Comments | jlh: the crudest sense? really? (also a recipe)

jlh

the crudest sense? really? (also a recipe)

Mar 02, 2010 17:26

So the novelist Jonathan Safran Foer put out that book about vegetarianism that many found annoying and over the top in that way that advocacy books sometimes can be, and I mostly just chalked it up to that. But the other day the Financial Times ran this really amazing interview with him, conducted over lunch at Gobo in the West Village, and in it ( Read more... )

food

Comments 15

imaginarycircus March 3 2010, 00:14:57 UTC

D: Maybe he's got lousy taste buds? Some people do have fewer. Also way to think of the poor people, dude. D:

jlh March 3 2010, 14:39:22 UTC

He's like, smug and horrible, basically.

imaginarycircus March 3 2010, 21:04:52 UTC

God, he so is and I really hate his fiction. Oh, good. Now I feel kind of smug.

wednesdayschild March 3 2010, 00:28:37 UTC

He's way off base when talking about taste, because sure, what happens when your tastebuds are stimulated might be simplistic, but that's not the only thing happening when you're eating: you've got the sight of the food, you've got the smell (funny how he doesn't mention that), and you've got the texture, the feel of it in your mouth, you've got the heat or coolness, the sensation as you swallow... it's hugely complex, and invokes multiple senses ( ... )

jlh March 3 2010, 14:40:32 UTC

No apologies! I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU. I think he's one of those aesthetes who shun the body. He is not particularly earthy. And to that I say, whatever!

As someone w/notoriously bland taste in food... sistermagpie March 3 2010, 01:52:51 UTC

What a douche ( ... )

Re: As someone w/notoriously bland taste in food... jlh March 3 2010, 15:06:51 UTC

hahahaha I love you.

The article is even more douchey. It's very, "Oh, I know everyone can't live my aesthete Park Slope life, but that's not their fault. Of course everyone WANTS to." People like him are why I follow unhappy hipsters.

I don't understand the connection to buying things on line either, especially since ecommerce is keeping a lot of small artisanal operations going because they don't have to deal with distribution. It's annoying to have someone talking about economics when they don't know much about it-and when I know more, then you know you're in trouble.

Re: As someone w/notoriously bland taste in food... sistermagpie March 3 2010, 15:51:53 UTC

Oh and I forgot to note one of the douchiest moments, the whole "I just think it's so saaaaaaad to go through your life seeking out good tastes. I mean how SAD is that."

WTF? How sad is it that anyone spends their life searching for good stories and reading them? How sad that they're not spending their time on real life instead! How sad to spend your free time going down a mountain on skiis when you'll just be back where you started! How sad are those people who, like, travel to different places when the place they live is perfectly fine?

I just can't believe that any adult is still so narcisstic they classify any hobby or interest they don't share as misguided.

Re: As someone w/notoriously bland taste in food... jlh March 3 2010, 16:00:03 UTC

What's sad is that this man is raising children in Park Slope. I mean, dude, could you be more of a walking cliche?

It's mean, but I just can't imagine that he has very good sex.

Thread 6

havocthecat March 3 2010, 14:10:10 UTC

I do not understand having problems with vegetarianism. I've found that some of the best dishes for bringing out all the flavor of the food come from vegetarian recipes. Meat is tasty, to me, but it can often overwhelm the taste of the vegetables.

Thanks for this recipe! It looks delicious.

jlh March 3 2010, 15:08:31 UTC

I think people focus on what they would miss, and I think that restaurants like Gobo don't help because they push it to this place where very little tastes any good. There's a vegetarian Chinese restaurant in my 'hood, and they do the fake meat thing and it's really good. Which is why the whole bad vegetarian restaurant thing is mystifying.

calloocallay March 4 2010, 03:18:29 UTC

I found that dip (which I generally used as like, a sandwich spread) aged REALLY well, too. So, do I roast the eggplants whole? What do you think would happen if I halved them lengthwise first?

And you know, this guy sounds to me like someone whose priorities have recently changed and who doesn't understand that he hasn't just formed a new club of which is the president and founder. He's probably been JUST LIKE THIS about things other than vegetarianism in the past.

I'll be over here, eating imported cheese and looking forward to my CSA membership, and encouraging my boyfriend to eat foie gras because he enjoys it so much. It's great when people enjoy things!

jlh March 4 2010, 03:39:30 UTC

I think they would probably roast faster, but they might be drier, because the juices would flow out of them more, and you'd have this dry part where you cut it. But that might not happen at all! I've only ever roasted eggplant whole, or in slices. I roast them for this dip whole and unpeeled. You could also try it with smaller eggplants, though I wouldn't use the Japanese ones.

It did age well! It keeps well, which is nice.

Yeah, he's sort of a twerp. and it IS great when people enjoy things!