Simulacra: A Paler Version
Two of my favorite authors have always been Isaac Asimov and Kurt Vonnegut. Asimov has written more prolifically on more topics than anyone I know; pure genious. Vonnegut more wryly, sarcastically and insightfully than anyone I know.
What I'm interested in here is food and what authors like them have to say.
First, it's authors like these who have predicted the end of the kitchen as we know it. It's true that reality never works precisely the way we might predict, but Asimov envisioned neighborhood kitchens where we would dine. The average American eats out 10 or more times a week. We're on our way, that's for sure.
In a retro, throw-back moment rather than elminate our kitchen, we radically redesigned it. I'm a foodie and a slow food kind of guy. In our redesign, I added a second oven. When our friends saw what we had done, their jaws dropped: "You have THREE ovens" one of them exclaimed.
"A third?" She pointed at the microwave. I guess I'm old enough that I dont' view a microwave as an oven. But that got me to thinking.
How many of you have either tasted or actually performed the following:
* fresh, locally butchered meat (most grocery stores no longer hire butchers);
* canned vegetables of any kind;
* rolled out dough and baked fresh bread without the aid of a bread machine or any machine;
* skimmed cream off the top of a quart of milk;
* eaten cheese made in batches of one pound or less;
* home brewed wine, cidar or mead;
* rolled out pie crust made with lard (or just rolled out pie crust);
* tasted bacon not cooked in a microwave;
* made soup from scratch;
* slow-roasted a cut of meat for more than 8 hours on a wood fire, in a pit, or otherwise.
Many authors have argued that the trend in food will be toward synthetic food; that only the rich will be able to afford the 'authentic' item, whatever that is. Fortunately, we're still at a point in time where if you have the time and inclination, it's still possible to experience real food. The rest is a pale comparison.