president of a leading commercial writing services company.