Against Foodies: "Smart and Casual" reviewd (ingredient, burgers, doughnuts)

[Dayton Sux]

I found this on the "Urban Planning" subforum, but thought it would be fun to post here:

You Are What You Eat

...a case perhaps where the review might be better than the book.

Some really interesting observations that I somewhat share. But how about this so-called "Modernist Cuisne"???

....the ascendance of ingredient worship has paralleled a polar-opposite trend, that of modernist cuisine....modernism utilizes laboratory chemicals and equipment to give foods surprising appearances and textures. Modernists chefs are often hailed as avant-gardists, but the pieces Pearlman highlights in Smart Casual reveal a troublingly reactionary attitude. Deconstructed, disguised, minimized reinterpretations of Heath bars, doughnuts, cheesesteaks, and burgers simultaneously mock anyone unhip enough to prefer the original version and applaud their eater’s advanced palate and dainty appetite

I have never heard of this...it sounds sort of decadent, and...conceptually....a bit like that elaborate French cuisne the writer talks about earlier in the review, but different in that is seems like "food irony"....as in a haute cuisne donut, or degenerating into gimmickry (like the petit four made to look like a McDonalds Cheesburger that the writer talks about later in the article)

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But theres tons of other good observations, esp about the "local sourcing" thing, that sort of jibes with my personal skepticsm on all this (I think this was actually parodies in an episode of that Portlandia tv show).

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by Dayton Sux

Some really interesting observations that I somewhat share. But how about this so-called "Modernist Cuisne"???



I have never heard of this...it sounds sort of decadent, and...conceptually....a bit like that elaborate French cuisne the writer talks about earlier in the review, but different in that is seems like "food irony"....as in a haute cuisne donut, or degenerating into gimmickry (like the petit four made to look like a McDonalds Cheesburger that the writer talks about later in the article)

@@@@

But theres tons of other good observations, esp about the "local sourcing" thing, that sort of jibes with my personal skepticsm on all this (I think this was actually parodies in an episode of that Portlandia tv show).

You won't find it in Dayton or Cincinnati BUT it seems to be the rage in Chicago.

Google Hermano Cantu or MOTO and you will the classic example.

Personally, it is a great way for chefs to charge $225 for one meal. I really lack any interest in it although I met many of the chefs.