food writer as ultimate bore

[formerly grueldelux]

I just viewed the episode from Sex and the City from two weeks ago and I'm surprised the ranks of food writers aren't a-twitter, for you were dissed mightily therein. Here's an outline for those who haven't seen it: Carrie is summoned to lunch with a colleague, a fashion editor in her fifties played by Candace Bergen. Turns out the she is finding the dating game very difficult at her age and she practically insists that Carrie find her a date for her upcoming party. Cut to the party scene. Carrie and her boyfriend arrive, seemingly alone. Candace Bergen answers the door. Where's the date? Out pops Wallace Shawn. His unconventional looks, odd voice and short stature are essentially played for a laugh. Candace doesn't hide her dissapointment. Carrie makes introductions. This is X, he writes about food for Bon Appetite. This, this is like rubbing salt in the wound. He's unconventional looking and a food writer? You must be joking? Later scenes show the Wallace Shawn character boring other guests to tears with talk of artisanal cheese and, the killer, US rules about raw milk cheeses. He's also paying an awful lot of attention to the passed hors d'oeuvres. There's no mistaking it, the food obsessed have been dissed.

So what were the intentions of the makers of Sex and the City? Was is to simply give a friendly jibe at the food enthusiast, currently clearing rooms across the country?

Or were they more interested in the bigger task of depicting the complicated social hierarchies in NY, with the foodie simply the convenient slow moving target? I found it some consolation that the dissing was done by creepy fashionista socialites, but still.

-michael

[Fat Guy]

Hmm. I'll have to pull up the episode on HBO On Demand, as soon as Time Warner can get its shit together to make it perform reliably.

Certainly, though, the above-described portrayal is totally inaccurate. Food writers, and restaurant reviewers especially, get way too much attention at parties. If you are one, and you get outed, you're usually considered the second most interesting person in the room after the Ivy League power-executive-type woman who was once a stripper. At parties, I try not to let people know what I do, because then all they want to talk about is what great foodies they are ("Oh my god, I'm like such a big foodie. What's your favorite restaurant?") and how much they love the Four Seasons and "Babbo's."

[John Whiting]

Believe me, it's true in London even of unknowns. If I were younger and these were still my roving days, I'd need a social secretary and a good doctor.

[Busboy]

Though food and wine writers -- and just us afficiandos -- can use the occasional reminder that any obsession can be carried to the point of parody, especially if you're running with the uninitiated or just the uninterested. There are friends with whom I would never talk politics, and those with whom I would never talk food.

If we can't take a joke...

I missed that episode, but I'd bet that any writer who could create a riff on artisinal cheese and import regs is a total foodie him or herself.

[Lady T]

I missed that episode, but I'd bet that any writer who could create a riff on artisinal cheese and import regs is a total foodie him or herself.

Excellent point, Busboy.

If Sex and the City acknowledges the growing cachet of being a 'foodie', even negatively, we must be arriving.

Just don't ask me from which direction...or where we're going...

[formerly grueldelux]

Certainly, though, the above-described portrayal is totally inaccurate. Food writers, and restaurant reviewers especially, get way too much attention at parties.

I'm clearly going to the wrong parties.

For the sake of thoroughness, a couple of more points from the show. Later in the party, a drunken guest insists on smoking, against the wishes of the host. The Wallace Shawn character shows great gallantry by standing up to the guest on behalf of the Candace Bergen character. A few days later we see them together, as if she decided to take a chance on him. So you see? The food writer with unconventional looks beds Candace Bergen! Food writers do rule after all.

[Comfort Me]

I spent a horrible evening -- not a date -- with a mamzer who probably helped set the stereotype, so I certainly know the type.

In the mid-80's, when I was still in New York, I had as a dinner guest (he was the escort of a lovely woman I knew) a "wine expert" -- a true legend in his own mind -- who was so boring and insulting that a guest who had brought dessert left before it was served! (She later told me she vandalized the guest's vintage Jaguar, which he had spoken of at length, parked in front of my building!)

The guests of honor that night were my cousins from Germany, and I had designed the dinner around the wines they had brought from the vineyard they own. I still remember the Spaetlaesse paired with the vanilla poached pears stuffed with frangipane.

The "Expert" was so horribly insulting about every wine, I found myself saying things like "I'm terribly sorry. Do you think you could keep your opinions to yourself?" He was oblivious.

My cousin Hans, then in his 70's, who can be droll in both German AND in English, said the the man as he was leaving, "Meeting you was quite an experience. I never thought I'd say this, but you made me wish that Hitler HAD killed me."

