In the article The Reluctant Gourmet the author is accused of being a gourmet, as the writer tries to understand why its so wrong to care about food. Mark Kurlanksy is out to dinner with true Basque gourmets when he begins to fully analyze the term gourmet. The author points out that a gourmet according to a dictionary is a judge of food and that the term is an Old French word stemmed from wine tasting. Gourmand however, is an Old French for glutton that also now seems to be associated with gourmet. In our modern times these words have become confused and people rarely now are able to take gourmet as a compliment. Throughout the article Kurlansky points out past authors who probably wouldn't have liked the term such as Plato and contrasts 1996 author John Lanchester who applauds intelligence to pleasure. By the end of the article the author concludes,"Being called a gourmet, I've decided, isn't necessarily a bad thing; it's the same kind of compliment-insult as being called an intellectual. I have to learn something about the prejudices of the person who is using the label before I can decide how I feel about wearing it."
I choose the article because I found the article interesting, the writer used a situation that occurred with two gourmets as he analyzed the meaning of gourmet. Kurlansky draws a lot of thought from other writings in magazines, philosophies, and books to interpret this interpretation of word gourmet. In class readings this contrasts with the idea of food as a minor art because these gourmets see their judging and eating food as a pleasurable experience. Certain philosophies are drawn that would disagree with food being an art but the author is technically tackling the subject of the gourmet and its association to positive or negative terms in society. It seems like being a gourmet is a food minor and the art is the food.
In What is a foodie, anyway writer Nicole Weston tries to briefly explain the term foodie and its evolution to the word. A foodie according to the dictionary is "someone who has an ardent or refined interest in food". This term is very similar to gourmet and epicure but the difference is as Weston puts it, anyone can be foodie. Gourmets are notorious for eating and judging ridiculosly expensive dinners while foodies follow a more basic guideline in their passion, "Generally, you have to know what you like, why you like it, recognize why some foods are better than others and want to have good tasting food all or certainly most of the time." Weston points out that foodies do not need to know the difference between a beefsteak or heirloom tomato, or that they don't need to shop at farmer's markets, they just need to learn about food and most importantly eat food.
First, this article contrasts with the previous by Kurlansky who tires very hard to try to take that negative connotation away from the term gourmet. Commentaries of the blog proved Americans find the word stuffy and snobbish when a comment said "epicure is alright". In previous class readings the term foodie doesn't actually quite fit the art term we talked about last week "to make special". A foodie is described more like a student of food, unlike a gourmet, a foodie is not a critic. In comparison to yesterday's class lecture, food to a foodie is a pleasurable experience but under Telfer's terms, the foodie's definition of food and guidelines would not help to get food out of the food minor category.
Sources:
Kurlanksy, Mark. The Reluctant Gourmet. Gevalia.com [On-line Article]. Retrieved July 2, 2007 from
Link: http://www.gevalia.com/Gevalia/explore/chefs/chef_the_reluctant_gourmet.aspx
Weston, Nicole. (Fed. 2007). What is a a foodie anyway? Slashfood.com [Blog]. Retrieved July 3, 2007 from Link:
1 comment:
I agree with the insult-compliment idea and how the same can be said of intellectuals. A gourmet can be seen as a knowledgable individual when it comes to food, foodpreparation, wine tasting and wine knowledge among many other facets of food. Depending on how one lives his or her life, a gourmet may be someone of real interest to them. If one is more inclined to eat at a fast food establishment, then he or she may not care much for a gourmet. Interestingly, as one who is a part of the slow food movement, I have come to appreciate the gourmet and the knowledge that comes from what many of them have to say. A healthy lifestyle brings with it many opportunities to find new ways in exploiting health and nutrition. Creativity is a major facto in creating new dishes that are both beautiful and functional. To me, gourmet cooking is art in and of itself. When I pay attention to details, I realize how much effort it takes to create some of the masterful cuisine that most people rarely are able to experience in their lives. With that being said, I feel that this inexperience has very little to do with the costs involved and rather a lack of patience in trying to understand the values involved with the gourmet lifestyle.
Post a Comment