EXCESS! Anyone Else Have Enough Already?

[Toliver]

I bet they get a lot of requests for take-away boxes.

I think that's the idea behind the promotion. The deal/gimmick is you eat one meal at the restaurant and then take the other home to eat later.

My mom, who once in awhile dines at that chain with her friends from church, thought it was a good deal. The take home meal meant it was one less meal for her to fix from scratch.

[annabelle]

My mom would do the same thing, Toliver. She ends up taking half her food home from just about everywhere, so this may actually be a bonanza of sorts.

[KaffeeKlatsch]

I must admit that it's to the point that if I don't take home enough food for lunch the next day that I don't think I've received a good value for my money. This is limited to casual restaurants, but this is 95% of our eating out. I don't expect to take a doggie bag when I'm eating at a nicer restaurant.

[mugen]

I've had enough of food, in general, because of the excessive, inane, popular obsession with it: cooking shows, competitions, books, fads, dining and preferences as proof of status, etc. It seems to me that a decade or two ago, it was possible to inconspicuously be a gourmet; now it seems hardly an exaggeration to think that I could walk on to a building site and find that tradesmen have traded ribald jokes for discussions of how to achieve perfect souffles or chocolate fondants. Food permeates every aspect of popular culture, and it's tedious.

Edited March 27, 2013 by mugen (log)

[jmolinari]

I've had enough of food, in general, because of the excessive, inane, popular obsession with it: cooking shows, competitions, books, fads, dining and preferences as proof of status, etc. It seems to me that a decade or two ago, it was possible to inconspicuously be a gourmet; now it seems hardly an exaggeration to think that I could walk on to a building site and find that tradesmen have traded ribald jokes for discussions of how to achieve perfect souffles or chocolate fondants. Food permeates every aspect of popular culture, and it's tedious.

I'm not sure if this is serious, if it is, it's pretty ironic that you're posting this statement to a food board.

So it's ok for a select few to enjoy food, but if it spreads too far, well, then the allure is lost and it's ruined? Curious.

Edited March 27, 2013 by jmolinari (log)

[weinoo]

I've had enough of food, in general, because of the excessive, inane, popular obsession with it: cooking shows, competitions, books, fads, dining and preferences as proof of status, etc. It seems to me that a decade or two ago, it was possible to inconspicuously be a gourmet; now it seems hardly an exaggeration to think that I could walk on to a building site and find that tradesmen have traded ribald jokes for discussions of how to achieve perfect souffles or chocolate fondants. Food permeates every aspect of popular culture, and it's tedious.

I'm not sure if this is serious, if it is, it's pretty ironic that you're posting this statement to a food board.

So it's ok for a select few to enjoy food, but if it spreads too far, well, then the allure is lost and it's ruined? Curious.

I don't think that's what mugen is saying at all. Actually, I think mugen gets my OP.

[jmolinari]

I've had enough of food, in general, because of the excessive, inane, popular obsession with it: cooking shows, competitions, books, fads, dining and preferences as proof of status, etc. It seems to me that a decade or two ago, it was possible to inconspicuously be a gourmet; now it seems hardly an exaggeration to think that I could walk on to a building site and find that tradesmen have traded ribald jokes for discussions of how to achieve perfect souffles or chocolate fondants. Food permeates every aspect of popular culture, and it's tedious.

I'm not sure if this is serious, if it is, it's pretty ironic that you're posting this statement to a food board.

So it's ok for a select few to enjoy food, but if it spreads too far, well, then the allure is lost and it's ruined? Curious.

I don't think that's what mugen is saying at all. Actually, I think mugen gets my OP.

Fair enough. Guess i just don't follow the point then.

[weinoo]

I've had enough of food, in general, because of the excessive, inane, popular obsession with it: cooking shows, competitions, books, fads, dining and preferences as proof of status, etc. It seems to me that a decade or two ago, it was possible to inconspicuously be a gourmet; now it seems hardly an exaggeration to think that I could walk on to a building site and find that tradesmen have traded ribald jokes for discussions of how to achieve perfect souffles or chocolate fondants. Food permeates every aspect of popular culture, and it's tedious.

I'm not sure if this is serious, if it is, it's pretty ironic that you're posting this statement to a food board.

So it's ok for a select few to enjoy food, but if it spreads too far, well, then the allure is lost and it's ruined? Curious.

I don't think that's what mugen is saying at all. Actually, I think mugen gets my OP.

Fair enough. Guess i just don't follow the point then.

I think the point I was trying to make is that, yes, we love pickles. But do we need to pickle every damn thing in sight?

