Saturday 18 August 2007

The Great Debate.......Progress?

I think I've got somewhere on Joanna's issue about why the way in which food is consumed is important. It's a contract. Between the members of the group that constitute a household unit. Cooking is undertaken with the wellbeing of the group in mind; and the way in which the food is consumed demonstrates respect for the thought and effort that went into its production. Grazing from the fridge, or chowing-down on a pork pie in the street as you wander away from the supermarket, or even sitting down in a group and eating as you all stare at a TV screen is to relegate food to the status of a purely functional energy-giving fuel source. It devalues it as an element within the relationship 'glue' that exists between the group members.

Does that work? I believe it does, or at least in part......it explains, for instance, why microwave cooking doesn't count, since the time, thought, care and skill involved in the process are fairly negligible. I think (Passionate Palate) it also works in the context of cooking just for yourself - demonstrating respect for yourself and for the standards by which you live.....

Not a complete thesis, but the beginnings of a skeleton of one. Perhaps.

Talking of food and theses, I was astonished by the student meal-planning system enthusiastically trumpeted abroad by the authorities at Carnegie Mellon University. Something they call 'community-oriented dining experiences'. I kid you not - they honestly do.....! I was left completely baffled by the minutiae of it all. In any event, though, the students there must be phenomenally clever, since, in order to get to grips with the Red, Blue, Green, Plaid, Commuter eating plans....and probably polka-dot and rainbow coloured plans, too, for all I know .... they must all have the IQ of Einstein.I suspect that in their position, I would merely be discovered at the end of term as a pile of whitened bones or at the very most an emaciated cadaver, skeletal fingers wrapped tightly around a copy of the Carnegie Mellon Meal Plan programme! You can read it for yourself , if looking for a challenge. You will be tested on it afterwards......

Tonight's Dinner:

.....will be taken in the shady glades of Kensal Rise, courtesy of Ms Robinson.

2 comments:

The Passionate Palate said...

I do believe this thesis is coming together nicely. Bravo. I think your contract idea is at the center (or at least very near to the center) of the matter and that it can even be tested historically. Think about this: humans have always eaten in groups. From our earliest days, we needed each other's skills (hunting, gathering, preparing, etc.) to survive as a species. So, from the beginning there was a contract between "family units". Obviously this has evolved and our contract over food has taken on more nuances of love, health and conviviality, but the basic need is still somewhere in there, too. Great food for thought.

Pomiane said...

I think that's exactly the underlying idea - although it's not easy to express without it all sounding a little 'hokey'. AND I can't see how Joanna can turn it into an argument to put to 'the young' without inviting a chorus of guffaws......

I wonder how Dr Pomiane would have put it?