Skip to main content

Fashion in Food

This started with a comment this week in my techie group at work... It was about foam, as it's been 'fashionable' recently... (and the comment was take it off the food please! Or maybe the please was omitted?) Not one for 'fashion' (in couture perhaps yes though not cuisine) au contraire, I've always been one to put flavour first. While I enjoy thoughtful and new food combinations, and I revere craftsmanship I cannot create at home without the restaurant's brigade of chefs, I tend to the honest, not the fashionable. Over the years I have observed a number of food trends. Nouvelle cuisine, comfort food (sticky date pudding, lamb shanks, boeuf bourguignon), food from different regions of the globe (Moroccan, Italian, Vietnamese), different fashions in plating (piped sauces, stacked food, food served in bowls that make it hard to eat) ... The trends absorbs us ... Some of the latest flavour combinations (unlike those by the truly inspired such as Alain Passard) are enough to send you running out of the restaurant fast. There is good reason that certain food combinations have been historically married for such a long time (mostly because the food grew in the same region, and was seasonal at the same time). The unflavoursome combinations have ended (and should end) quickly in divorce. Some other combinations are classical and have just been buried; now rediscovered, hidden treasure are again reigniting our palates! Food produce has also moved in and out of favour; take the humble beetroot, rhubarb, quinces, and figs. Until recent years I felt at times isolated, having been weaned on these foods, they were favourites. They were certainly not food to serve to my guests, or food I would find at the restaurant table. That table has turned, and I feel like I've come of age now my favourites are in fashion (the benefit is this makes them available). Stepping back even further is fascinating too. I've also got quite a collection of vintage cookbooks that proudly display aspic covered chicken, in fact jellied everything! Ruffled white overcoats for rack of lamb, vandyked oranges, cubed cheese the list goes on ... Each decade has had its own food presence, the statement that has matched the other fashions in architecture, clothes, art and design. Changes in economy are enforcing new thinking, and will encourage new 'trends' too. The return to fresh and seasonal that many of us have been promoting for sometime, will now be the way forward for other reasons. What will the new decade bring? To my colleagues, I propose that foam will not last. Will we see a return to honesty in all things including food?
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Boeuf Bourguignon (Inspired by Julia Child)

This week was an exciting moment in the food blogging world as the movie Julie & Julia opened. (here in Australia we've still got a couple of months to wait though ... and my fingers are tapping the kitchen table impatiently). The movie features two stories: the memoirs of Julia Child and the story of food blogger Julie Powell cooking her way through Julia's recipes. One of the things I'm delighted about with the movie is that it features some of my French (classic) favourites. They've never gone out of style with me. They are the dishes I taught myself as a teenager and have been cooking ever since. Every winter since I first cooked this recipe, I've warmed family and friends with Boeuf Bourguignon. Here's my adaptation using mustard, not flour, for thickening. Where possible, for added depth of flavour, I prepare a day ahead of eating, and start preparations with the marinade the day before that. Boeuf Bourguignon 1.5 kg (3 1/2 lbs) casserole beef ...
7 comments
Read more

Paper Bag Cookery - En Papillote

There's something delightful about receiving a parcel. It's the discovery process in the opening that enchants. This holds true also for food. Cooking in parchment paper, ...... en papillote in French or al cartoccio in Italian, was one of the earliest cooking techniques that I experimented with as a child. Perhaps I was enchanted (then as now) with the hidden treasures of aromas and taste. When the best of the season's ingredients are folded in a pouch (of parchment, bag or aluminium foil) and then baked, the flavour is captured within and released as the parcel is opened. One of my most memoriable parcels was Tuscan perfection at Cibreo in Florence and provides the perfect example of cooking with this technique. A parcel of aluminium foil arrives at the restaurant table. The simple package is opened to reveal flat wild mushrooms, which had been baked in a little oil, and tickled with a few fresh herbs. All the flavour, all the aromas were retained. Simple! Delicious! M...
3 comments
Read more

CSIPETKE (Hungarian Pinched Noodles)

I love sharing food with friends, and cooking for them, and there is no greater honour than being invited into a friend's home and having them cook in a labour of love to share with me. A couple of weeks ago I spent a leisurely Sunday lunch in the home of my friends Georgie and Janos. That day they treated me to homestyle Hungarian fare. I've never made Csipetke, and they've been kind enough to give me a lesson, shared here with you. They even took the photo.   Csipetke: home made pasta for soups   80g continental flour  1 small egg salt  Mix flour with egg and knead until firm dough forms. Sift a little flour on a hard surface and roll dough with a rolling pin until it is 1mm thick. Dip your fingers into flour and pinch small pieces from the dough (about 5mm x 5mm). Add small pieces of dough to boiling soup (such as gulyas soup) or boiling salty water. It is cooked when it comes to the surface (about 2 - 3 minutes).  If we're lucky maybe they'll share the...
3 comments
Read more