Some time or other, this circle's gotta close.
Embodying, as I tend to do, the conflicting ideals of rigorous pragmatism and pathological introspection, I have a morbid fascination with discovering new and innovative ways of overthinking things. This specimen seems germane to the conversation at hand:
Here's what I want to say [about the foodie movement]: while I absolutely love fine food and laud the quantity of attention that goes into preparing and consuming same, I worry (quite a lot, actually) that there is something morally queasy about the arrangement. After eating a particularly fabulous meal I often wonder whether the combined energy spent on the vittles - not just the time and money, but the imaginative passion - might not be better spent on a broader, altruistic effort.From Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant, "Que Sera Sarito: An (Almost) Foolproof Plan to Never Eat Alone Again" by Steve Almond, p. 121.
Some of this is your standard Jewish guilt, a way of punishing myself for the unbearable pleasures of the palate. But it's also true that a certain share of the left-wing zeal in this country has turned away from the looming crises we face as a species, and toward ornate sensual gratification.
This theory I have stolen, nearly verbatim, from my father, who has spent much of his adulthood considering such questions. Then again, he is capable of preparing a chicken cacciatore that would make Colonel Sanders weep for several weeks straight, so I'm not sure where that leaves us.
Happily, this isn't the general tone of the collection. This particular essay is simply dripping with insecurity that's only half tongue-in-cheek, suggesting that writers should learn to cook because feeding people is a more efficient means than writing of manipulating them into paying attention to you. Almond also recommends that you always buy tiger tail shrimp, which will sound more impressive to the other customers at the fishmonger's than those ordinary shrimp. (Also included is a recipe for curried shrimp tacos that sounds utterly scrumptious.)
Hi.
ReplyDeleteLove reading your thoughts, as always. Interesting your comment about sensory pleasure being re-instituted into people's lives again. I can't speak to whether it is a substitute for dealing with "looming crises" but frankly, taste is an excellent means to taking back being in charge of food again. Thinking about food and the Western Diet and the whole Food Industry is an extraordinary catalyst for global change. Really. It could be. Taste, though, MUST come first. You have to want to eat it in order to cook it--and as Pollen argues, cooking is the solution to global warming. (Well, I haven't actually read him arguing this, but it seems a logical extrapolation.) Anyway. Sorry to monoplolize you like this. Perhaps I shall write a post.