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CFD: What is a foodie?
- Thread starter Brad Kane
- Start date
Frank Deis
Frank Deis
One of my little obsessions is an NPR program called Radio Lab, in which Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich discuss various topics which are at least marginally scientific. I like the program enough that I tend to burn episodes to CD and give them to my friends. The first show of the new season was called "Choice". Oh, you can get it for free at the iTunes store or go here:
radiolab.org
In the "Choice" episode they talk to Oliver Sacks about food. He has very obsessive compulsive eating habits and he told a rather disgusting story about kidneys. He went to the butcher and asked for something like 2 pounds of kidneys. And they misheard him and instead packed up TWENTY TWO pounds of kidneys. And he was too shy to point out the mistake so he paid and took them home. And then he embarked on an Augean task, of personally consuming the entire 22 pounds. He tried every conceivable kidney recipe, including sweetened kidneys, and eventually reached a point at which his stomach rejected them and he tossed his kidney cookies and never ate another kidney again.
I suppose the talk about foie gras made me think of that story.
But seriously, listen to Radio Lab!
Frank
radiolab.org
In the "Choice" episode they talk to Oliver Sacks about food. He has very obsessive compulsive eating habits and he told a rather disgusting story about kidneys. He went to the butcher and asked for something like 2 pounds of kidneys. And they misheard him and instead packed up TWENTY TWO pounds of kidneys. And he was too shy to point out the mistake so he paid and took them home. And then he embarked on an Augean task, of personally consuming the entire 22 pounds. He tried every conceivable kidney recipe, including sweetened kidneys, and eventually reached a point at which his stomach rejected them and he tossed his kidney cookies and never ate another kidney again.
I suppose the talk about foie gras made me think of that story.
But seriously, listen to Radio Lab!
Frank
Chris Coad
Chris Coad
I blame Oliver Sacks for my wife going into neurology, instead of becoming the plastic surgeon to the stars that I knew she could've been.
Another lifestyle sacrificed on the glitterless altar of intellectual curiosity. Damn you, Sacks!
Another lifestyle sacrificed on the glitterless altar of intellectual curiosity. Damn you, Sacks!
originally posted by Chris Coad:
I blame Oliver Sacks for my wife going into neurology, instead of becoming the plastic surgeon to the stars that I knew she could've been.
Another lifestyle sacrificed on the glitterless altar of intellectual curiosity. Damn you, Sacks!
Oliver Sacks is an odd bird, to be sure, but I have an abiding fondness for his writing. This was only cemented when I read his memoir, which goes on at length about his love of the Periodic Table (I briefly toyed with the idea of bringing him in as a Chemistry lecturer, mostly so he could admire our 20' tall Periodic Table display with samples of each of the elements), and then taken to new heights when I read his marvelous monograph on his visit to Oaxaca, one of my very favorite places.
Mark Lipton
Putnam Weekley
putnam
foodie is like druggie, right?
I was both, once. And a sand devil. And I learned: foodie is deep play, a way of writing oneself onto the virgin environment. It is imperialism. And the more you hate this truth, the more guilty you are!
Give me my oreo cookie!
I was both, once. And a sand devil. And I learned: foodie is deep play, a way of writing oneself onto the virgin environment. It is imperialism. And the more you hate this truth, the more guilty you are!
Give me my oreo cookie!
originally posted by Thor:
20' tall Periodic Table
Po envy!
(Apologies to polonium.)
As recent events have made clear, it's best not to get on the wrong side of Polonium. Those Slavs are hell on retribution.
Mark Lipton
Jonathan Loesberg
Jonathan Loesberg
I've been fighting the "begging the question" battle for years. The sign that it is a losing one is that most people don't even understand me when I use it "correctly." They also think I'm calling out their morality if I refer to their argument as "vicious." So mostly I've given in to "circular." But I mourn "begging the question."
I've had dinners entirely of foie gras and loved every bite. Feeling food hangover the next day is just the price one pays. Even moderation needs to be abandoned now and again or it becomes excessive.
I've had dinners entirely of foie gras and loved every bite. Feeling food hangover the next day is just the price one pays. Even moderation needs to be abandoned now and again or it becomes excessive.
Sharon Bowman
Sharon Bowman
My favorite is to do a chilled corn chowder, then launch into the foie gras, after. You aren't full, but you feel slightly healthier for that first course.
Conversely, on days after vinous excess, I often eat foie gras to restore my liver, not the reverse.
As wine lovers, we're all Prometheus, anyway.
Conversely, on days after vinous excess, I often eat foie gras to restore my liver, not the reverse.
