Buddhist Andy Rooney lives!

Anchower, I know. I got a nice cleaver for Christmas. The cinetrix (look for bookoo PHC in the next two weeks at pullquote) and I have been running around like idiots, w/ stops to tell you about in Charleston, Vermont, and ATL. But we're on the way to Boston, so that will have to wait. 

But I will pause to mention a remarkably dimwitted thing that seems to be getting some traction. Sarah Sprague, of Football Foodie fame, sent it along, and I don't have the energy to fisk it, but note: 

1) Ritual evocation of Julia Child as the source of all things good, pure and innocent. (She is, but you don't get to claim her cred just b/c you saw her getting beatified pre-posthumously at the Radcliffe one time. 

2) Discussion of how we have fallen. The hook of the article is how food bloggers sap the joy from food, and then names Gordon Ramsay, reality TV chef shows, the Huffpo, and DI/DO byproduct Food52 as the food bloggers who are the main culprits. Also, those 80s food stylist bloggers. Seriously - as Pete Wells can tell you, food bloggers are the most trollable online community this side of Notre Dame football fans, but the author's issue here appears to be with any technology of media reproduction other than the original papyrus scroll upon which Ms. Child inscribed MTAOFC. 

3) Re-invocation of Julia Child:

Julia’s tribute was held at Radcliffe College, which had amassed the largest collection of community cookbooks in the world. The culinary historians saw these as sociological treasures: anthropological documents that revealed the inner secrets of a neighborhood. Their insight was that ingredients and utensils in recipes provide a financial, educational, and social portrait. This is also true of the Internet’s food blog buffet. On full display is how hungry we are to be seductive and to be number one; how obsessed we are by excitement. Sadly, what’s harder to see or taste is the way to cook.

Evidently,  the author of this piece is a Buddist, and presumably reflects that religion's values. What is remarkable is how much those values resemble those of a late-stage Andy Rooney bit, or a newspaper column from one of those older sportswriters who wears a lock of Stan Musial's hair in an amulet, blaming the NFL's concussion crisis on flouridation.  

I don't think the world needs more food blogs, but there are some good ones -- take the source of this article, for instance -- look at Sarah Sprague's recipes, and you and your friends will have a better time the next time you get together. I would encourage Sandra Garson to get out of the cultural criticism business, and stick to her vegetarian ministry. 

Comments

[D]

Sarah Spragues recipes are wonderful. I have done several and they always surpass my expectations.

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