Starbucks 'Trenta': How The New Size Compares To Your Stomach
Famous Death Row Last Meals
Interesting piece over at Slate from Paul Levy, about the state of food writing. He says that food writing today is too "macho," and filled with too many "foodie shock jocks" who swear and write too casually (he singles out Anthony Bourdain, Gordon Ramsay, and Bill Buford).
The food writing that's in vogue today consists chiefly of a bellow of bravado. It's a guy thing, sure, but (with a few honorably hungry exceptions) these scribblers mostly ignore what's on the plate. They view themselves as boy hunters and despise sissy gatherers, thrive on the undertow of violence they detect in the professional kitchen, and like to linger on the unappetizing aspects of food preparation. The gross-out factor trumps tasting good as well as good taste.
Hmmm...really? I think one of the good thing about this increased interest in food and all the food blogs is that you hear a lot of different voices. There's plenty of the stuff Levy likes still be written. Even here at Slashfood we try to mix up the voices a bit.
What do you think? Does Levy have a point?
[via The Grinder]
Jane Seymour's Modest And Modern Style
Broke Stars: 11 Celebrities Who Went Bankrupt
LOOK: Amazing Underwater Photos Of Dogs
Adele Five-Year Break? Singer Plans to Focus on Relationship, Write 'Happy Record'
Social Security Is Failing Even Faster Than We Thought
PHOTOS: How You Can Get The 'Miracle' Dress
Man Says Starbucks Discriminated Against Him Because He Has Half An Arm
Chris Brown, Grammys 2012: Embattled Singer Slams Critics
Janice Dickinson's Outrageous Style
Ford's clever Sports Illustrated Swimsuit ad features phantom model
3 Economic Misconceptions That Need to Die
Photos Of Dead Lacrosse Player's Injured Body Shown To Jury
Trace Adkins Reunites With College Crush, 30 Years Later
Van Gogh's Starry Night modded into beautiful interactive light and sound show (video)
PHOTOS: Model Falls At Dennis Basso Show
'Hooker Teacher' Forced To Resign, Now Can't Find Work
Lauren Scruggs Goes On Ski Vacation
WATCH AND LAUGH: Cops In 2-Hour Standoff With Empty Car
New Clues, Details Emerge In Powell Case
Woman's Dead Fiance Is Behind Her Disappearance: Cops
Stephen Wiltshire Draws Cities From Memory
PHOTOS: Remembering The People's Ballerina
We Meant There WERE Nukes In The Fire
9-21-2007 @4:51PM Ryan said... I thought he was whining. I couldn't imagine what he was talking about, and he had hardly any examples to back him up. I've never seen any "shock jock" style food reviews in any newspaper.
Reply
9-21-2007 @5:11PM Alex said... Two words: Nigel Slater. Paul Levy should read Nigel's writing and re-assess.
My criticism would be that, while many food blogs offer interesting and different views, far too many indulge in sloppy writing. Spelling, grammatical and punctuation errors appear to be de rigueur and call in to question the author's authority.
Reply
9-22-2007 @1:31AM olaamigoquepasa said... Weak complaint in my opinion. I say this as a fan of Bourdain who does find him a bit much from time to time. Buford didn't come off as macho or crude to me at all. Maybe I am just too coarse myself. Anyway, there are plenty of other food writers at work today with totally different styles.
Reply
9-21-2007 @11:21PM JDG said... This borders on ridiculous for me. The fact that food criticism has come to the masses is pissing the elitist writer snobs off is annoying. It also contributes to the tone that food criticism in the past has taken, which has turned many people off to the finer points of cuisine and the dining experience.
Overall...annoying.
Reply
9-22-2007 @3:12PM phantom.trollbooth said... I spent 12 years in kitchens and Bourdain and his ilk are spot on. Sorry if that leaves the delicate little elitists clutching their pearls and reaching for the smelling salts, but that's how it is, bitches.
Reply
9-23-2007 @9:47AM Ace said... Levy isn't completely incorrect in his assessment. While I like Bourdain, I would like him to turn down the Hemingway bravado he displays. This is actually what makes watching his show completely unbearable for me. He's a fantastic cook, but I find his persona immensely grating. And, I've tried to watch no reservations at least 20 times only to find myself getting bored at his antics, much in the same way that I get bored reading hemingway. Yea, I already know, I don't have a pulse or a sense of excitement. Save me the excoriation.
