Blogger and Safari do not communicate well in terms of giving me the icons that turn this blog into a multi-typeface and linked tool, so you'll have to go look for newspaper item that managed to come in 1st place in my irritation sweepstakes this week. I'll cover the second place winner later, but mosey on over to the NY Times food section and read the article "In Search of Grocery Gems." Or don't if you would like to avoid an itch to track down Julia Moskin and whack her with a shoe.
Right, so the whole point of this article is that Moskin goes to the grocery store, that plebian storehouse of food that appeals to the masses who do not care about their health or food trends and actually finds items she'd deign to eat. Seriously.
The tone of the article is so shocked and smug and the entitlement just oozes. Who the cares what you'd like to eat, Moskin? Guess what? A lot of us are balancing time, money, and a desire to eat stuff that's not too bad for us, quick, tastes good and are just doing the best we can. And the way to do that is *gasp* heading to the supermarket. And not a fancy supermarket either, a Trader Joe's or a Whole Foods, or even the Pathmark near my parents. Hell, I'm a Tops patron because it's open 24/7 and has the lights on, as opposed to the Giant Eagle across the street. I'd go to the West Side Market more often, but I am often unable to quite get myself together enough to go when its open and the traffic and parking is not so bad.
I know I have been a food snob in the past, but I swear this attitude makes me wonder if I could ever move back east or whether I'd last 2 weeks before I'd snap. The Midwest doesn't irritate in quite the same way--I'll pay it that compliment. I think that it's easier out here to lead a stripped down life. Or maybe that's me with no social life. Hmmm.
I didn't go into it last year when I read it, but in a backwards way this article reminds me of what I liked about Julie Powell's book and blog on her Julie/Julia Project. (In case you didn't hear--from 2002-2003, Powell had a mission to cook her way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which she documented in a blog and wound up turning into a food writing career. Very inspiring and totally hilarious.) Unfortunately, the book really made me wonder about Powell herself, but a couple of her observations about food really struck me--one was that the difference between French and Italian cooking styles and why she preferred the French attitude is that for the Italian cook, it's all about getting the best ingredients and turning it into something even more spectacular, while the French worked more in the vein of "This is what we've got, so let's do the best we can to turn it into something good. Where's the butter? " The overwhelming vibe these days is the Italian version--it's got to be locally grown, in season, organic, etc.
And you know what? I just don't care. And this comes from someone who likes to cook, entertain, eat and experiment with food.
Oh, and the other thing: Julie Powell's project ingredients? Mostly bought at the grocery store. Granted, she details how she was almost bankrupting herself buying the necessary amount of wine, cuts of meat that she had to scour the city for and the freaking foie grois, but doesn't that give you hope?
1 comment:
There is actually not so much food snobbery in this area as there is just an appreciation of good food. People prefer to go to the greenmarkets over the supermarket because they are able to buy fresh, in season produce directly from the farmer and support sustainable farming. Also - primarily eating things that are in season *is* living a pared down life.
I haven't read the article in question, but most of the people i know who are conscious about what they buy and where they buy it from do so for social consciousness reasons, not food snobbery. The more you buy from local, small farms, the less you support giant bio-engeneering agribusinesses like Monsanto.
And people do go to the grocery store (or order from Fresh Direct) as well because more than anything this city is about saving time and convenience. No one I know has a robust social life because we all spend most of our lives working or commuting or just doing all the time consuming things that are involved being a New Yorker.
By the way, I don't know how they dress up the Pathmark in Red Bank, but the Pathmark near us is definitely sub-Tops. In fact it has that same nasty smell that Marc's does.
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