The food was good, actually really good. Or some of it was. Some was bad. That's how it is with food. Last night's Taste of the Nation NYC benefit, held at Roseland Ballroom, gave New York's foodies a chance to put on their fancy clothes and get fairly-to-very drunk on the many, many varieties of alcohol being served, all for a very good cause. It was foodie prom.

There were lots of people who looked familiar because you'd seen them judge Iron Chef that one time. That woman with the super blond spiky hair who worked for Mario Batali and now has her own show on Food Network, Food & Wine's Gail Simmons walking around with a little of entourage of other women who were probably at her table on the episode of Top Chef where they had to cook for Gail's bridal shower, and a bunch of people trying not to gawk at these food celebrity-types. Oh, also, Times food blogger Mark Bittman was there signing copies of his book and wearing a baseball hat with his blazer, random.

The more classic, meatier restaurants, think BLT Prime and Porter House, had long lines of striped-shirted guys (where do these guys work now? Or are they just burning though their severances before Harvard Business School starts in September?) waiting for some tenderloin and pulled pork sandwiches, respectively. Whereas the biggest food nerd draw was the Jean Georges table that had a lightly-cooked hen egg yolk sandwich on brioche topped with dill and caviar.

All of that being said, I really cannot stress enough how crunk everyone was.

Maybe it was because all the food was small plates, little mini-bites to be consumed in one mouthful as people went from booth to booth, whereas the alcohol came in very large glasses that were, for some reason, imbibed just as quickly. But whatever the reason, about an hour and a half into the whole thing, things got sloppy. Highlights include:

• An older woman wearing younger woman clothes, I think they're called cougars, yelling in a disappointed tone: "Oh! No one has ever hit on me over e-mail!" :(
• Older men wearing nice blazers and bumping into each other in the stairwell and being overly confrontational/making the other people in their party very uncomfortable.
• The younger girls who, as it was a pretty warm day, thought that it was time to break out the tube top sundress, the one that they would have to keep pulling up, as they spoke really loudly about how hot they thought bad boy pastry chef (YEP!) Johnny Iuzzini was, and how they'd love to "DO" him. (Her words, not mine.)

Also, here are some pictures!

SOMEONE'S GOT A SOCIAL MEDIA INTERN!

Mark Bittman, wearing a baseball hat.

Not afraid to be trendy, Gramercy Tavern opted to use ramps. And weird boxes of grass for display.

Yes, that is rosemary in a vase.