"So what do the rich do with their surplus money? They eat it, converting the process into a semi-mystical experience. A loaf of bread is no longer a loaf but, at double the price, a sourdough, ciabatta, sperlonga, chollah, wheat-free or chickpea. Food has contrived to cross a conceptual barrier from banality to intellectualism. When I asked at Whole Foods for my beloved fishfinger, I came close to being asked to leave.
The walls glared down at me with more moral maxims than in a Welsh chapel. "No transfats from hydrogenated oils," they cried. "Eggs from cage-free birds." The store even had a changing room, as if this were a total immersion Baptist church.
Foodism is no longer a sustenance but a subject, located somewhere between chemistry and theology. At its heart lies the new superfood, rich in phytonutrients and anti-oxidants (and mind-boggling in air miles). The ancient pomegranate upstages the humble cranberry. The lettuce vanishes before sprouting purple broccoli, its pristine petals dusted with powdered linseed. It competes with drizzled watercress ("Death to all free radicals"). Potatoes are sold with added earth."
To all foodies: PLEASE read this great article by Simon Jenkins, one of my favorite writers. And laugh at yourself as i did.
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2 comments:
He is right on my wavelength. I have been a foodie for a good 30 years, since I was a teenager and learning to cook and explore the world through food. BUT I have become utterly tired of worshiping food as the new Mammon. I think the whole foodie obsession is well past its prime and I am tired of it. Yes be conscious of what you're eating, but really, there are other things to think about. It's just one more way for folks to be vulgar grasping materialists. Nabokov on "vulgarians" opened my eyes. Enough already with the competitive eating.
OTOH if you want to make a lovely artisan bread at home in your kitchen oven, google no-knead bread - the recipe and technique are simple enough for a seven-year-old to execute. Involves a very hot oven so you must have that; it's an energy hog. You must also find the suitable pan - I use earthenware crocks with lids that can withstand the temperature.
It is a good way to get that artisan bread without paying $4 a loaf as we do in California.
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