ChocoKitty
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Posts posted by ChocoKitty
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To add fuel to the fire (I'm sure many of you have already seen this piece): a discussion of Michael Bauer's influence in SF.
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Fabulous installment, Fat Guy. Can't wait to read more!
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I'm glad someone raised this topic (I'm currently doing some research on the copyrightability of recipes and dishes). At first blush, I don't think that food *ideas* can be protected from copying. The actual recipes themselves may be subject to copyright protection, but that doesn't seem to be the issue here (Steve klc, do chefs even USE recipes that often?).
I don't think there's any method of legal recourse that would be appropriate for this kind of copying. Would we really want legal battles over this anyway? I agree with Scottf's observation re: professional courtesy. That's probably the best solution for now.
I think that copying in this industry could be considered analogous to copying in the fashion industry (I'm speaking off the top of my head here now). Sure, one designer can come up with a brilliant new idea, but that doesn't prevent people from using the idea in their own designs. And trying to find the line between "inspiration" and "copying" is yet another thing that mucks things up. Steve klc is absolutely right -- there really is no bright line rule.
Sorry I garbled things even more!
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I second the Laura Ingalls Wilder books! They contain wonderful food descriptions that made me hungry every time I read them.
I also liked "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "James and the Giant Peach". There was also a book I liked called "Honey Bread", which described woodland animals making a loaf of bread (plus a recipe).
Of course, don't forget "Fun With Cooking" by Mae Blacker Freeman (published in 1947). This is the first cookbook I remember reading, at age 7. It's a classic!
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Hey, what about Fine Cooking's website?
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Hmm. How about an updating of Marshmallow Rice Crispies squares? There must be SOMETHING that can be done to jazz it up.
Gael Gand has a recipe in "Just a Bite" that uses caramel spiked with orange peel to hold the Rice Krispies together. Simple and non-fat!
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OK, had to jump in (briefly) on this one -- sorry it's a little OT from the original post. I don't know how the restaurants make their sauce, but my Mom (a Chinese immigrant) doesn't really make a separate thickened sauce. Her usual stir-fry "recipe" involves dusting chicken chunks with cornstarch, making a slurry of soy, sherry, broth or water, sesame oil, and a little more cornstarch, tossing the chicken with the wok with garlic, green onion, and ginger and veggies stir-fried in another pan, then stirring in the slurry at the last minute and stirring until it thickens a bit.
I'll see if I can get more details from her if you'd like, although we all know that Mom's don't measure.
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I'm still shaking my head....
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(bag over my head)
OK, I second the Taco Bell. A burrito supreme with plenty of Thai Sriracha Hot Sauce (the "Fire" sauce they serve at Taco Bell barely registers a tingle).
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Maybe I'm in the wrong legal speciality or practicing in the wrong city, but in my 6 years of practice I've only met THREE attorneys who cared about food.
I can't stand eating out with the folks I work with now. They invariably choose (1) a horrid faux-Chinese place where you order lunch combos my number; (2) a horrid Greek/Coney Island place that can't even make its simple offerings taste good (think watery spinach pie and cold gyros with pink techno-tomatoes); or (3) a so-so game restaurant that makes good buffalo meatloaf, but gets old quickly. And they think these places are good.
*sigh* Fat Guy, maybe you should introduce me to some of your colleagues!
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I saw the website. I'm speechless....
My question is: will it be as much fun listening to undubbed announcers?
Yes, Todd English looks like David Byrne.
Please fill me in on how it is -- I'll be on the road tonight! Wah!!
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Here's the link:
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Did anyone read the "Grapes of Math" article in this month's Wired magazine? It's about a wine consulting company called Enologix -- they apparently guarantee that a winery using their method will obtain a certain score from Parker or Wine Spectator.
The article brought up some interesting viewpoints about how wine is rated, whether it's subjective or objective and whether critics' preferences and certain wine styles can be boiled down to a particular formulaic wine fingerprint. At least I found it fascinating (but then, I'm a techno-geek as well as a food nut).
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I know I'm late in this discussion, but I personally dislike the word "foodie" and tend to distinguish between "foodie" and "food lover".
I tend to draw the distinction between people who follow food because they love it and people who follow food because it's the fashionable thing to do (kinda like the distinction between wine lovers and wine snobs?). I'm sure there are plenty of people out there who love to follow food trends, chefs, restaurants, etc. but are in it primarily for the chic-ness and the scene, with the actual food being secondary. They name-drop the restaurants they've been to, maybe they even read all the food magazines (but chances are they don't cook out of them, or even cook at all?).
Just some random thoughts...
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My votes (and I know some people have brought it up here already) are cilantro and fish sauce. And I love them both! I'm so glad someone brought up the egg issue -- I like eggs, but they do smell a bit funny to me, not really gag-inducing, but almost like an attenuated rotting (sulfuric?) smell.
Funny that people should mention dried shrimp as an "icky" ingredient. Maybe it's the way I was brought up (in a Chinese household), but dried shrimp has never been that big a deal to me. I love their chewy texture, kinda salty, and not fishy at all. Mom stir-fries a few tbsps. of dried shrimp with garlic before dumping in chopped up napa cabbage.
Sorry, no insights on the fermented bean curd (in Mandarin it's called "tso do fu" -- literally "stinky tofu"). Although I'm sure it tastes delicious in rice porridge. I guess if I weren't so Westernized, I'd feel similarly grossed out by the smell of Limberger (or any cheese, for that matter).
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I was intrigued enough with Gastronomica to submit an article (approved for publication in early 2002, but we'll see what happens). I think that Gastronomica has an interesting mission and fills a gap missing in current food mags, but sometimes I think it's trying too hard to sound intellectual. I think it needs to lighten up just a bit. My favorite pieces so far have been "In Defense of Processed Food" and "Culinary Colonialism", but I tend to like the lighter articles among the 8000-word scholarly behemoths.
All in all, I find it refreshing that a publication is willing to tackle food in a context other than a slew of "easy, quick" recipes or a glossy lifestyle magazine. I think that with a little more editing (I *hated* seeing the FDA referred to as the Food and Drug AGENCY -- it's ADMINISTRATION!), it should find its voice. I hope it sticks around, even if it isn't in quite the same form it is now.
Stolen recipes
in Food Traditions & Culture
Posted
Good point. And that's the tension between protecting intellectual property, in whatever form it is, and allowing intellectual property to be used as a basis for further innovation. Actually, it's not that hard to copyright a recipe or patent a food product or food processing technique. The issue is whether those types of legal protection are appropriate given the cost of obtaining the protection in the first place (copyright protection is cheap, but patents can run several thousand dollars). Enforcement is particularly tricky -- would it be worth the cost and effort to monitor every possible copyist, send nasty letters, and possibly sue them? Even though my legal practice would be a lot more fun if this happened (*wink*), I doubt that this would necessarily be good for the public, innovators in the culinary arts, or those who build on others' innovations.
I do like the analogy between kitchen creativity and other creative arts. I'm not as ready to blame food critics and writers for not addressing this issue in more depth. I'm not sure that readers are interested in "depth". I'm not even convinced that most media outlets are willing to cover food in as much depth as, say, fashion or sports -- I just don't think they're ready to take food that seriously yet. But that's another topic.....