A Cure for That Stubborn Tunacity

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“…it would be unfair of me to reject all new dishes and all innovators, since, for the past thirty years, eminent chefs have honored me by lending my name to a dozen original dishes.”

-Curnonsky

 

We’ve all been there before when a dish is presented and we turn our nose up at it and all before we even give it a chance. I can remember countless times as a kid—and let’s be honest, as an adult—when I suddenly become the biggest food snob when I am presented with a dish that I have never tried before. Continue reading →

Just Simple Enough

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In his essay, “A Visit to Ferran Adriá’s Workshop,” Adrian Searle compares the work of one of the world’s most innovative chefs, Ferran Adriá, to that of an artist. After reading Searle’s experience in Adriá’s “workshop,” I can’t say that I disagree. Adriá had a lab in Barcelona utilized during the off season where he and a team of talented young chefs would dedicate hours of their time to developing new dishes for the upcoming season at elBulli, Adriá’s world-famous restaurant which closed in 2011. Adriá’s cooking is quite literally a science.

Searle lists a few of the innovations Adriá has so far for the upcoming season, including atomizer sprays to sweeten or salt your food at the table and spray-on sauces and aerosols of wine or chocolate. As if that’s not inventive enough, Adriá is also working with an odour expert to create scents, which perfume a little menu to accompany new dishes. Adriá describes his cooking as conceptual, which Searle compares to the artistic work of Marcel Duchamp, the father of conceptual art. Like Duchamp, Adriá doesn’t view cooking as the ordinarily perceived profession. He is a creator, utilizing the taste, texture, odor, form and color of all ingredients. Continue reading →

Food Traditions: Our Community Glue

fullsizerender-6  In Anthony Bourdain’s Medium Raw, he dedicates an entire chapter to telling his readers why Alan Richman is a douchebag. Those familiar with Bourdain’s bold personality won’t be surprised at this; however, while Bourdain concedes that Richman is a talented food critic, he attacks him with such vitriol in this chapter that the reader may begin to wonder if there’s even more to the story than what’s being told. Bourdain is absolutely scathing in his assessment, calling out Richman for his absurd dining expectations, his pretentious “rules,” his petty attitude, and his lack of ethics. All of that aside, one of Bourdain’s biggest issues with Richman seems to stem from the fact that Richman decided to kick the city of New Orleans while it was down.

It is clear, not only from this text but from many of his other writings and television features, that Bourdain has a soft spot for the city of New Orleans and its cuisine. In “Alan Richman Is a Douchebag,” Bourdain berates Richman for several pages over his behavior toward the New Orleans citizens and their culinary scene post-Katrina. You can feel Bourdain’s fury leap off the page as he describes how Richman publicly determined that New Orleans “deserved what it got” and stated that perhaps their cuisine “sucked all along.” Bourdain quickly jumps to the defense of the city, describing the suffering and resilience of its people after the storm with a surprising amount of compassion. It is in this passage that Bourdain stumbles upon a greater truth about the link between food and community.

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Equality for Eaters? — Thai Butternut Squash Soup

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“For a start, most animals who kill for food would not be able to survive if they did not, whereas we have no need to eat animal flesh. Next, it is odd that humans, who normally think of the behavior of animals as ‘beastly’ should, when it suits them, use an argument that implies that we ought to look to animals for moral guidance.” – Peter Singer, “Equality for Animals?”

Singer’s arrogance in his article “Equality for Animals?” is among the multitude of reasons why many omnivorous people despise vegans. Often, their vigilance against all animal products, including eggs, dairy, and honey, comes across as preachy or self-righteous. Many vegans are just as offended at someone delighting in a crispy fried chicken thigh as I am when I see someone wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat or tee. Politics aside, vegans can be a finicky bunch. Continue reading →