I love espresso. But does it have to be a triple ristretto every time?

I like bacon and fat. But does it have to be on every dish I eat?

I like barbecue. Do we have to smoke vinegar?

Etc.

[jmolinari]

I've had enough of food, in general, because of the excessive, inane, popular obsession with it: cooking shows, competitions, books, fads, dining and preferences as proof of status, etc. It seems to me that a decade or two ago, it was possible to inconspicuously be a gourmet; now it seems hardly an exaggeration to think that I could walk on to a building site and find that tradesmen have traded ribald jokes for discussions of how to achieve perfect souffles or chocolate fondants. Food permeates every aspect of popular culture, and it's tedious.

I'm not sure if this is serious, if it is, it's pretty ironic that you're posting this statement to a food board.

So it's ok for a select few to enjoy food, but if it spreads too far, well, then the allure is lost and it's ruined? Curious.

I don't think that's what mugen is saying at all. Actually, I think mugen gets my OP.

Fair enough. Guess i just don't follow the point then.

I think the point I was trying to make is that, yes, we love pickles. But do we need to pickle every damn thing in sight?

I love espresso. But does it have to be a triple ristretto every time?

I like bacon and fat. But does it have to be on every dish I eat?

I like barbecue. Do we have to smoke vinegar?

Etc.

I follow those points exactly, and feel the exact same way, especially about bacon and fat...but i don't see how that relates to food culture popularizing and becoming more widespread.

Clearly Mugen's point is lost on me, so i'll back away.....slowly.....

[weinoo]

Well, mugen's more macro...you and I - more micro.

[annabelle]

I think a comparison would be the permeation of sex in popular culture. It's so in your face all the time that there is no subtlety, no nuance anymore. The same is true of many food fads and trends.

Rather than making food or sex sound more interesting and desirable, it has succeeding in making them both sound tedious and dull. If one needs a fancy bag of tricks to prepare a meal or to share an intimate moment, the very thought can be intimidating and off-putting.

Who'd have thought we'd ever see that day?

[mugen]

I've had enough of food, in general, because of the excessive, inane, popular obsession with it: cooking shows, competitions, books, fads, dining and preferences as proof of status, etc. It seems to me that a decade or two ago, it was possible to inconspicuously be a gourmet; now it seems hardly an exaggeration to think that I could walk on to a building site and find that tradesmen have traded ribald jokes for discussions of how to achieve perfect souffles or chocolate fondants. Food permeates every aspect of popular culture, and it's tedious.

I'm not sure if this is serious, if it is, it's pretty ironic that you're posting this statement to a food board.

So it's ok for a select few to enjoy food, but if it spreads too far, well, then the allure is lost and it's ruined? Curious.

I have to concede both, on the face of it - it's a delicate point to try to argue without crossing into either elitism or hopeless contradictions. I'll try, anyway:

I'd say that my interest in food has always been a private one - I never publicly make a point of it, it isn't a topic for discussion with friends, etc. For me, I love fine food, but at least as much of the pleasure is in the art and dedication of producing the finest example of something as it is in the actual consumption of the food. It's a form of something of a geeky intellectual pleasure that extends to anything that is fine, crafted and made with passion - cars, suits, watches, whatever. I like artisanal breads - they taste great, it pleases me no end to know that they are made by a guy who has dedicated his working life to perfecting every aspect of them, and they're a rich seam for geeky reading into the differences between flours, seasonal variations, amylase, starch gelling and retrogradation, etc.

Food in popular culture seem to mainly be the latest object and expression of aspirations; a token of supposed status and urbane sophistication that, I hope, we'll come in time to group with 1970s dinner parties. As that greater popular attention to and expectation of food has translated into practice, it has done so crudely: in shades of what weinoo said, it has done so in forms like McDonalds thinking it necessary to inform me that the hamburger patty is from 100% pure-breed cattle; supermarkets that private-label bread should be 'slow-rise, hand-crafted sourdough'; or local cafes identifying the providence of every item of food on the menu (as though the notion that food has a source is a novel thing; as though, in the past, food had no providence and spontaneously came into existence - that the fact that the food was produced on a farm and that farm has a name imbues anything produced there with superlative qualities).

The result is as Annabelle described it: it is tedious and dull to be confronted with this silly fad - with the apparent need to know and to demonstrate knowledge and discriminating taste in food and restaurants, and its reflection in the apparent need for all food to be capable of being described with prolix, hyphenated descriptions that denote its quality - everywhere.

Edited March 28, 2013 by mugen (log)