tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355227236397241799.post2636507953946843047..comments2024-01-05T13:11:48.050+00:00Comments on ...and what will be left of them?: A Taste Of Fannycarlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17886258675618058752noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355227236397241799.post-17790555635449552012010-10-31T12:09:22.738+00:002010-10-31T12:09:22.738+00:00Well, I think you're missing a certain amount ...Well, I think you're missing a certain amount of the tongue-in-cheek element of the post. Funnily enough, in a previous life I was involved in a business lobby group that used to lobby the EU on various regulatory issues. Part of this meant that I was wined and dined in various haute cuisine restaurants on the continent.<br /><br />I remember one conference where I was "treated" over three nights to meals at three different Michelin-starred restaurants in Bologna. I have to say I thought the whole experience, with its ridiculously exquisitely prepared food, was slightly absurd. Another thing that I noted was how "entertaining" was an important part of the corruption process. It's amazing how obligated you feel towards someone after they've spent a couple of hundred quid feeding you.<br /><br />Again, I don't think a fetishising of food is simply about a neutral sense of "enjoying" - if that was the case then food generally would be better, and we wouldn't need wall-to-wall TV cheffery at all. I think what we see on TV now does mark a societal shift to a kind of "because I'm worth it" narcissism.Phil Knighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16214245608032305452noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355227236397241799.post-50702770736440316122010-10-30T22:22:07.149+01:002010-10-30T22:22:07.149+01:00This post is a real case of that good old british ...This post is a real case of that good old british attitude "somebody is having fun and they ought to be stopped". <br /><br />I'm no Ramsay fan but that was a fairly straightforward example of food as high culture, not very elaborate but demanding skilled preparation to produce a fairly restrained but no doubt very tasty result. Delia Smith on the other hand is cooking for dummies of the "how to boil water" school, mostly dull and unimaginative stodge. <br /><br />Why do Brits have such a problem enjoying the obvious things in life like food, why is poor quality lauded as a virtue, why does it all get tangled up in class hatred, snobbery and inverse snobbery, pretentious superiority and pretentious vulgarism?Dustnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355227236397241799.post-75859439553954798312010-10-30T01:37:29.993+01:002010-10-30T01:37:29.993+01:00Well, I don't think that oral gratification st...Well, I don't think that oral gratification strictly relates to "food tasting nice" - I think it relates to a fetishisation of food i.e. the huge amount of broadcasting hours that are now dedicated to it.<br /><br />A better example is the clip below of The Hairy Bikers creating a "monster" doner kebab. It's a classic case of weirdo celebrity chefs preparing a somewhat grotesque meal under the cover of an under-examined criteria of "quality". It's got nothing to do with "tasting nice" - it's the kind of pure self-indulgence that used to be marginalised.<br /><br />Honestly, if you think this kind of thing is good, then you ought to tell us why.<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHvrkqMei4cPhil Knighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16214245608032305452noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3355227236397241799.post-58366586974462325322010-10-29T21:53:26.427+01:002010-10-29T21:53:26.427+01:00In what way is it sensible to confine "oral g...In what way is it sensible to confine "oral gratification" - which presumably means food tasting nice - to the margins of culture?Baron d'Ormesanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00489754421414413362noreply@blogger.com