Rise of the Foodies

When I was in eighth grade, my history teacher introduced me to a little show called Iron Chef. This poorly-dubbed, but highly entertaining Japanese cook-off show had little to do with history, but my teacher decided that it simply must find a way into the curriculum. So after our examination on the Revolutionary War one day, our class watched Takeshi Kaga take a rapturous bite out of a red bell pepper to signal the start of a riveting competition where three chefs would compete for the title of "Iron Chef." A dark cloth was ripped away to reveal the secret ingredient of the episode: a tank of octopi waiting to be baked, stuffed, grilled, and sautéed into thirty delectable gourmet dishes in the course of just 90 minutes. 

I was hooked.

Now most TV networks have at least one show dedicated to the food genre. Bravo has Top Chef, Fox has Hell’s Kitchen and TLC has BBQ Pit Masters. Some of the chefs and hosts of these popular shows have reached incredible celebrity status. Chefs like Emeril, Gordon Ramsay, Bobby Flay, Jamie Oliver, Rachael Ray and Anthony Bourdain have become household names and terms such as “EVOO” and “BAM!” are echoed in every kitchen across America.

Food Network now broadcasts almost a hundred different shows including classic cooking competition shows, reality restaurant and bakery shows, shows exploring diners and dives across the country, and a show that explores regional food rivalries, like who has the best cheesesteak in Philadelphia. There’s even a show that busts common myths about food, like whether or not celery has negative calories (no, it doesn’t).

Food and cooking have recently started to dominate other media outlets as well. The magazine rack at my local Whole Foods displays at least ten different food magazines at the checkout line. This month’s issue of Cooking Light shows us twenty different ways to cook pumpkin, including an intriguing recipe for pumpkin ravioli with gorgonzola. It also gives its readers a useful guide for cooking apples: which apples are best for eating, which are best for baking, and which are best for making soups, salsas and sangria. And the October issue of Bon Appetit offers tantalizing recipes like “Peppered Chicken with Pomegranate-Darjeeling Jelly.” I don’t even know what Darjeeling jelly is, but it sounds delicious.

Recipe websites and food blogs are sprouting up all over the internet. In blogs like like Orangette and Zucchini & Chocolate, thousands of followers tune in daily to read the culinary musings and view the mouth-watering photography of food enthusiasts. I think it’s safe to say that our modern culture is obsessed with food. Our epicurean obsession is also manifesting itself in popular literature.

Food has always been a theme in children’s stories, but is just now gaining popularity in adult literature. One of my favorite childhood stories was Strega Nona. Strega Nona is an old Italian witch who owns an enchanted pasta pot. When she casts a spell on the pot, it produces as much pasta as she wishes. Her assistant Anthony witnesses Strega Nona performing the spell one day and decides he will try it when she is gone, but he does not witness her performing the spell that stops the pot from making pasta. So when Strega Nona leaves town and Anthony performs the spell, the pot produces so much pasta that it floods the whole town. When Strega Nona returns, she forces Anthony to eat every last bite of pasta as punishment.

This story is reminiscent of many other childhood stories: take Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory for example, where the children who become carried away by greed and gluttony end up turning into blueberries or nearly drowning in a pool of liquid chocolate. Similarly, in the classic story of Hansel and Gretel, a brother and sister are lured into the home of a cannibalistic witch whose house is made of gingerbread. Then of course there’s Alice, who eats strange mushrooms, and Snow White, who eats a poisonous apple given to her by a stranger.

Unfortunately, most of the children’s stories I grew up with that revolve around food tend to focus on danger and temptation. Only the protagonist in The Very Hungry Caterpillar is rewarded for his propensity to binge eat. Interestingly though, the food books that come to mind for adult readers often portray food in a positive light, symbolizing things like reward, power, healing, happiness and liberation.

In the “Eat” section of the book Eat Pray Love, recently divorced Elizabeth Gilbert tries to rediscover pleasure in Italy by gorging herself on pizza and gelato. She celebrates every pound she gains and every pant size she goes up. In Julie Powell’s book Julie & Julia, a young woman named Julie, who is trying to distract herself from a job where she talks to victims of 9/11, decides to cook every recipe in Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking and write a blog documenting her experience. In Joanna Harris’s novel Chocolat, a woman named Vianne opens up a chocolaterie in a small, conservative village in France. The shop is opened during the season of Lent and the priest in the town forbids his congregation to patronize the shop. In this story, chocolate becomes both a symbol of sin and overindulgence (in the eyes of the priest), and a symbol of pleasure, magic and liberation for those who dare to try it.

Food culture is currently permeating every branch of the media. From TV and magazines to food blogs and fiction, we love reading, watching and hearing about food. And it’s not just because it appeals to our senses. Food is a part of our identity, a symbol of culture, ritual and family. And cooking is a therapeutic and creative process that generates much more than just something to eat.