After the asswipe left, the remaining guests all relaxed, we broke out several other bottles of wine and spirits, and we parodied the horrible man's ascerbic comments. I'll never forget my cousin's immitation, saying in impecable snooty English "How disappointing. The bouquet has one anticipating something lovely, but then you taste it. So this is what the inside of a pig's nose tastes like."

[bloviatrix]

My cousin Hans, then in his 70's, who can be droll in both German AND in English, said the the man as he was leaving, "Meeting you was quite an experience. I never thought I'd say this, but you made me wish that Hitler HAD killed me."

That's classic.

[Bux]

Later scenes show the Wallace Shawn character boring other guests to tears with talk of artisanal cheese and, the killer, US rules about raw milk cheeses.

It was some time ago, but I remember reading a Jeffrey Steingarten article in Vogue that dealt with raw milk cheeses and bringing them through customs among other things. It was actually an informative article though possibly not the stuff that goes over big at cocktail parties. Then again, assuming the conversations starts with "I read in Vogue that ..." ...

I'm just wondering if Steingarten was the inspiration for the character.

[kpurvis]

If you are one, and you get outed, you're usually considered the second most interesting person in the room after the Ivy League power-executive-type woman who was once a stripper. At parties, I try not to let people know what I do, because then all they want to talk about is what great foodies they are ("Oh my god, I'm like such a big foodie. What's your favorite restaurant?") and how much they love the Four Seasons and "Babbo's."

I agree with that one! When I'm outed, people treat me like some kind of exotic creature, but they usually spend their time apologizing for not cooking and acting like they have to do penance in my presence. I end up feeling like a priest at a cocktail party: "Forgive me, food editor, for I have sinned. It's been three weeks since I ate anything except take-out."

[Comfort Me]

If you are one, and you get outed, you're usually considered the second most interesting person in the room after the Ivy League power-executive-type woman who was once a stripper.

I really, really want to get invited to a party SHE's going to.

So much better than the Junion League drones ("I always take my League directory with me when I'm purse shopping, because if it won't hold the directory, I don't want it!")

or affected cuisinistas ("I could have died with laughter! Christopher said he couldn't find white truffles for the recipe -- we all know he couldn't AFFORD them -- so he used this horrible truffle oil. His risotto tasted exactly like shoe polish! If you could have seen the look on his face! Jon and Michael both were gagging on the Two Buck Chuck! Can you imagine? I feel like we should take up a collection and buy this boy some Taste!")

or consultants ("ON Monday I'm in Vegas, on Tuesday I'm in Savannah, on Wednesday and Thursday I'm in Mexico City. Try calling me on Friday. I might be in Toronto, but if I'm not, I'd love to do lunch.")

I want to know if the pasties chafe.

[hathor]

Cuisiniasta!!! That is a fantastic word! Quick, register it with William Safire, make sure you get the credit.

and...having spent some time around fashionistas, trust me, it was all about Wallace Shaw being short and funny looking, and what he was wearing. Food editor interest came later. Do you actually think those women eat??

[Suzanne F]

Well, it wouldn't have been the first time Wallace Shawn played a food critic (of sorts) -- remember My Dinner with Andre? One of our favorite lines of all time was uttered by Wally, when he looks down at his plate of quail and says, "I never knew they were so small."

But really, food writers will only be bores if they are bores, period. You know the type, who drones on and on about his/her area of expertise, waxing rhapsodic about [whatever] long past the tolerance of casual listeners. So it's only tit for tat when a cusinista uncorks a boring food writer. And then can't get a word in edgewise.

[hollywood]

But really, food writers will only be bores if they are bores, period. You know the type, who drones on and on about his/her area of expertise, waxing rhapsodic about [whatever] long past the tolerance of casual listeners. So it's only tit for tat when a cusinista uncorks a boring food writer. And then can't get a word in edgewise.

There's a reason food writers are writers and not stand up comics.

[Mabelline]

Comfort Me, those cuisinista sound edgier than razor blades! I bow to your ability to gracefully put up with such silliness.

[marlena spieler]

There's a reason food writers are writers and not stand up comics.

uh.....actually my secret dream is to be a stand-up commedian who entertains the troops.......and gives out recipes here and there, maybe even cooks a meal or two.....

i sort of live my life like this even though there is no camera on me so far as i can tell.........

[Comfort Me]

Comfort Me, those cuisinista sound edgier than razor blades! I bow to your ability to gracefully put up with such silliness.

I actually didn't put up with the cuisinista gracefully.