But, that said, Bourdain's crassness has brought food into the mainstream and made it more acceptable. Being a foodie was like being in heaven's gate: it was an impenetrable cult of snobbery and elitism. Instead, as Bourdain has shown through his travels, being is a foodie is about loving food. And, a lot of people around America love food. They cook for their friends, family. They search for new restaurants and new experiences. That's what being a foodie is about on a very basic level. That's not too unreasonable to assume.
Actually, Bourdain's tone probably forced snobs like Levy to actually write at a level that everyone could understand. I went to college (like everyone else in my generation; I'm 23) and his references went over my head. I could only imagine what would happen when people who liked food but didn't go to college or read tons of victorian literature read his column. I bet they stopped and became discouraged to explore a world that's fairly easy to become involved in.
So, while Bourdain is crass, he has also ushered in a new egalitarianism into food writing, making it no longer the domain of pretentious English Ph. D's and snooty bluebloods with a talent for making dense, serpentine sentences like Levy. Will this be for the long-term benefit of everyone? We will see. But, for the time being, it seems to be a good thing.
Reply
9-24-2007 @10:23AM jsmylie said... Modern food writing is not "better" or "worse" than old food writing; it is simply different, and since there's a wider audience now different people enjoy different things.
Levy is just whining.
Reply
9-24-2007 @11:40AM Adriane said... I think there's a fine balance between romantic food writing and more gritty, or as Levy puts it "male" food writing. Yes, food and the related is beautiful, sensual, exotic, comforting, etc...but it's also demanding, unappetizing, dangerous at times, hard work. That is what makes it so great! There is a place for the Bourdains and Childs (did you ever see how she manhandled a chicken? haha) but in the same breath there is also one for speaking flowery words about Tuscany in summertime or the Lavendar fields of Provance.
What there isn't room for, however, are the Levy's of the world who believe food and food writing must be a certain way, and the silly stereotypes that women would 1- be appauled by a man cooking/writing about food 2-Only like the romanctic, delicate side of it all. Levy is naive enough to believe that food is simply about "what's on the plate" and those who enjoy it only those who can recall Shakespeare and know all the 'in' jokes.
Next he'll be saying Hunter S. Thompson is crap...no, excuse me.. he'll be saying something much more petulant incuding obtuse puns he hopes his readers won't understand, just to bolster his own ego. UGH.
Reply
9-24-2007 @11:41AM Adriane said... I found a except from Bourdains "Nasty Bits" and thought it fit rather well with this discussion. Here he's speaking about sitting down to a meal with an inuit family, dining on raw seal caught just that day:
"Words fail me. Again and again. Or maybe it's me that fails the English language. My depiction of the day's rather extraordinary events is workmanlike enough, I guess…but, typically, I fall short. How to describe the feeling of closeness and intimacy in that otherwise ordinary-looking kitchen? The way the fifteen-year-old daughter and her eighty-five-year-old grandmother faced each other, nearly nose to nose, and began "throat singing," first warming up with simultaneous grunts and rapid breathing patterns, then singing, the tones and words coming from somewhere independent of their mouths, from somewhere…else? The sheer, unselfconscious glee (and pride) with which they tore apart that seal -- how do I make that beautiful? The sight of Charlie, blood spread all across his face, dripping off his chin…Grandma, her legs splayed, rocking, rocking a crescent-shaped chopper across blubber, peeling off strips of black seal meat…How do I make them as sympathetic, as beautiful, in words as they were in reality?"
Reply
9-24-2007 @11:54AM Adriane said... wow...I mean lavendEr in ProvEnce...including...excerpt. sheesh! Sorry for the mass amounts of typing errors.
Reply
9-24-2007 @12:55PM Akamila said... The food writers Levy criticizes certainly bring a new style and flair to food writing. If it gets people interested in cooking and where their food comes from that's great. I liken the criticism of the "boy hunters" to people who like to eat meat but don't what to know anything about the slaughterhouse. If we all had to kill out food with our bare hands and teeth, most of us would be vegetarians. Actually, maybe that's what we need: more vegetarian food writers (girl gatherers?) to balance the boy hunters.
Reply
10-12-2007 @1:24PM Randy said... I have to say as a guy that only works the microwave well that Anthony has brought me a new interest in food. I love the places he trevels.
Reply