Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Food and drink

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  • Russell Brown,

    The problem is your recipe, not the difficulty in making falafel. If you follow some jumped wannabe recipe then you wear the cost.

    Dude, that was verbatim from the link you posted to try and prove your own argument. I didn't make up any fancy-ass Grey Lynn falafel recipe.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report

  • giovanni tiso,

    Easier just to use than try and make up a neologism, tho. And it is in commonish usage somewhere else I comment, so.

    Internet acronyms: they're the ready-made sauces of human expression.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Keir Leslie,

    Internet acronyms: they're the ready-made sauces of human expression

    Too true.

    Since Jul 2008 • 1452 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    food in a minute "cannelloni" on the telly which drove me to instant despair

    Would you like a cup of chino with that, sir?

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Danielle,

    food in a minute "cannelloni" on the telly which drove me to instant despair

    I assume this is the same despair I feel when people call fish soup 'gumbo'?

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report

  • giovanni tiso,

    food in a minute "cannelloni" on the telly which drove me to instant despair

    Would you like a cup of chino with that, sir?

    No, in fact coffee here is great, it completely cramps whatever feeling of jingoistic snobbery I thought I would be harbouring before emigrating to this fair land. It's how they were making those things... oh, the humanity!

    I assume this is the same despair I feel when people call fish soup 'gumbo'?

    My life is better because I had a real gumbo once.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Kerry Weston,

    Dude, I cut that out and pinned it to my wall. Oh, hang on. This isn't the rock journalism thread is it?

    Did you make a copy and iron it?

    Manawatu • Since Jan 2008 • 494 posts Report

  • Joe Wylie,

    Fizzy drink gas bottle

    Welding gas! Surely your tongue will cleave to your palate?

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report

  • Danielle,

    My life is better because I had a real gumbo once.

    You, unlike me, have local access to Sweet Mother's Kitchen. Their gumbo is actual gumbo!

    Charo World. Cuchi-cuchi!… • Since Nov 2006 • 3828 posts Report

  • Stephen Judd,

    Actually, brown bread and cabbage and the odd bit of animal protein you can afford or nick probably is fairly healthy -- it's just very monotonous and not really what I'd call a cuisine.

    Damn near everything I cook at home now could be considered a pseudo-mediterranean local take on cucina povera, but we have a lot of fruit and vegetable resources that would have been hard for any poor person to find in 19th century London or Riga, fresh or preserved.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 3122 posts Report

  • giovanni tiso,

    You, unlike me, have local access to Sweet Mother's Kitchen. Their gumbo is actual gumbo!

    Ohhhh... that is the kind of news that could add pounds to my life. Soon I shall be portly.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report

  • Joe Wylie,

    Yep, its the same CO2 as fizzy drink fizz (not good for emphysema). CO2 welds are less attractive than argon but more reliable. It's good to look at these things when your about to get onto fair ground rides.

    Good to know. I have three brothers, all of whom are accomplished welders. I, alas, have proved to be a complete klutz with both gas and arc.

    flat earth • Since Jan 2007 • 4593 posts Report

  • JackElder,

    Repurposing industrial gasses is great. It's the same chemical composition, no matter what size container it comes in, right? I had a friend who, in the mid '90s, set up her own small catering company. This was for two reasons:

    1) At the time, Moore Wilsons only gave out cards to companies rather than to individuals, and the ability to buy rice in 10kg bags easily was tempting for a student.

    2) You could also buy "catering supplies" from Moore Wilsons. Such as supplies of the gas used to produce instant whipped cream/chocolate mousse. That gas better known by its chemical name, nitrous oxide.

    So from the seeds of a small, only-on-paper catering company, a mighty legacy of sitting in the corner at parties sucking on an industrial whipped cream dispenser and laughing uproariously grew. Great fun.

    Wellington • Since Mar 2008 • 709 posts Report

  • Brickley Paiste,

    unless you count cornstarch in one of them

    Funny, because the entire first chapter of Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma" is a engrossing essay on corn and its multitude of uses.

    Many people say sushi is hard

    Bad example. Sushi is piss easy.

    Meta-comment: this thread has now become breathtakingly awesome. I cannot see the words 'proletarian felafel' and 'bourgeois legume croquettes' without giggling uncontrollably.

    Agreed!

    And Brickley, you're advancing a religious, or at least philosophical, argument. Good luck to you, but it suits me fine to incorporate the odd good-quality product with my fresh ingredients on a weeknight.

    Fair enough. Not religious though. I'm happy to admit I'm just being a (poor) mouth piece for all the Michael Pollan I'm currently reading. Did you read his send-up of cooking programmes/demos in the New York Magazine piece I linked to? It's pretty hard to argue with.

    Sole Google result for "bourgeois legume croquettes". Awesome.

    This is a huge accomplishment. I suggest we have t-shirts made in honour of this thread.

    This is why you brew your own soy sauce, and mill your own flour, right?

    That isn't convincing. That reminds me of a friend in Europe who said that she has a cleaning woman because if she wanted to do it all herself she would buy her own cow to make her own milk.

    I'm talking about using first materials like soy sauce and flour to make food from scratch. Ideally, I guess we would but your argument is totally impractical.

    it's a attack on something very essential to them.

