Comments on: Links for week of October 19th, 2007 http://tucsonivores.wordpress.com/2007/10/22/links-for-week-of-october-19th-2007/ Eating Locally in Southern Arizona Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:26:38 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 By: waltzingaustralia http://tucsonivores.wordpress.com/2007/10/22/links-for-week-of-october-19th-2007/#comment-43 waltzingaustralia Tue, 23 Oct 2007 17:45:52 +0000 http://tucsonivores.wordpress.com/2007/10/22/links-for-week-of-october-19th-2007/#comment-43 Well, as a culinary historian and inveterate foodie, I disagree with the Table Talk article that says Americans don't talk about food or that Michael Pollan started the talk. Food writing has been an important part of our culture for a long time, and food writers have been popular in the U.S. for more than a century. Sure, we're talking more about food, but consider the makeup of the country -- most of the country just got here in the last hundred and fifty years, and most of them came from countries where not having enough food was an issue (the Irish Potato Famine was only 150 years ago). So what would they talk about? "We're eating!" It couldn't be until at least one or two generations later that there was enough knowledge about what was here to talk about it, but as those generations have emerged, there has been a huge explosion in the number of people looking into and talking about food. Consider the explosion in the number of food magazines, the increase in the number of food groups, from Slow Food to Culinary Historians to various Alliances for regional cuisine (Southern Foodways Alliance, Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance, etc.), and of course the explosion of online communities focused on food. I think Chicago's LTHForum (lthforum.com) is one of the best places to listen in as people passionately discuss food, traditions, what makes something good (and we're talking BBQ, hotdogs, and tacos as much or even more than more exalted cuisines). And the book "A Revolution in Food" shows that the U.S. has a history of at least 300 years of caring very much about food. So I think the comments about America not having a food culture reveal that the speaker is just one of the many who are just beginning to realize that we have a food culture -- but we've had one all along. (M.F.K. Fisher predates Pollan by a considerable amount, but is certainly not alone.) Americans can stop apologizing for their food culture. Sure, we can eat better and make an even greater effort to pursue "slow food." But never forget that, in an age where Europe is losing artisanal cheeses at a terrifying rate, America's artisanal cheese seen has been exploding for decades. And perhaps that is why Europeans are now noticing American food culture: they are looking around to see what is happening as they see their own food culture in decline. Well, as a culinary historian and inveterate foodie, I disagree with the Table Talk article that says Americans don’t talk about food or that Michael Pollan started the talk. Food writing has been an important part of our culture for a long time, and food writers have been popular in the U.S. for more than a century. Sure, we’re talking more about food, but consider the makeup of the country — most of the country just got here in the last hundred and fifty years, and most of them came from countries where not having enough food was an issue (the Irish Potato Famine was only 150 years ago). So what would they talk about? “We’re eating!” It couldn’t be until at least one or two generations later that there was enough knowledge about what was here to talk about it, but as those generations have emerged, there has been a huge explosion in the number of people looking into and talking about food. Consider the explosion in the number of food magazines, the increase in the number of food groups, from Slow Food to Culinary Historians to various Alliances for regional cuisine (Southern Foodways Alliance, Greater Midwest Foodways Alliance, etc.), and of course the explosion of online communities focused on food. I think Chicago’s LTHForum (lthforum.com) is one of the best places to listen in as people passionately discuss food, traditions, what makes something good (and we’re talking BBQ, hotdogs, and tacos as much or even more than more exalted cuisines). And the book “A Revolution in Food” shows that the U.S. has a history of at least 300 years of caring very much about food.

So I think the comments about America not having a food culture reveal that the speaker is just one of the many who are just beginning to realize that we have a food culture — but we’ve had one all along. (M.F.K. Fisher predates Pollan by a considerable amount, but is certainly not alone.)

Americans can stop apologizing for their food culture. Sure, we can eat better and make an even greater effort to pursue “slow food.” But never forget that, in an age where Europe is losing artisanal cheeses at a terrifying rate, America’s artisanal cheese seen has been exploding for decades. And perhaps that is why Europeans are now noticing American food culture: they are looking around to see what is happening as they see their own food culture in decline.

]]>