Foodies I Don’t Wanna Shut Up: John Martin Taylor

From Essay: The BP oil spill threatens the gulf’s bountiful cornucopia of life:

I’m the first to admit that I prefer the brinier East Coast oysters of the R months, if for no other reason than that’s what I grew up with. But, as Presilla noted, the plump, meaty oysters from Plaquemines that we ate on Saturday “beg to be cooked and sauced.” We ordered several dozen, both cooked and raw, tossing them back with champagne. (The best I had were the wood-fired ones at Cochon.) Wistfully, we snapped cellphone photos of what might well be among the last Gulf Coast oysters for a while. We walked back to the hotel in the rain.

I don’t get to the Gulf Coast often, but no food writer can ignore the bountiful cornucopia of the New Orleans table. There’s noplace else in the world quite like the Crescent City, with its Creole and Cajun cultures, its sultry weather, its magnificent architecture, its self-proclaimed decadence. Mardi Gras, Jazz Fest and Friday at Galatoire’s are no more excessive than an ordinary meal in New Orleans. Mounds of beans and rice, sweetbreads, vegetables swimming in hollandaise and oysters Rockefeller are mere side dishes or appetizers. Courses that follow are stuffed with crabmeat, garnished with crawfish and invariably sauced, followed by gumbo, jambalaya or fried soft-shell crabs with sauce Choron.

I would mock “bountiful cornucopia of life,” really, I would, except this piece is really, really good. See, it’s about the oil spill, and the Gulf coast food culture, and how we are all involved. And even a bit about how we are myopic and haven’t noticed the huge spills in other places, like the Niger delta, but only notice it when it cuts off our access to things we love—like juicy fresh oysters.

So, all purple prose is forgiven. Read it. Please.

Dude Food

Maybe the launch of new cooking shows, food magazines and websites devoted to the male cook will give enough of a masculine spin on the family meal to get guys more involved. For example, the Food Network has been trying to attract a larger male audience with machismo-infused chefs like Guy Fieri who hosts three shows, including “Guy’s Big Bite.”

ManTestedRecipes.com, is described as a “virtual man-cave where men can talk about food, post and comment on recipes, is a new social food site catering to the food interests and preferences of men. And a new men’s food magazine, “Deen Bros. Good Cooking”, created by the sons of Food Network star Paula Deen, also seems to embrace the “dude food” philosophy.

Hey, dad — it’s your turn to cook dinner – Chew On This- msnbc.com

“Dude food,” “Foodwork” and more. I hate buzzwords. I also hate gendered cooking/food terms and hell, even hate gendered ideas of work. I am a woman who eats bloody steak, barbecue, and even, yes, bacon. I know vegan guys who are neurotic about calorie counting.

“Foodwork” at home, anyway, is devalued largely because it was women’s work, and it annoys me that we suddenly have to sell it in creative ways to get men to do it.

Thankfully, this article winds up noting that what most people need isn’t their dudely egos stroked by their cooking, it’s simple, easy, and cheap ways to feed themselves and their families.

And what the hell is a man-cave?  Isn’t that confusing your penis and vagina metaphors?