    That fails to explain how or why it is classist. League is essential to me but if you say you deplore its violence or idiocy I'm not going to say you're classist.

    And, of course, the people who tend to eat not-food, oddly enough, tend not to be so well-off.

    Because of the corporate food interests at food shows. Boiled carrots aren't expensive. It will always be cheaper to eat a peach in season than a Moro bar.

    A bit, but you lose me completely when you make it prescriptive. Conversations of this kind often devolve into the idea that eating well and being healthy are moral imperatives and I find that line of thinking decidedly distasteful. Plus, we all live imperfect lives, trading the time it would take to learn to make the perfect Platonic porridge with other things we've got going.

    On utilitarian grounds it could be morally imperative. And I'm not being prescriptive. Eat as you like. I won't stand in your way. But I think what and how we choose to eat can be argued about. The cost of the other side -- and you and I sound as if we are on the same side -- is that they eat a lot of stuff that isn't really food. This is expensive and makes people unhealthy. The cost of my side, which makes you uncomfortable, is that I sound supercilious.

    There's also the fact that some people simply do not like cooking, while others regard food as fuel.

    But we need to eat! That's what makes this debate about this human activity so important. Cooking and food is part of who we are.

    Dude, that was verbatim from the link you posted to try and prove your own argument. I didn't make up any fancy-ass Grey Lynn falafel recipe.

    I posted that link just to make the point that falafel, bourgeois or otherwise, is simply made out of a chick pea base with some stuff. I only read the first paragraph. My mistake.

    And why on earth were you eating vegetarian cheese with HAM!?!!

    Since Mar 2009 • 164 posts Report

  • Keir Leslie,

    I'm talking about using first materials like soy sauce and flour to make food from scratch. Ideally, I guess we would but your argument is totally impractical.

    Which, er, begs the question, why is soy sauce a first material and other things not?

    (As well, fails to meet the case of beer which is an intrinsically mass prepared product.)

    Because of the corporate food interests at food shows. [...] It will always be cheaper to eat a peach in season than a Moro bar.

    Have you ever read The Road To Wigan Pier? You really really should, esp. the bits about the price of food. (By the way, Big Food may be important, but the food shows are not where it makes any odds.)

    And again, isn't is odd that poor people eat not-food? Isn't it odd that poor people like not-art? Isn't it odd etc etc.

    Since Jul 2008 • 1452 posts Report

  • Steve Parks,

    Which, er, begs the question, why is soy sauce a first material and other things not?

    I guess it was in the Gospel according to Pollen?

    Wellington • Since May 2007 • 1165 posts Report

  • Steve Parks,

    …pre-prepared food does not actually save time,

    Surely it must do, to a degree? Preparation takes time, and so you save on some of that time.

    Many people say sushi is hard

    Bad example. Sushi is piss easy.

    But it is purportedly quite tricky according to many, which is what he said. It was a good example and great satire.

    Not religious though. I'm happy to admit I'm just being a (poor) mouth piece for all the Michael Pollan I'm currently reading.

    You do seem a little “born again” about the whole thing.

    And I'm not being prescriptive. Eat as you like. I won't stand in your way.

    Well obviously. When people point to your position being prescriptive or your “must-make-by-hand conception of cooking” they don’t mean you are literally trying to control people’s actions; they are saying your views on food and cooking are prescriptive.

    But I think what and how we choose to eat can be argued about.

    Sure, but some of what you have been doing here is not really argument. It’s argument-like.

    Wellington • Since May 2007 • 1165 posts Report

  • Amy Gale,

    'proletarian felafel' and 'bourgeois legume croquettes'

    I looked quite carefully, but it seems like nobody has yet mentioned "totalitarian lentils". Tragic.

    tha Ith • Since May 2007 • 471 posts Report

  • Amy Gale,

    (Just as I was typing that I saw a food in a minute "cannelloni" on the telly which drove me to instant despair. If you need me I'll be in the bathroom, crying.)

    Proposal for entertainment at next PAS gathering: put Giovanni in a room and force him to watch as someone prepares a Genuine Kiwi Pizza c.1980.

    tha Ith • Since May 2007 • 471 posts Report

  • 3410,

    Proposal for entertainment at next PAS gathering: put Giovanni in a room and force him to watch as someone prepares a Genuine Kiwi Pizza c.1980.

    I think this one will do the trick. =l

    Auckland • Since Jan 2007 • 2618 posts Report

  • Sacha,

    Stunning. It even has the requisite tinned pineapple.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report

  • Amy Gale,

    That one loses points for being on a "pizza base".

    tha Ith • Since May 2007 • 471 posts Report

  • Amy Gale,

    But, yes, in many other ways it's stunningly authentic.

    tha Ith • Since May 2007 • 471 posts Report

  • Ben Austin,

    Sorry, as a regular consumer of 1980s era home made New Zealand Pizza I demand that Spaghetti be used rather than Baked Beans.

    We need to be authentic

    London • Since Nov 2006 • 1027 posts Report

  • Amy Gale,

    Sorry, as a regular consumer of 1980s era home made New Zealand Pizza I demand that Spaghetti be used rather than Baked Beans.

    Perhaps baked beans was an acceptable variation in some areas. Specialties of the region, etc.

    tha Ith • Since May 2007 • 471 posts Report

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