The Depraved Gourmet
By Mitch Berg
Call the dour Calvinism of my Scandinavian anscestry rearing its head, but the wave of epicureanism – the Food Network’s various paeons to gluttony – have always rubbed me the wrong way. Part of it is that the whole notion of glorifying ostentatious consumption strikes me as just wrong; you’re taking what you just plain don’t need (rural Scandinavians were crunchycons long before there was a term for it). Part of it is the the way some “foodies” have turned gluttony into a secular religion, a cult of satiation.
B.R. Myers, writing in Atlantic, tackles the cult. It’s a long read – four jumps – but very, very worth it.
Conclusion?
I used to reject that old countercultural argument, the one about the difference between a legitimate pursuit of pleasure and an addiction or pathology being primarily a question of social license. I don’t anymore. After a month among the bat eaters and milk-toast priests, I opened [former Motley Crue drummer] Nikki Sixx’s Heroin Diaries (2008) and encountered a refreshingly sane-seeming young man, self-critical and with a dazzlingly wide range of interests. Unfortunately, the foodie fringe enjoys enough media access to make daily claims for its sophistication and virtue, for the suitability of its lifestyle as a model for the world. We should not let it get away with those claims. Whether gluttony is a deadly sin is of course for the religious to decide, and I hope they go easy on the foodies; they’re not all bad. They are certainly single-minded, however, and single-mindedness—even in less obviously selfish forms—is always a littleness of soul.
Jumping to the conclusion, though, shortchanges you of a great read. Go do that when you get a moment.
February 16th, 2011 at 3:10 pm
Coming from a guy whose ancestors consider catchup a food group, I’ll take this with a few coarse grains of (sea) salt. By your leave, of course…..heh. heh. heh.
February 16th, 2011 at 3:43 pm
Teachers in Madison protest against Governor Walker, with signs that say “don’t retreat, reload”, followed by a picture of the Governer as seen through gunsite.
http://badgerblogger.com/
February 16th, 2011 at 3:44 pm
“It’s quite something to go bare-handed up an animal’s ass … Its viscera came out with an easy tug; a small palmful of livery, bloody jewels that I tossed out into the yard.”
Lovely!….PETA would have a conniption!!………I like that!!!
“Call the dour Calvinism of my Scandinavian anscestry rearing its head, but the wave of epicureanism – the Food Network’s various paeons to gluttony – have always rubbed me the wrong way.”
That’s OK. I can’t think about Scandinavian cooking without thinking of the Swedish Chef on Sesame Street. My wife is Swedish and just 2 generations removed from Sweden, still has tons of realatives there. I’ve had plenty of swedish/scandinavian cooking and in the absense of my wife I’m willing to say it’s not at the top of any of my culinary experiences. And as someone who cooks quite a bit I can say I actually enjoy the Food Channel. Did you know they now also have the Cooking Channel. mmmmmm
February 16th, 2011 at 5:10 pm
Oxymoron: Scandinavian cuisine. Ostentatious consumption is a judgment call, unless you blog/brag about the $200 dinner you ate last night.
February 16th, 2011 at 7:21 pm
Good article. The author is perceptive about the odd food culture that has sprung up in the last decade or so. I loved the line about Alice Waters – it’s sustainable only because so few people can afford her restaurants food.
February 17th, 2011 at 9:09 am
Scandinavians were historically Luterns….what’s this “Calvinism” nonsense? Ye should be glad that Knox came and gave ye the haggis!
Epicureanism certainly has its dangers, but you can’t blame Calvin for Scandinavian reluctance to indulge it.