could you be a food/wine critic? (1 Viewer)

[Lew Crippen]

Yes, but it is really no big deal. Mostly you just have to care about food and eating.

Almost everyone knows what they like—just perhaps not why they like it. And just like anything else, attempts to like what other, experienced people also like, may require a bit of effort and more than one try. Also, the language of taste always sounds a bit pretentious (and sometimes is), so that too can get in the way of learning to discern and describe and remember what one is tasting. But in the end, though there can be a learning process, one likes what they like. And different people are put off by different things.

For example, the ‘proper’ way to prepare pasta, is al dente, or just a bit ‘bitey’. That is there should be just a bit of resistance when biting into a strand of spaghetti. It should not be complete mush. But there are a good many people who don’t like their pasta this way. If after several tries, you don’t either, then, hey go with what you like.

The same with ingredients. I’m a lover of foie gras, though I wish I weren’t, as I am aware of the cruel processes associated with the production of those fatted livers. But I have never been able to justify the expense of truffles, though I have had them in dishes many times.

I don’t actually think I’m a food snob, as I have high standards for chili as well as classic French cooking. In the end, I feel about food as someone said about wine—life is too short to drink bad wine.

And too short to eat poorly prepared food.

Understanding that many, many people don't care at all.

 

[Yee-Ming]

Personally I prefer Morton's, but now with the ban on US beef here (fallout of mad-cow), I don't know where they get their stuff, presumably Australia? And is it as good as USDA prime?

Lew, I think it's S$17 now. maybe 18. But yes, I take your point. And if you ever come back here again, you must try the chicken rice at this place called Yet Con, on one of those streets running parallel to Raffles Hotel (probably Purvis St?)

Hmmm, haven't had fish-head curry in a while. Muthu's beckons...

 

[andrew markworthy]

I realised after I'd logged off last night that a word of explanation was perhaps required. I'm not talking about the concept of a food critic per se. I don't think luxury is bad in itself, and it's handy to know which places are good to eat. However, in the UK the situation has reached the level of food porn. We wallow in endless articles and TV programmes about good food, but :

(i) anywhere half-decent to eat is now ruinously expensive, with cheap eateries generally providing various permutations on offal burgers and fries. In other words, it's another way of reinforcing our lovely class system.

(ii) food critics in the national newspapers are almost universally howling snobs. A typical restaurant review will be for somewhere charging at least £100 for two for a 'normal' meal with cheap wine, and at least two thirds of the review won't be about the food, but where the restaurant is (enabling more snobbery because of course there can be lots of discussion of the social failings of the district) and its decor (an excuse for even more snobbery). When the food is finally discussed, the writer will almost inevitably tell us that he had the same dish far better cooked in France/China/Tibet (depending on the nationality of the restaurant). And all of this is done not with their money, but someone else's.

Basically, food is a social weapon in the UK, and hence my rather severe reaction. Sorry, I should have stressed that it was a reaction to my fellow Brits, not a general one. :b

Incidentally, I refuse to eat foie gras because the method of creating it is unspeakably cruel. I had some before I was aware of how it was produced and to be honest, a large part of the appeal is knowing how expensive it is. Ditto truffles. Both are good, but not that good.

 

[Denward]

I certainly couldn't be a food critic, but I like what Lew said about knowing what you like, but not knowing why or how to put it into words.

One thing that I can recognize is fresh ingredients, and I think that's a key to good food, whether it's cheap or expensive. I think that's something anyone can learn to recognize if you start paying attention. I think a good way is to eat something at at TGIF-type of restaurant and then find something ostensibly similar at a locally owned restaurant that has a reputation for good ingredients. You probably won't pay much more, but the quality should be apparent.

BTW, I don't mean to rag on chain restaurants. I have no objections to eating at them. I'll go to a chain to eat and have a good time, but I'm not expecting a transcendent dining experience.

Another point that was touched on is that restaurant reviews, or any luxury review for that matter, can sound pretentious. Reviews of luxury goods must delve into subtleties. HTF has plenty of threads that fall into this category. Anyone who does not have a foundation in the basic experience can be easily intimidated or put off by the vocabulary of describing subtleties. Unlike the reviews that Andrew reads, I think the restaurant reviews in Louisville do a good job of addressing a moderately sophisticated reader like myself.

This topic came at an interesting time for me. My wife just delivered our second daughter, and she wants to have a big event to celebrate her return to a reasonably normal existence (i.e. have drinks with dinner). We're going to do a chef's table at a really nice place. This is where you sit around a table that's actually in the kitchen and the chef prepares a customized dinner for you and a small group of friends. Each course has a specific matching wine. It's a very personal experience with the chef and I expect to have some great food and learn a lot about food and wine.