Food is one of the basic necessities of life. It is one of the few constants in human life. At the dawn of human civilization it was the epicentre of the growth of some of the most impressive human achievements. A regular water supply for food production led to the rise of civilizations like Ancient Egypt on the Nile, Harappa on the Indus and China. It can safely be said that farming and agriculture is the most important invention of man after the wheel. It was the shift from nomadic lifestyle to an agricultural one that actually led to the start of human civilization. The advent of agriculture promised a continuous supply of food and therein started the foodie culture. A foodie as defined by my trusty pocket Oxford is “a person with a particular interest in food; a gourmet”. Even in those days eating for pleasure was very common. The Greeks and Romans are a perfect example of the foodie culture. There is one thing about them that is still the same as today. The foodies in those times were limited to the ber rich aristocrats. Enjoying and savouring food was left to the rich, while the rest of the people tried to make ends meet.
This glance at history is important to grasp the concept and extent of the underlying argument of this thesis. Enjoying food as a luxury is still left for those who have earned the right to kick back and relax, in other words those who have the time and money to spare. This does not include 95% of the world population, who are still bound by the rules of the competition of life and certainly not the remaining 50% who are insecure where their next meal is coming from. Everything in todays world is governed by two very important things; time and money.
Our society today is ruthless. We live in a dog-eat-dog world, where life is a competition and only the fastest and smartest lead the pack. The foodie culture is hence at a decline. From the earliest of times it was reserved for the cream of society and today it is even more so. It is assumed that being a foodie means sampling good food. It means assaulting your taste-buds with cuisines from all over the world in search of those delicacies that can give you a moment of content. But it also means shelling in a lot of money to continue your journey. Foodie is sometimes synonymous to being a critique. You are assumed to be a taster for different kinds of food. And different kinds of food can only be found in different places, mostly restaurants. In todays economy inflation is the biggest worry for people. Eating out at a restaurant can not be made into a usual routine. Cooking at home is at a steady decline, it being inefficient and time-consuming. The age of fast-food came and conquered mankind. It catered to the two most important things to humans pertaining to food. It was cheap and it appeased our taste-buds. Slowly people began to forget about eating at home or family meals in restaurants. Take-away and pre-cooked meals became their new lunch and dinners. Food began to lose its importance.
A perfect example of the lack of importance that food is given can be cited from my own house. I belong to a middle-class family, and my father is a civil servant. He does have a routine 3 meals a day. But the very minimal diet of fruits he has surprises me everyday. He looks at food in two very different and opposing ways. It is a necessity, but at the same time it is a speed-bump in a tight work schedule. His attitude towards food is reflected by middle-class family bread-earners around the world. The only difference is, his fruits is replaced by take-away and ready-to-eats. But more importantly it is the financial aspect of being a foodie that is a deterrent. And this misconception cant be blamed on the public itself. The blame goes to society’s biggest influence, media. Nowadays we see TV cooking shows that give a wrong idea to people. It tells them that even though you can cook “good” food at home, it needs the proper equipment and the best of ingredients. For example the TV show Iron Chef America based on its japanese counterpart introduces itself as a summation of excellent chefs who have undergone years of training, who work with “the best” ingredients and in a workspace straight out of a 7 star restaurant. All this spells out extravagance in a big way. Even though it leaves the viewers salivating, it also makes them feel like they are day-dreaming. To grasp the concept of buying peking duck from a local grocery store seems preposterous even in the dream like trance the wonderful food on the shows create on the viewers. It further strengthens the persons belief that good food requires a lot of money.
Among these problems there is one more thing that is a constant deterrent to wannabe foodies. Every thing in todays world is governed by media. The amount of media attention given to gourmet cuisine just happens to make it more expensive. Restaurants start increasing prices as they become more famous. The fact that general cost of living is increasing at a rapid rate doesn't help. Transportation costs for exotic ingredients, handling charges are some of the various reasons given by them to exploit their patrons. All these conditions imposed on them drive the people away from even trying to indulge in the finer aspect of food. Some people may even start to become cynical. This is due to the constant barrage of misleading information thrown at them. No one trustworthy source is ever available to clear the air. Every company, restaurant or critic is only concerned about his product, establishment and/or job. One such example could be the latest fad of organic food. Organic food, fruits and vegetables grown without any use of pesticide and fertilizers, in other words contaminant free. With the uproar about the level of dangerous chemicals present in our food, people were forced to organic food which on an average was three times more expensive than regular food. So people were forced to pay more money for something that was present since the dawn of human civilization; good old fashioned farming. Then news broke out proving that organic was no better than any other food item, making consumers angry and further skeptical.
So we come up with three things that make foodie culture difficult for majority of the people inhabiting this earth to take up and follow. Lack of money, lack of time and basic human skepticism. Not much is done to carry on this dying breed of dedicated foodies. Restaurants have fund a niche with the rich clients. They make no effort to extend this exclusivity to include the middle-class. They make it very obvious who they are catering to and give no importance to an occasional out of the place middle class client. Several cases can be found in which a known restaurant critic is showered with attention by the staff at the restaurant whereas the general public is left fuming in their seats waiting for their “extravagant” meal. All that such food establishments care about nowadays is setting up an impeccable brand value in the beginning and reaping the profit and benefits later on. Being a foodie in todays world is a tough hobby unless you are paid for it, but then you become a food critic. Rising costs, negative media coverage and profit mongers make enjoying good food more and more difficult. One must just remember that all that glitters is not gold and the best food is not found in the best restaurant, it is this search of good food that makes you a foodie.
Bibliography
TV Shows : Iron Chef
Articles : The Price of Good Taste - Daniel Gross (Newsweek)
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