Skip to main content

PRODUCT: Food for Thought: The Gospel of Food

The food world is abuzz with discussion about books like The Omnivore's Dilemma, and The United States of Arugula, but one book I haven't heard anything about until this morning is The Gospel of Food, by sociologist Barry Glassner, who also wrote The Culture of Fear, about fearmongering. He is a professor at the University of Southern California. I do not hold that against him.

I'm going to disclaim by saying that I have not read this book (although I intend to when I am able). I have only heard the author speak about it, but I think it's an important addition to the commentary and one that should be paid close attention to by people who are interested in the politics and sociology of food.

In an interview I listened to this morning on The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe, Mr. Glassner was interviewed in part about this book.

From what I gathered, this book is about the way people's perceptions about food are manipulated or distorted unintentionally, and also about the dangers of focusing too narrowly on one cause for problems related to food, for example putting all of the blame on the fast food industry or on high-fructose corn syrup for America's obesity, when there are in reality multiple factors that play into any given person's weight, including personal genetics, their social circle, stress levels, socio-economic factors, etc.

In the book he discusses:

  • "Culinary correctness," i.e., assigning moral values to certain kinds of food so that foods become inherently "good" and "bad" when individual qualities that food has become emphasized. This leads to much conflicting information and confusion when it comes to choosing what to eat.
  • "Safe treyf," i.e., a notion he takes from Jewish culture. The term originally refers to New York Jews eating chinese food even though it wasn't really kosher. His example of safe treyf is people justifying their choices of what to eat based on illusory health benefits, such as taking the skin off of their fried chicken or eating a chocolate covered bar labeled "nutrition bar" instead of a candy bar.
  • Marketing tactics of the food industry
  • The relationship between chefs and restaurant reviewers (which is particularly based around the Southern California restaurant scene, from what I gather, and features cameos by Wolfgang Puck, Suzanne Goin, Jonathan Gold, Patrick Kuh, Leslie Brenner and S. Irene Virbila)
  • Restaurant "elitists" at both ends of the spectrum from food snobs at the New York Times who only praise the highest of high-end restaurants to food snobs at Chowhound who only want to eat at the obscurest of holes-in-the-wall
  • A defense of McDonald's; and
  • An exploration of weight and obesity in America
These are all topics I really like to think about. Please if you have any commentary or anything you are dying to discuss, please let me know, I will definitely address it on this blog. I love discussion much more than droning on by myself here so please be controversial if you like.

In the meantime, I am adding this to my unfortunately long "To Read" list and if it comes to the top of my list in the next century or so, I'll follow up with thoughts after reading it.

Comments

Chubbypanda said…
But but but... He's a TROJAN...
tannaz sassooni said…
i have been meaning to read 'the culture of fear' for about 35 years (the fact that that's more years than i have, or the book has for that matter, been alive notwithstanding). i always thought the premise was very important. i'm excited that the author has written a book on food-related topics. i need to add this to the mounting pile of books-to-read. maybe i'll get to it in 35 years.
KT said…
I really want to read both books now as well, but at the rate I am going, maybe we can make a book club in about 35 years and read them.

Popular posts from this blog

NEWS: Angeleno Magazine's Chef's Night Out

Brad A. Johnson of Angeleno magazine, and The Tasting Panel 's Anthony Dias Blue are co-hosting the annual Chef's Night Out and Restaurant Awards to honor local chefs and resterauteurs and to celebrate the release of Angeleno 's food issue. The dinner benefits the Children's Institute, an organization that works with children and families affected by violence, abuse, and trauma. Tickets are $150 for the event (food from the featured chefs with wine and spirits pairings), and $250 for VIP tickets which includes access to a special reception and the awards ceremony. The event will be held at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel and Bungalows this Sunday, July 26. The chefs at the event include: David Myers from Sona, Comme Ça and Pizza Ortica Lee Hefter and Thomas Boyce from Spago Lee Hefter and Ari Rosenson from Cut Susan Feniger from Street Anthony Zappola from Craft Brian Moyers from BLT Steak Ray Garcia from FIG Restaurant Santa Monica Warren Schwartz from Westside Tavern Evan

RECIPE: Serious Eats' Foolproof Pan Pizza

It was love at first sight ... the second I saw J. Kenji Lopez-Alt's Foolproof Pan Pizza recipe ,I was twitterpated. I was definitely going to try to make this and see if it was really proof against this fool. Overall, I think I'm a pretty good cook, but when it comes to trying out new recipes, usually if there's a way I can totally mess it up, I will. Even if I get the actual process right, chances are I'll do something like try to check if the bottom's cooked while the pie is still in the pan and dump the pie all over the kitchen. :( (True story). Well, happy to say Mr. L-A has done it again. You could do worse than compile all his recipes and just use them as your cookbook. He takes a thorough and scientific approach to cooking but also has a way of translating it all for the casual home cook. The recipe was seriously easy - there is a lot of waiting time but very little active effort to expend. It's pretty much just mix the dough, let it rise, mak

ABOUT THIS BLOG

I've been evaluating my blog and have realized that, while I have lots of nifty posts, I don't really have a good overall explanation of what exactly this blog is all about, and what one can expect to find here. So I'm creating this post and will link to it in the sidebar for anyone who's interested. I am not a professional chef. I have not been cooking for years. I am not an expert who is going to make beautiful and amazing and complicated dishes to "wow" you. I am, in fact, quite the opposite. I am a total beginner. I've always lived in places with miniscule kitchens and concerned myself with schoolwork and studying and working and not paid the least bit of attention to what I was eating every day. And that's what this blog is all about. It's about me learning where my food comes from, how to make it properly, and how to enjoy it to the utmost. It's no fun to learn by myself, so I started the blog to keep track of what I learn, kind of like a