eG Foodblog: akwa - Shaolin style gastronomy

[cdh]

This has been a great blog... Sort of like reading Barzun's From Dawn To Decadence... I didn't grok the whole of it, but I did get the gist, and the ideas were worth considering.

I don't need my thoughts ground into paste and spoon fed to me...

[Carrot Top]

The peasant eats

Bony fish with relish

The rich man

Is shown

Whole great fish

Which metamorphose

In the kitchen to

Filet de Soles à la dieppoise?

Very interesting. I think that there are (or have been) other issues other then ease/comfort of eating, but it is a very good point. Do you think that this has any influence on some of the emerging styles of cooking were food is pesented in figurative manner, rather then producing food 'which tastes of itself'?

After trying to sort out this question, I am still rather only half-way there if even that in terms of being sure what it is I think. . . but if I understand you right, then I think yes.

There are several points which come to mind. First is the attenuation of "lots of ingredients" into one finessed single thing. . .a sauce, a forcemeat, a reduction of "whatever" for whatever purpose. That costs money in terms of having lots of stuff to start off with. . .and it takes time in terms of skilled labor, which also is an expense. This removes these foods from the availability of the "everyday person" in most parts of the world. And it is an approach to food being "figurative" as you said, rather than direct.

Then there is the fact that there has to be some intelligence of a creative sort used to make food more "figurative" than just tasting "of itself". This creativity is not found everywhere, and of course creativity (partnered with the ability to turn it into something real) has always been in demand among those who have had the free time and education of whatever sort to appreciate how buying creativity can set them, themselves, apart from the madding crowd. On the flip side of this, many people who are very wealthy are actually very creative themselves, and have a habit of appreciating it in other people in other fields. . not all the wealthy have inherited their money. Lots have made it in various creative ways themselves, even if that creative way has to do with playing with numbers or trends rather than playing with food, or paint.

As to what form that creativity takes in the way of food . .i.e. whether it is something novel or whether it is something more traditional (i.e. "nouvelle" cuisine as opposed to "haute cuisine" to use two examples that are rather standard in terms of our common understandings) that, ultimately, is up to the person that is doing the consuming of the creativity.

But it is an essence of "having something different than the norm" done to the food that is important. The food is removed to a higher plane. There are no memories of dirt floors or fishing nets anywhere to be found in the idea of the food as it sits on the table. One is removed from the idea of having ever had to use one's hands to do a job. One is taken to the place where minds are used instead to do a job. Easier in ways. More comfortable.

It has a lot to do with defining one's class, I think. And I don't use the term "class" perjoratively, but rather just as a figure of speech. I don't like the term "socio-economic group", it makes me feel queasy.

What do you think? I am sure that you have some ideas I've never thought of.

Oh. Mostly what I like to eat is things that taste as much of themselves as possible. My taste is for the very simple, the pure, that which does start and end right at the earth, the soil, the attention given to the original ingredient. I guess I'll always be a plebe.

Edited August 18, 2005 by Carrot Top (log)

[Arey]

This has been a great blog...  Sort of like reading Barzun's From Dawn To Decadence... I didn't  grok the whole of it, but I did get the gist, and the ideas were worth considering.

I don't need my thoughts ground into paste and spoon fed to me...

←

"Well, I say it's broccoli, and I say the hell with it"

[Carrot Top]

akwa, thank you for the time you took to do the blog. It was generous of you, as it is generous of every blogger that offers this to the eGullet audience.

I enjoyed it a great deal, as you must realize. And of course, you must have realized when you started this thing that your style of blog would create some questions or comments with its readers.

Lots of luck with your projects. There are some good ones there, in my opinion. Both those that can be tasted in reality on the tongue and the ones that can be chewed over in the mind.

Karen

Edited August 18, 2005 by Carrot Top (log)

[Pam R]

akwa/will - I haven't posted earlier... because I didn't really have anything to contribute - I was just sitting back and enjoying what you were sharing with us.

Thanks for taking the time - good luck with all your ideas.

[docsconz]

Fascinating blog, to which I have lately arrived. It has been reminiscent to me to a certain extent to a culinary literature version of a cross between Ulysses and 2001: A Space Odyssey. If this were the early twentieth century, the blog would likely have been banned in Boston. Good luck, Will. I hope to experience your creations in a less virtual realm someday.

[Ducky]

there is no bottle, just the nipple is essential forgive the vulgarity

there is no restaurant and there are no plates

there is only a virtual island with an unwritten rule book

←

Easily the most profound words I have ever read on this forum!