Nossiter's "Liquid Memory"

I'm so sorry. I'll rephrase it: "No one has been reported sick after eating at El Bulli, except Franois Audouze's wife." Come to think of it, I guess there's no restaurant in the world where no one has ever been sick. Thanks for pointing out my penchant for absolutes, Sharon.
 
VS, I did not say that great cooking is a result of sexual repression, but that great cuisines have in the past arisen from this,on the one hand as a source of sensual pleasure and on the other to keep women busy and behaving themselves. As ever, one can eat fantastically well in Spain but that is not the same thing as saying that Spanish has a great cuisine(yet?), which is a philosophy and a way of life, not the cuisine equivalent of 100 points but the equivalent of a great wine producing culture.
I do accept that it's a fruitless debate, though, and as Keith said better suited to Steve Plotnicki's board.
 
originally posted by Tom Blach:
one can eat fantastically well in Spain but that is not the same thing as saying that Spanish has a great cuisine(yet?), which is a philosophy and a way of life, not the cuisine equivalent of 100 points but the equivalent of a great wine producing culture.
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Mmmmmm... I have a sneaky feeling that you haven't crisscrossed Spain much lately, Tom. You should.
 
But, back to Lassiter (who's cellar, by the way is in this new book I wrote, and no, I won't comment on the Pixar cellar).

Caves LeGrand? Okay, I like having lunch at LeGrand, i like the Passage, sometimes there's a decent wine there. I like the salad and the cornichons, it's usually my jetlag lunch, but I am often wine challenged there. I'm surprised he doesn't mention Nouvelles Marie, which I think has always been his favorite wine bar, and they do have some wines that are drinkable there. That aside, most of the book seems to be a repository to say who pisses him off and why so and so are not trustworthy. It was entertaining to hear him try to squelch Jancis, but it came off more like taking revenge.
 
originally posted by VS:
originally posted by Tom Blach:
one can eat fantastically well in Spain but that is not the same thing as saying that Spanish has a great cuisine(yet?), which is a philosophy and a way of life, not the cuisine equivalent of 100 points but the equivalent of a great wine producing culture.
Click to expand...
Mmmmmm... I have a sneaky feeling that you haven't crisscrossed Spain much lately, Tom. You should.
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Admittedly it's been a few years, though I used to spend a lot of time there. I'm not sure you understand me entirely, though, I find the food culture in Spain to be superior to that almost anywhere else in many ways, though I am bored by the new wave.
 
originally posted by Tom Blach:
Admittedly it's been a few years, though I used to spend a lot of time there. I'm not sure you understand me entirely, though (...) I am bored by the new wave.
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I understand you. You believe that only France has a food culture that permeates its whole lifestyle and becomes culture pure and simple, or something of the sort. Me, I agree with Steinberger on the general point that this culture has gone downhill in frightening fashion (and I have the advantage of a long perspective - that of having had my first meals at the then young and creative Troisgros and Bocuse way back in 1968), although I am fully aware that at the top there remains in France a unique legacy of the art and the technique of great cooking, and therefore my overall judgment would be more nuanced than Mike's.

My contention is that Spain and Italy have as much of a cultural devotion to their highly varied culinary traditions as France, but were not considered its equals because they didn't push the envelope, as far as technical refinement and luxury were concerned, as the classic French cooks did. Italy has now been almost fully vindicated on the international scene, and Johnny-come-lately Spain is on the way. In the case of Spain, its leadership in the modern technical field has had an unexpected (for some) side effect: the new spotlight has served to reveal its traditional cuisines to many who had ignored them. They want to eat at Arzak and wind up discovering grilled fish at Elkano...

What's the new wave which bores you? If you haven't been to Spain in years, allow me to say that you don't know it, because its development has been so dizzyingly fast. And if you believe that this "new wave" is restricted to El Bulli and a few El Bulli clones and El Bulli wannabes, then I must say you are very wrong, because the variety of styles and orientations is huge, with most young chefs eschewing sheer experimentation and concentrating instead on building on regional traditions and finding modern expressions for them.

When you say "new wave", are you thinking of Etxebarri in Vizcaya, Can Roca in Gerona, Gaig in Barcelona, Ca Sento in Valencia, El Poblet in Alicante, Las Rejas in Cuenca, El Boho in Toledo, Coque in Madrid, Echaurren in La Rioja? They certainly don't bore me...
 
They want to eat at Arzak and wind up discovering grilled fish at Elkano...
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And may I now add: if one doesn't do both (doesn't have to be Arzak specifically, but something of its like), one has missed something.
 
originally posted by Tom Blach:
Thor, Thai cuisine is a demonstrable product of the Muslim world meeting the Chinese, among many other elements ....
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I think this is mistaken and would like to see the demonstration. Thai culture, in contrast to, say, Vietnam and Korea, is historically relatively little influenced by Chinese culture. There is more influence from Sri Lanka and India. If you eat in the market places, you will find Chinese-style vendors, but they tend to be distinct in style from the Thai ones.

As to great cuisines, I nominate Indian.
 
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