I pointed out to everyone assembled that in college he used to eat mac and cheese without milk and butter because he couldn't afford it, once passed out and vomited ripple on my kitchen floor, and refreshed everyone's memory about the good old days when he would dress up in his mother's clothes and call himself Doreen. (That's the point where my wife laughed so hard she had to leave the room.)

Oh, and I regailed all assembled with stories about his mom -- a decent, hardworking Baptist woman who worked two jobs to send money so he could go to NYU. He never told her that he dropped out after one semester, and he let her keep working to send him checks for tuition, books, rent, etc.

I'm resolving right now to keep better company.

[hollywood]

There's a reason food writers are writers and not stand up comics.

uh.....actually my secret dream is to be a stand-up commedian who entertains the troops.......and gives out recipes here and there, maybe even cooks a meal or two.....

i sort of live my life like this even though there is no camera on me so far as i can tell.........

Correction: There's a reason that most food writers are not stand up comics.

[JFLinLA]

I must admit that I am a fan of the girls on Sex and the City. Call it a guilty pleasure, I suppose, but I really don't feel all that guilty.

I saw the episode and, as wonderful as Wallace Shawn is, I think he was there as counterpoint to Carrie's date, Alexander Petrovsky played by Mikhail Baryshnikov. The comparison had little if anything to do with Shawn's character as a food writer and everything to do with how the two characters compare in terms of appearance, style, magnetism, etc.

[formerly grueldelux]

I saw the episode and, as wonderful as Wallace Shawn is, I think he was there as counterpoint to Carrie's date, Alexander Petrovsky played by Mikhail Baryshnikov. The comparison had little if anything to do with Shawn's character as a food writer and everything to do with how the two characters compare in terms of appearance, style, magnetism, etc.

You're basically right, I'll admit. But I think his interest in food was central to the comparison, and central to his lack of appeal.

The more I think about it the more I agree with busboy - it must have been written by a fellow traveler, as a clever inside joke. No one would possibly find cheese talk boring, would they?

[kpurvis]

There's a reason food writers are writers and not stand up comics.

uh.....actually my secret dream is to be a stand-up commedian who entertains the troops.......and gives out recipes here and there, maybe even cooks a meal or two.....

i sort of live my life like this even though there is no camera on me so far as i can tell.........

Aw Marlena, you're much more Betty Grable than Martha Raye. Maybe Bette Midler will play you in the movie.

[JFLinLA]

I saw the episode and, as wonderful as Wallace Shawn is, I think he was there as counterpoint to Carrie's date, Alexander Petrovsky played by Mikhail Baryshnikov.  The comparison had little if anything to do with Shawn's character as a food writer and everything to do with how the two characters compare in terms of appearance, style, magnetism, etc.

You're basically right, I'll admit. But I think his interest in food was central to the comparison, and central to his lack of appeal.

The more I think about it the more I agree with busboy - it must have been written by a fellow traveler, as a clever inside joke. No one would possibly find cheese talk boring, would they?

Gawd no! I'd talk about cheese any day of the week . . . especially if I could be eating the cheese while discussing it. Now, if only I could be sharing the cheese and discussion with Baryshnikov. Damn, he is a hottie.

[tryska]

There's no mistaking it, the food obsessed have been dissed.

huh - i thought single late-30s/early-40s female smokers past their prime got dissed in that particular episode.

[formerly grueldelux]

It was some time ago, but I remember reading a Jeffrey Steingarten article in Vogue that dealt with raw milk cheeses and bringing them through customs among other things. It was actually an informative article though possibly not the stuff that goes over big at cocktail parties. Then again, assuming the conversations starts with "I read in Vogue that ..." ...

I'm just wondering if Steingarten was the inspiration for the character. 

Steingarten at his finest. It's in It Must've Been Something I Ate, I think. I didn't mean to suggest that the subject itself was uninteresting, only that the characters in the show found it uninteresting. If it was me at that party I'd have felt relieved to find someone I could relate to.

As for being based on Steingarten, I'd say it's unlikely. I don't know if you've heard but Jeffrey Steingarten is incredibly handsome and verile, not to mention a captivating speaker and stylish dresser. At parties, throngs of enthralled supplicants keep him maddeningly out of reach of the hors d'oeuvres. Clearly based on a different model.

[John Whiting]

Jeffrey Steingarten is . . . a captivating speaker . . .

If only. I enjoy and admire his writing, but I've heard him give two talks which were so rambling and seemingly ill-prepared as virtually to cause a behind-the-scenes revolution within the organizations that had invited him. It's a shame; something seems to happen to his brain when he stands behind a podium.