This article got me out of bed yesterday….it was a great way to start the day for someone who thinks about food, 24/7, period. To coin a phrase it really is ‘food for thought’. Put the kettle on, sit back and have a read. Let us know what you think in the comments below….
In the second half of the 20th century, western consumers were treated to an unprecedented array of high-quality, low-cost food. Monochrome national cuisines were spiced up by immigration, globalisation and holidays abroad. Increased disposable income turned a restaurant pilgrimage into an everyday jaunt. You could have pain au chocolat for breakfast, a Mexican tortilla wrap for lunch and a Thai green curry for dinner. Farmers’ markets popularised heritage tomatoes. Celebrity chefs took up residence in gastropubs.
Now, I think it’s great that in recent years we’ve woken up to the wonders of fresh, local, home-cooked food. But this new food culture is not quite as it seems. The spectacle of Jamie Oliver, a cheeky lad from Essex, tearing basil leaves on to spaghetti was in some ways a step forward for equality, but in other ways it was a sneaky step back – because it made it that much harder to notice the dodgy doublespeak that has come to dominate the way we talk about food. Continue reading
