What is the definition of good food? Fine dining, healthy organic food or a simple meal to survive the day. The definitions vary depending on family to family. For today’s middle class it might mean enjoying exquisite delicacies with wine by their side and tasting the finest food; something they imagine the high class society does every day. However this costs money. It is not only gourmet food that has become expensive but even healthy food. In the article A High Price for Healthy Food By Tara Parker Pope in the New York times, she clearly states that junk foods not only cost less than fruits and vegetables, but junk food prices also are less likely to rise as a result of inflation. Vegetables and fruits are rapidly becoming luxury goods. Even though with the current advancements with the cookbooks in the market, cookery classes being taught or even the cooking shows, it is hard to create the same magic as in a restaurant.
Recently there have been outbursts of various articles and authors who have been trying to give the middle class the pleasures of upper class. Authors and cooking hosts like Jeff Smith, Mario Batali, Nigella Lawson try to remove the notion that excellent food doesn’t require a lot of money. However when looked closer at the shows or the books; the ingredients sometimes cost much more that the actual product. When looked at the lives of famous chefs, they all try hard to get the top position of being a fancy chef at a top restaurant where usually the portions are extremely small, prices very large and that mostly cater to the upper class. As published by the Science daily “People Of Higher Socioeconomic Status Choose Better Diets, But Pay More Per Calorie”. Researchers from the University of Washington compared the eating habits and food costs of a sample of 164 adults in the Seattle, Washington area to prove this fact. In the current generation of the blogging world people have started pouring out their lives on the internet. Various housewives have stated their opinion that in the working middle class eating out even is only possible one in a while. What they do to solve this problem of having the same- old cooked meals at home is follow the cookbooks and cookery shows which give them the idea that they can cook fabulous, exquisite meals at home at very cheap prices. However hard they try it never tastes the same and usually they end up either throwing it or wasting a lot of money in just buying the ingredients. The recipes always end up on being altered to ones comfort in making it with very little left of the original dish. On a lighter note famous Tv host Jay Leno defined a newly tried recipe as - A series of step-by-step instructions for preparing ingredients you forgot to buy, in utensils you don't own, to make a dish the family frowns upon.
One might say that atleast the world has developed and is in a better place than it was earlier, but if thought about one could actually see that the situation hasn’t changed so much in terms eating a good meal. During times of the great depression, or in the colonies of Britain and France the price tag on even decent meals was very high. A good meal for any middle class family was just a loaf of bread, few pulses and few glasses of milk or coffee in winters. Even for this they needed money and getting everything wasn’t affordable even for the middle class.
In the current economic situation families have started to consider dining out as once in a month ritual. People have started writing about how to save money on groceries, or even how to save money on food. Authors like Ruth Reichl, Frank Bruni in their books have even written down their own experiences on how fine dining only serves to the upper section of the society. The common public, when get the chance to enjoy the luxury can’t distinguish between the good and the bad that exists in fine dining and lose a lot of money in just trying to be satisfied by the rich man’s meal they ate.
You have increasing poverty and increasing wealth. Fine food is one way to dispense with a lot of money... It's understanding that our daily choices about food connect us to a worldwide economic system. And that economic system -- not scarcity -- creates worldwide hunger for millions of people.
It’s a known fact that money is needed to sustain. Good food for the lower income families might be a satisfying meal which also costs a lot for them. Families that live below the poverty line dream of having hot meals and fresh food which for them is good food; not dining in restaurants that are top notch; but for that to the money they earn isn’t enough.
With the current headlines like “Empty Tables Threaten Some Restaurant Chains” from the CNBC news, prove the point that with the slumped economy and no money people have reduced dining in classy restaurants. Famous five star restaurants all over the world have reported this. There was a big boom of eating out, of famous restaurants being completely booked for months, but now there’s a complete twist showing that high-quality dining comes at a costly price. Restaurants have even tried to counter it with deep discounts, lower-priced menus and other creative measures to entice their customers to patronize their fancy places. However with no apparent luck.
The oxford dictionary defines a gourmet as a connoisseur of fine food and drink which involves high-quality or exotic ingredients and skilled preparation. In various sections of her book Ruth Reichl describes how being a gourmet herself, she understand that the hundred dollar meals that she has is not something that can be afforded by the common people. Infact people are coming up with cost cutting strategies while dining in fancy restaurants. For example suggestions like “drink tap water instead of bottled” or “The cost of bread is usually worked into the bill, but if it isn't, consider avoiding it entirely - you'll only fill up on empty carbs with no room for the main event, which you're actually paying for” have been put forward so that people can try and enjoy fine dining for less showing that a compromise is after all needed.
People might still say that good food might just be when a person is satisfied with what he or she eats, but it’s a known fact that it’s just human nature to expect more, to desire more as that’s what drives ambition on which the general economy works.
The television serves an important medium in today’s world to communicate with everyone. The television and film industry have tried showing both sides of the story. Cooking shows like Racheal Rays 30 minute meals, Martha Stewarts shows; show how to cook everyday meals nothing exquisite rather something, fast and easy. On the other hand shows like The French Chef(Julia Child) or The Naked chef by Jamie Oliver show meals with ingredients that are either hard to get or cost a fortune to buy in today’s market. Even films like ‘No reservations’ have shown that a high class restaurant mainly caters to the rich upper class.
Recent surveys carried out by The Times of New York showed that of the 10,311 people surveyed, 48 percent said they only dined out when it was a special occasion; 42 percent said they ate out at less-expensive venues; and 22 percent skipped appetizers or desserts. Another 19 percent cut back on alcohol, and 7 percent shifted from bottled water to tap to save money. In a city like New York where more than half is mainly middle class, shows that fine dining only serves as a once in a while opportunity and when given that opportunity cut backs are necessary. Such observations were also seen not only in America but also the major metropolitan cities of the world like Frankfurt, London, Paris. These statistics prove that it is not easy for the middle sections of the social hierarchy to enjoy good food regularly.
With all the evidences provided it might still be questionable as to whether this is truly what the general public feel? The answer is yes. People all over the world are trying to come up and voice opinions be it through the net, newspaper, videos or magazines, all sort of media available.
Throughout the years this socio economic divide has existed and the current situation isn’t so promising but everyone hopes that the future isn’t soo bleak that one is devoid of enjoying the finest meals prepared by mankind.
References: http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/debt_free_family/41631
http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/gourmet?view=uk
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/a-high-price-for-healthy-food/
http://www.timeoutsydney.com.au/restaurants/sydneysbestfood/fine-dining-for-less.aspx
http://www.cnbc.com
http://www.marketcommonblog.com/2009/10/frugal-fine-dining-menus-trim-fat-off.html
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