Food Blog:
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Miss Tenacity.
New Mexico.
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Tuesday, December 14
Sheehanator
Jason Sheehan is one of the people in the food biz that I look up to. He's somewhat local, has a long background in kitchens, and can write like Level 2 can bite.
But when you want to call yourself a foodie, look out! Here's an exerpt from his column in the 12/2 Westword:
...."people who love the idea of eating out at hip, urban, ethnic eateries, but who are also afraid of accidentally rubbing elbows with any ethnic people not bussing up their plates. In the trade, we've got a name for people like that: We call 'em foodies."
When you talk to someone about your religion - which might be a mish-mash of skepticism and tradition and aversion to organization and darwinism and pragmatism - to someone who believes the 3 flavors are christianity/judaism/heathen, how do you describe yourself? You can't say the whole awful truth to such virgin ears. No, you respond with "agnostic" or "I believe in *something* but mostly I'm spiritual" (and even that latter one is hellfire to explain).
Thusly, if you love food: if you relish spending $.60 in a dive to experience a perfect torta at 2am in Juarez, yet don't blink at the 10 course tasting menu for $100 at an equally memorable establishment well within the US borders. If you are kept up at night plotting the next meal you will cook, and awake early to make it to the best bakery in town, what then are you? Fer chrissake, if you write like this:
"Sure, I felt queasy after Yummy Yummy's tom kha, but you know what? I remember that place. I remember everything about it -- where I was sitting, what was on the TV, what was on the walls I stared at while silently praying not to throw up. Before running afoul of that soup, I'd had a half-dozen really great dishes there -- batter-dipped and deep-fried spinach leaves that I've never seen anywhere else, and green curry that tasted like it'd been made by hands that truly understood what green curry was all about. And to experience any one of those half-dozen dishes again for the first time, I would gladly build myself a time machine, fall backward a week and go through it all over, knowing full well what kind of hell was waiting for me at the end."
...and MEAN it, what are you?
I'm going to guess that Jason would say it doesn't matter. You don't need a "title" to toss around at people. You just do what you do - you live your love of eating, and for those that want a one-word label.... fuck 'em.
Time posted: 14:39 [permalink]
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CONTACT ME: tenacity -at- gmail.com
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