The dollars and sense of food.

We have to take issue with DuckworkerMike, with his rather rude words about English cooking after reading the "Food" item on Brit chef Gordon Ramsay: Of course sweeping generalizations of dubious worth are the very lifeblood of the Fray, but you don't want to get on the wrong side of the English Fray Editor that way. And no, we're not repeating his insults—go and look if you must. However, we might let Mike off because we like the sound of his asparagus recipe. There are quite a few recipes and tips in the thread here: Don't read while hungry. Garlic mashed potatoes, pilaf, salad, butterflied stuffed lamb, grilled or roasted, scrambled egg and couscous (together? Yes), and here, shrimp ceviche (warning: tempting hints but no recipe). There was a discussion on the availability or otherwise of ingredients: One day the conclusion to these loooong threads might be that you can't get those weird things in the big city, but come to my local 7-Eleven and you'll be fine. That day has not yet come. The thread turns up with every Slate article on cooking, so we also saw it here last week with Sara Dickerman's item on food writers and money. In fact, did anyone care much about Gordon Ramsay? Well Nutmiffin did, in a way: "Yeah, Americans will read the book while eating a Big Mac, over discussions like; 'how much does this guy make a year?'" But a thread about Rachel Ray ("grating, hyperactive munchkin chef"—no, jbtowers, tell us what you really think, though we're not repeating your mean hope for her and the knife) generated more heat about its subject, along with detailed discussions of her methods.

Ttimms56 had some good advice: "always look at the picture of the author of the cookbook that claims healthier food, if the author is plump I have to wonder about the book." And Margaretnelsonwest—a true Fray character—made one of her mysterious comments: "I will never clean a bird that was brought to me even if he owns the estate and that is that." We keep grasping for meaning, and we think it's there—there's certainly something rather British about it, a touch of Masterpiece Theater.

One other question did arouse strong feelings: kitchen scales, "impossibly frou-frou accessory" or vital kitchen equipment? And yes, we do all have them and use them all the time in the United Kingdom, and when you tell us what kind of a useful measurement a "cup of cold butter" is, we'll stop.

Back to the Dickerman article, and food journalist Judith Weinraub came in to defend her colleagues against the charge that they did not deal with money issues carefully enough when writing about cooking:

Reporters writing in food sections are supposed to report, not opine…I do agree that people have to cook--not with haute cuisine culinary skills, but with basic skills that can take advantage of seasonal produce and less expensive proteins. And that can be a problem for people used to relying on the commercial food system. As for actual dollars and cents, that can be (and is) done in general terms. But stories that do that with hard numbers will always risk being wrong, depending on where readers shop, and how often prices change. These are all complicated issues, and of course the press should reflect readers' concerns or just plain what readers want to read about. I share similar concerns about food costs and how to serve readers best, but it's just too easy to damn the so-called food press.

Completing Food and Drink week in the Fray, there was the kosher wine article—we've read le-idiot's post several times and still can't tell if he's serious. The first part is a quote from someone else's wine review, so scroll down to the bit about "penetrated my tooth enamel, regrew my tonsils and finally pulled my small intestines onto the floor of my mouth; lifted my tongue to my palate so it could both escape the relentless flow and prevent projectile vomiting; and the long, long finish that complemented both the texture of the shag rug and cat hair on the sofa...let me tell you -- it just doesn't get any better!" We're thinking that Passover went well in his house.  MR … 17.00 p.m. GMT

Friday, April  25, 2008

Earlier this week, Will Saletan covered PETA's latest initiative: a $1 million dollar prize offered to anyone who develops a commercially viable "in vitro chicken-meat product." For the entrepreneur lucky enough to win, phil_white99 already envisions the publicity campaign:

look at the free marketing that this future company already got (and will continue to get) from PETA! Imagine Pamela Anderson chowing down on lab-created chicken breasts on YouTube, while shaking her lab-created human breasts.

p_w99's enthusiasm for the idea put him in the minority. Skeptics mostly ruled the roost, so to speak, in Science Fray, egged on by Daniel Engber's derision of the PETA prize as nothing more than a publicity stunt. Firstearth_wiccan, then quillsinister explain why lab-grown meat will never be comparable to the real thing. sepiaprincess gets queasy over "Frankenmeat," while lotsy00 evokes "Chicken Little," the lab meat product in 1953 sci-fi classic The Space Merchants.