Behind almost every tradition is a myth, and behind all traditions is the biggest myth of them all: that this is what our people have always done. But, of course, cuisines are always evolving and with food, “forever” simply means “as long as we can remember”…
ReadFILM, FOOD & PHILOSOPHY PODCAST. In discussion with Mark Cosgrove ahead of January’s Sunday brunch series of films with short introductory talks. Podcast page here, direct link to MP3 here.
ReadFor the Frenchman Marcel Proust, the elixir of memory might have been a petite madeleine, but that wouldn’t work on British-bred me. What I needed was a can of Heinz cream of mushroom soup and a packet of Sainsbury’s cheese and onion crisps. As I gathered these and other long-neglected childhood foodstuffs from the supermarket shelves, I thought surely one sniff, one taste would be enough to take me right back. But to what, exactly? And how?
ReadBack in 1977, Alexander Cockburn coined the term “gastroporn” to describe the way in which looking at food and cooking provides a kind of substitute pleasure – and a titillation – for actually eating. The cinema has been a rich source of another kind of gastroporn, a fantasy world in which we watch the sometimes literal coming together of food and sex. It has provided some wonderful movie moments as well as some truly cringeworthy ones, but it provides as little insight into actual sex as Oompa-Loompas do into the day-to-day working lives of chocolatiers.
ReadTwo pieces commissioned by the New Zealand Food and Drink Council, published at Food Navigator Asia. The first is on the comparative price of milk and sugary sodas (14 October), the second on regulation as a tool to reduce alcohol consumption (21 October). I had complete editorial control of both pieces.
Read