My favorite scene in the film The Devil Wears Prada is when the character played by Meryl Streep does her first “dressing down” of her newly hired assistant. I don’t recall the words verbatim, though I wish I did, but in short she demonstrates to the young woman that her disinterest in fashion is both ignorant and arrogant. Honing in on the girl’s turquoise sweater, Streep unravels how the chain of opinion, money, advertising (and more money) – attitude, angst, industry forces and the GNP are all apart of what this young woman chooses to exchange her well-earned hard currency for to clothe herself. The fashion industry is predator, we are its prey, our tastes are manipulated so we dance to the Industry’s whimsical, finely orchestrated tunes.
Sound familiar?
That old “manipulation of taste”- thing.
One of the largest spice purveyors is on the move, cooking up new spice pairings. Some of the pairings seem to resonate with an authentic sense of culture and gastronomic history, and some don’t. The fashion of foods makes me nervous. Not sure why. But, I recall a few years ago when suddenly everything seemed to have lavender; cheese and chocolate and somewhere crackers and cakes. To me it was creepy, but, then again, I’ve got a real stubborn streak.
I'm totally with you on this. Have you noticed that the last cookbooks by Paul Prudhomme, and to a certain extent, Wolfgang Puck, emphasize "seasoning packets" that consist of undisclosed combinations of ordinary seasonings, in undisclosed combinations and quantities, available at places like Whole Foods? The "recipes" are just a gimmick to get you to buy the the packets, which conatain enough for one recipe and cost four or five dollars, and are all things already in your cupboard you could have used for ten cents on the dollar. What McCormick wants is for you to buy amd keep an odd flavor combination useful to make only one particular dish they tell you about, and then have you save the unused portion to pass on in your will. My grandmother's spice wrack was a little like that, full of ancient bottles used only once. Meanwhile they make and sell 10 million "units" of poppyseed/rose over a two year period, then discontinue the item. Very profitable.
"Curry powder" is similar, in that the big company offers maybe two types, but in reality every authentic Indian curried dish uses different combinations of ingredients. I doubt if such a thing as curry powder exists in India. Ditto chili powder.
I've recently found a Mexican spice company (Mojave) whose pungent and authentic products are bulk-packed in cheap plastic bags that come priced at 10% of the big company shaker cost. I just fill the shakers up with them when they run low. My chili gets cumin, corriander, cheyenne, garlic, and a little cinnamin, not a McCormick chili seasoning packet that costs more than the meat and beans combined, and tastes mostly like salt.
Why don't you write about changing Chinese restaurants, and how if you are lucky enough to get vegetables with your fruit flavored fried meat, they will be onions, carrots and bell pepper, rather than bamboo shoots, snow peas and water chestnuts? It's one of my favorite "taste fads that need to go" peeves.
Posted by: Dennis | March 17, 2008 at 08:58 PM