Nelson - Foodie Snob

Foodie

Snob

Foodie

Snob

Kevin Nelson

An imprint of Globe Pequot

Distributed by NATIONAL BOOK NETWORK

Copyright 2017 by Kevin Nelson

Illustrations by Meredith Nelson

All rights reserved . No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Nelson, Kevin, 1953 author.

Title: Foodie snob / Kevin Nelson.

Description: Guilford , Connecticut : Lyons Press, [2017]

Identifiers: LCCN 2016042895 (print) | LCCN 2016048572 (ebook) | ISBN 9781493026265 (hard cover) | ISBN 9781493026272 (e-book) | ISBN 9781493026272 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Gastronomy. | Food in popular culture. | Food writers.

Classification: LCC TX631 .N455 2017 (print) | LCC TX631 (ebook) | DDC 641.01/3dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016042895

The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.

Printed in the United States of America

Be smart, have fun, live life with flair.

The Snobs maxim

Introduction

This is a book for and about food snobs. But who, or what, is a food snob? Its a trickier and far more intriguing question than one might think at first.

For instance, Anthony Bourdain. He has described himself as a born snob, and during his Kitchen Confidential days, when he was young and carousing his way around the restaurant kitchens of New York City, he said this about himself and a running buddy:

We thought we were the only cooks in New York who could quote from the Larousse Gastronomique , Repertoire de la Cuisine , who knew who Vatel, Carme and Escoffier were, what Bocuse, Verg and Gurard were doing across the water.

Such arcane knowledge (arcane outside the world of haute cuisine) might indeed be classified as snobby, but look at Bourdains television programs. One of their hallmarks is his rollicking Hunter S. Thompsonlike willingness to go down any dark alley or up any twisting mountain road to eat, drink, and explore new tastesnot qualities normally associated with snobs or snobbishness.

Alice Waters is another. She has been accused of being a snobby Bourdain, among others. Her offense in their eyes is that she adheres too rigidly to a food ethiclocal, fresh, sustainable, organicthat is out of touch with the real lives of ordinary people. Its elitist. Families and low-income people cannot afford to buy and eat organic all the time, unlike the well-off founder of Berkeleys Chez Panisse.

In defending herself, Waters has said that she would like nothing better than to extend the luxury of organic food to all, to make it more affordable, to help children and others, particularly in the inner city, try their hand at gardening. Again, thats not exactly snobbish or elitist. Or is it?

Waters drew her early cooking inspiration (and still does) from Francethe home of haute cuisine, nouvelle cuisine, Repertoire de la Cuisine, and Le Cordon Bleu, which trained Julia Child, the effervescent, quintessentially American cook who introduced millions to the art of French cooking. While Julia had strong likes and dislikes based on her training, intelligence, and sophistication, can anyone rightly call her snooty?

What about Roy Choi? He studied for a year at the Culinary Institute of America, Hyde Park, and apprenticed in the kitchen of Eric Riperts Michelin three-star Le Bernardin, a gastronomic temple (to use an overworked food writers phrase) of French food in New York City. But it would be a bit of a reach to classify the Korean-born, street-smart, tattooed, exlow ridin LA Kogi BBQ food truck guy as a snob, would it not?

Truth is, all of us have impulses and beliefs that are both snobbish and reverse snobbish, elitist and democratic, narrow and welcoming. All of us, that is, except perhaps for Lucy. When winters first snowflakes started falling and her Peanuts pals stuck out their tongues to taste them, she sniffed, I never eat December snowflakes. I always wait for January.

Here is how we view the matter in Foodie Snob . If youre a Lucy, if you have your own particular ideas on whats best, most exclusive, most daring, least known, avant-garde, tastiest, we respect that. We honor your opinion. Our goal is to support you in your quest to learn and taste and know as much as you can, while introducing you to new things or perhaps old things you werent aware of.

This is not a book filled with shoulds and musts. We would never presume to tell you what to think or eat, or how to do either. We see our role more as a presenter or curator, although yes, we too have strong opinions on certain matters and will offer them where it seems appropriate.

And what will you find on these pages? Holy mole ! Flip back to the contents page and youll get a much better sense than here. There are stories, lists, asides, advice, reviews, recommendations, discoveries, quotations, humor, snarky food fights galore, and interactive features like quizzes and match games. All the personalities mentioned so far in this tasting menu of an introduction are included in the book, plus Lidia Bastianich, Shakespeare, Auguste Gusteau, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ruth Reichl, Alice B. Toklas, Thomas Keller, Pete Wells, David Chang, Per Se, Il Vino, Giada De Laurentiis, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, Lady and the Tramp, Matt Damon, Steve Jobs, John, Paul, George and Ringo, Simran Sethi, Michael Pollan, Nora Ephron, Cezanne, Luther Burbank, Homeboy Bakery, Tom Colicchio, and Adam and Eve.

And all those names you just read? Thats just the first chapter.

True snobbery, as we see it, isnt just a matter of having an opinion; it has to do with knowing about the history and culture and language and romance of foodand oh yes, the people too, especially the people. The more you know about all these things, the more devastatingly brilliant your opinions will be.

Lets end the way we began: with AB. (But dont fret; hell be back. Hes like a Zelig character, popping up here and there in these pages and always stirring the pot.) Embroiled in, for Gods sake, a controversy over cupcakes, one of the many controversies that chase him around (and that he chases), Bourdain said, Its not the cupcakes I have a problem with; its cupcake mania. Its only a f**king cupcake.

This is, of course, pure nonsense. Bourdain knows better; he was probably just tweaking beaks. He and every other foodie knows in their heart of hearts that a cupcake is never just a cupcake, food is never just food. It is the whole f**king world. Lets have some fun.

Kevin Nelson

Chapter One

A shared passion

The community of food

Everybody eats and most everybody cooks, and yet it is not eating or cooking per se that motivates those who love food. It is passion. Foodies are passionate about what they put in their mouths, and joyful when it turns out to be just the right thing. They feel a shared sense of community and history, and feel deeply about their likes and dislikes. In this chapter we talk about what brings food lovers togetherand what splits them apart.