Food has not always come in packaged form. There was a time when our very own ancestors harvested their own crops and skewed their own wild boars. Im not sure when food started to get packaged and exported world wide but i'm sure it started only in the past few centuries. That does not mean that all people were once totally aware to the sources of their food. People have not always hunted their own animals and gathered their own crops , in fact when we were born we were 100% detached from the source of our food. So what makes feel so proud to gather our own food to cook? When Steven Rinella stumbled upon Escoffier's Guide Culinaire, hes was immediatley overcome with the virile spirit of Ernest Hemingway who decided it was his mission to create a three day 45-course meal made up mostly of exotic animals stuffed inside other exotic animals. When I continued to read the details of this epic feast, I myself felt Heminways spirit creep through my arteries. If one can gain some valuable life memories in putting together such a haute feast, I absolutely would commend such an empowering experience and would be extremely tempted to join in the consuming of such a gluttonous celebration. I think that if I were to dedicate myself to re-creating to Escoffier's I would love the journey of collecting all the ingredients to make it work, but the dedication for me is lacking. I really do admire and value a person who collects food for themselves and other; I think Escoffier's meal is a dramatic inflation of the love for food, but the admiration is still there. A feast of this magnitude is pretty unhealthy and somewhat sinful, but I think personally it's alright to have that meal at least once in yourself if you really desire it enough to gather up all the ingredients. For me the best part about a meal is being in the kitchen turning something completely unappetizing and inedible into quite the opposite. Here's are a few books that might interest the reader:
Kelly, Ian. Cooking For Kings: The Life of Antonin Caréme, The First Celebrity Chef. New York: Walker & Co., 2003.
Dubowski, Cathy East. The Story Of Squanto: First Friend of The Pilgrims. Milwaukee, WI: Gareth Stevens Pub., 1997.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I too would struggle with dedicating that much of my time and effort to finding and preparing wild food for all my meals. People such as Steve who grew up this way don't see it as a chore- it is a way of life, and he wouldn't be satistfied buying it packaged. It seems very difficult for people who grew up raised with the convenience of grocery stores to be able to happily convert to harvesting their food last in life- without seeing it as a labor.
Post a Comment