Food porn
Mario here:
What I'm reading:
Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal by Jeanette Winterson.
Years ago I first saw that a digital camera had been installed in a cell phone. At the time I thought it was frivolous attachment, but it didn't take long to appreciate what a stroke of genius that was. Remember the communicator in Star Trek? Wouldn't it have made sense to install a camera in those? Tom Wolf once wrote a short story set in the near future where everyone carried a camera or a video recorder...in their hats.
With a camera so handy, people are ready to take photos of everything. What especially surprises me is that people take pictures of their food. Why? I think it's to both document and share the experience. The plate arrives, and we take a moment to appreciate the presentation--the colors, the texture, the promise of gastronomical Nirvana. A good serving skewers you not only in the gullet but also in the head with a bayonet charge of endorphins. The photos are battle ribbons in our collective campaign for the perfect slice of heaven.
"A true gastronome should always be ready to eat, just as a soldier should always be ready to fight."
Charles Pierre Monselet (1825-1888)
French journalist and author.
For example, pizza and a flight of beer. Passport to pleasure.
What more appropriate dish on a cold afternoon (with more than a little alcohol confusing the internal gyroscope) than an exquisite serving of apple pie a la mode at Sam's No. 3? The crust--so flaky. The filing--so warm and perfectly seasoned. The ice cream--in such cosmic balance with the pie. The coffee--so hot and full-bodied. The right combination to prop me upright enough for a second round at the bar.
Whatever her faults (and there are many), Jeanne knows that nothing lubricates a writer's muscles better than a rum cocktail.
Labels: beer, cocktails, Nirvana, Star Trek