Hiromi_X
Ghoulish cuisine
Yesterday, while channel surfing, I came across a program called Bizarre Foods, which sounds like a stupid gimmick of a show, and it was. But I stumbled on a segment that promised Cruel Food of the Exotic Orient, in this case, live lobster sushi.
I freely admit I'm a food fanatic dedicated to taste and satisfaction. Food isn't just stuff you put in your body to prevent death by starvation; it's an experience. In addition to sensory pleasure, it's a social and cultural experience. It's tied to the seasons and links us to the earth. I despise the sacrifice of this to false idols such as vegetarianism** and low-carb diets***.
But on the other hand, I don't embrace hedonism. I find the fetishization of sensory stimulation distasteful. In this case, "freshness" is fetishized with the result of moneyed self-important patrons digging into a live animal like effete Gollums. Eating live animals is gross, you might observe. I can predict the response -- they will insist that killing the lobster (which can be accomplished with a quick cut of the knife to the head) and then immediately serving the flesh somehow degrades it to the point that their delicate palates can sense the difference. I call bullshit.
This sort of thing has nothing to do with refinement and everything to do with a heedless pursuit of more, more, more. This tendency is mostly related to Appetite, either food or sex. What is this all about? It seems sad to me, this ennui-riddled hunger for constant novelty. I'm certain that hedonists will meet my criticism with accusations of repression, uptightness, or a lack of comprehension of their elaborate but ultimately empty justifications. Whadever. Hedonism is just simpleminded boredom.
**No, I don't respect this dogma for reasons too numerous to list here.
***Lest I be accused of insensivity to those trying to lose weight, this is what I think is at the root of the "obesity epidemic": a sick overworked society that produced a sick food culture based on highly processed crap useless in terms of both nutrition and taste. We need to place human relationships and connectedness and other such qualities at the center of our society and throw off the yoke of Economic Growth and Consumerism.
Update: My proposed cure for the "obesity epidemic": a balanced and varied diet combined with a balanced and varied lifestyle. However, our convenience- and consumption-obsessed society makes this very difficult to achieve.
Comments
Can I just bow my head, wave my hands in the air like a "bulb-screwing" fundamentalist Christian, and shout "Amen!!" . . . particularly the part about "throw off the yoke of Economic Growth and Consumerism." There are so many places here in New York City at which the doctrine of "more, more, more" drives the menu - and the prices. For example, there's the restaurant in Soho that advertises a $300 dish with rare mushrooms - possessing some aphrodisial quality - that grow only on the south-facing slopes of a remote volcano in Indonesia. I'm all for experiencing new foods and ingesting some of the cultural knowledge that brought them to the table. But live lobster sushi and $300 mushrooms are excessive. I guess these are the same people who will go into a restaurant started by one of these celebrity chefs and order the $125 hamburger.
1. Posted by Brian on August 20, 2007
Brian, I'm glad you're on board. But personally, I don't have a problem with extravagance in and of itself; what I have a problem with is the shrugging off of ethical or moral concerns and the elevation of the mere satisfaction of an overblown appetite to some sort of higher pursuit. In the case of eating live animals, the justification is aesthetics. Yuck.
2. Posted by Hiromi on August 20, 2007
"I despise the sacrifice of this to false idols such as vegetarianism** and low-carb diets***."
Yeah, well, some of us just don't handle carbs well at all...it is an addiction... and I am talking any kind of carb. I get the same sugar rush from complex carbs as I do simple ones. Welcome to varied biology. Sigh.
And live food?
That's particularly cruel and totally unnecessary. I'm not a rabid animalist, goodness knows I'm a total carnivore, but frankly, its inexcusable to make an animal suffer this way.
3. Posted by fredlet on August 20, 2007
My Japanese roommate in graduate school mentioned visiting his parents and being served live baby squid in a restaurant. Apparently the appeal was that they wiggled in your throat as they plunged stomach-ward. Are you familiar with this "delicacy?"
4. Posted by Brian on August 21, 2007
Fredlet, I was referring to fad diets.
I'm a carnivore too, but it's completely unnecessary to torture the animal before eating it. You can eat meat but still be respectful and merciful toward the animal.
Brian, I've never heard of that. There are a lot of exotic dishes like that which are famous but fairly rare, like mamushi-zake, which is sake bottled with a mamushi, a venomous snake. It has reputed medicinal values. I think "male potency" is one of them. Anyway, lots of people know about this, but have never tried it.
5. Posted by Hiromi on August 21, 2007
Why am I not surprised that "male potency" is perhaps tied to mamushi-zake? So many of these elixirs are tied to "male potency." Viagra for the pre-Viagra age.
6. Posted by Brian on August 21, 2007
First, I saw an episode of that show once, he was in Spain and one of the things he ate was lamb brains. I cannot describe how funny it was to see him moaning over how good the brains were. He sounded like a zombie gourmand.
Second, I tried uni on Sunday, and my boyfriend and I both liked it! I immediately thought of you.
Third, did I ever update you that I moved to Austin? It would be cool to meet up sometime but I understand if you're uncomfortable with that idea.
7. Posted by Erin on August 21, 2007
I'm with you, H. If your sense of 'freshness' extends to the point of having to kill your food at your table, I'll make sure to make a reservation for you out on the floor at your good old beef processing plant. Let's make it REAL Steak Tartare, right?!?
This is not just keep up with the Jones'. This is 'Let's bury the Jones' in a heap of unnecessary consumerism snobbery'.
8. Posted by Darkneuro on August 21, 2007
Hmm, actually, it's been in the news this week that the obesity epidemic may actually be caused in some (not necessarily small) part by a virus as common as the cold virus. Also in the news this week, viruses are spreading and proliferating faster than ever before. Probably by factory workers sneezing into the over-processed foods, if I had to guess. I could totally get on board with believing that everyone's fat because of a viral contamination at the individually-wrapped-servings-food factory.
But that's no reason to eat a live lobster. I always thought consuming small live animals was frat-dare behavior.
9. Posted by Holly on August 23, 2007
Erin, did you try the uni in Austin? Where did you go?
Darkneuro, people *are* pretty arbitrary about what animals you can do cruel things to and which ones you cannot. Observe the fury over the Michael Vicks thing, and the lack of hubbub about factory farming.
Holly, I don't know if this fits in with frat-dare behavior, but one thing I sense with eating live animals is this kind of "sensitivity toward animals is for pussies" kind of mentality.
10. Posted by Hiromi on August 23, 2007
Hiromi,
I was sufficiently horrified to have actually called Jewel Bako to give 'em a piece of my mind; alas, I'm sure it probably had the opposite effect of making that smug prick (the owner) even more certain that he'd stumbled onto the right business model...
Wati
11. Posted by Wati on August 25, 2007
The uni was at Beluga, the restaurant in Round Rock I worked at for a while before getting my new job. I absolutely love the food there. If you're willing to make the trek north, I'd recommend it highly.
12. Posted by Erin on August 26, 2007
Hiromi, I'd have to say that pretty much any sentence that ends "... is for pussies" is frat-dare behavior. You're spot on, those people are daring each other to eat the live animal. Because they're rich, and bored, and can't be bothered to find stimulation in other ways. 'cause, seriously, the first person to even THINK about eating a lobster was friggin' desperate.
13. Posted by Holly on August 26, 2007