Lecture 36: The Past as Prologue?
Information about food will ultimately be easier to access, with
workable recipes for a variety of tastes and dietary preferences
provided by trusted authorities. Much the same is true of cookbook
publishing. Despite the proliferation of celebrity chef cookbooks, there
is also a greater number of excellent specialized cookbooks as well as
basic instructional texts. Cookbooks have not and will not go away, if
only because people still need authorities and decent instruction. The general trend of food on television is no longer the cook
standing at the stove. Competitions and reality shows have largely
replaced purely instructional cooking shows, and web-based
instruction and specialized apps will probably eventually replace
the traditional formats. There are other interesting gastronomic trends afoot. In the past
few years, with the downturn of the economy, food has been
getting a lot simpler. Comfort food is featured in magazines more
often. Restaurants are becoming more casual and less expensive,
or they are opening downscale bistros or even food trucks. Lavish
extravagance and exotic rarities have given way to local, fresh,
simple, homey cooking. This turn to simplicity is not just a current
phenomenon, but it has happened many times in history. This new way of cooking is a new kind of sophistication because
it is informed by ethical or environmental concerns or sometimes
health. It serves as yet another way to “distinguish” oneself. In
other words, if everyone can afford to eat at the latest molecular
gastronomy restaurant, it just isn’t that impressive any more, but if
you can source your local, free-range heirloom pig and make home-
cured bacon from it, that gives you a kind of savoir faire. The general trend in the past few decades, or even the past century,
for home cooking has been toward convenience food—what the
industry calls value-added food. Raw ingredients simply do not
make as much profi t as processed ones, so industry experts are
continually fi nding ways to make life easier by coming up with
products that require less and less home preparation.