As wine lovers, we're all Prometheus, anyway.
Frank Deis
Frank Deis
I know that feeling, but not from an entire meal of foie gras.
The beginning of my career as a "foodie" involved cooking my/our way through Julia Child's volumes of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." This was the true classic old French cuisine, and the problem with it was that you could go through amazing amounts of butter and cream. I can't recall specific menus but I know we really liked Coquilles St. Jacques -- in which the scallops are embedded in a cream sauce, and packed into large scallop shells, and studded with butter, and browned in the oven. And we really liked the Supremes de Volaille recipe which involves taking boned chicken breasts and mushrooms and cooking them in heavy cream. And some of the chocolate cakes had four sticks of butter with another stick for the icing. Put those together with a little foie gras and you have a real kick in the head.
I didn't exactly understand it back then, I suppose in my early thirties, it seemed like eating the tastiest food in the world should make your body feel good, but instead I would flop on the sofa and moan quietly... It wasn't until about 10 years later that I got my cholesterol tested and realized that I was exacerbating a situation that was bad to begin with. I could be a lettuce only vegetarian and have shockingly high cholesterol. And eating a "Julia Child Dinner" basically turned my blood into sludge.
So I know I wouldn't do it again, and I think that maybe I would be on Rahsaan's side of this discussion. You can make some awfully tasty dishes based on lentils or whatever, without using a pound of butter, and you can feel good both while eating it and afterwards.
But OTOH when I'm in Paris and I see foie on the menu (and one sees it everywhere) I order it.
F
The beginning of my career as a "foodie" involved cooking my/our way through Julia Child's volumes of "Mastering the Art of French Cooking." This was the true classic old French cuisine, and the problem with it was that you could go through amazing amounts of butter and cream. I can't recall specific menus but I know we really liked Coquilles St. Jacques -- in which the scallops are embedded in a cream sauce, and packed into large scallop shells, and studded with butter, and browned in the oven. And we really liked the Supremes de Volaille recipe which involves taking boned chicken breasts and mushrooms and cooking them in heavy cream. And some of the chocolate cakes had four sticks of butter with another stick for the icing. Put those together with a little foie gras and you have a real kick in the head.
I didn't exactly understand it back then, I suppose in my early thirties, it seemed like eating the tastiest food in the world should make your body feel good, but instead I would flop on the sofa and moan quietly... It wasn't until about 10 years later that I got my cholesterol tested and realized that I was exacerbating a situation that was bad to begin with. I could be a lettuce only vegetarian and have shockingly high cholesterol. And eating a "Julia Child Dinner" basically turned my blood into sludge.
So I know I wouldn't do it again, and I think that maybe I would be on Rahsaan's side of this discussion. You can make some awfully tasty dishes based on lentils or whatever, without using a pound of butter, and you can feel good both while eating it and afterwards.
But OTOH when I'm in Paris and I see foie on the menu (and one sees it everywhere) I order it.
F
originally posted by Sharon Bowman:
My favorite is to do a chilled corn chowder, then launch into the foie gras, after. You aren't full, but you feel slightly healthier for that first course.
Why? Corn is used to fatten animals. It has the same effect on us.
Sharon Bowman
Sharon Bowman
Yes, it's an ironic nod.
Ben Sherwin
Ben Sherwin
What about a deconstructed oreo cookie?originally posted by Putnam Weekley:
Give me my oreo cookie!
originally posted by Frank Deis:
food hangoverI think that maybe I would be on Rahsaan's side of this discussion.
Glad to hear it!
I've never had a food hangover. Or anything close. Maybe it's because I'm too young. Or because I don't eat meat.
originally posted by Thor:
I prefer the Alsatian method of following foie gras with a very large plate of vegetables. OK, those vegetables are themselves covered in a giant pile of pork products, but still...vegetables!
I think they have a similar method in the south. Salade Lyonnaise, greens covered with tasty lardons and crispy croutons fried in pork fat. Really delicious after andoillettes or tripes gratinee or even foie gras. Maybe some St Marcellin after the salad.
Makes me offal hungry just talking about it.
I know what you mean.
I was trying to describe it to a friend, and it scared him a little.
Do you add the poached egg, too?
I didn't know what this was until recently. My wife and I ordered it, wanting something light for lunch after several days of over eating. Oh well, avoiding calories really isn't something to do while travelling anyway.
I was trying to describe it to a friend, and it scared him a little.
Do you add the poached egg, too?
I didn't know what this was until recently. My wife and I ordered it, wanting something light for lunch after several days of over eating. Oh well, avoiding calories really isn't something to do while travelling anyway.