Some thoughts on food and culture.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009 at 09:05AM 
An article in the New York Times last week got me briefly all bent out of shape. A nice long feature in last Wednesday's Dining section discussed the emerging culinary movement in Brooklyn. Maybe it's the southerner in me - always feeling maligned or overlooked, a perpetual need to overcompensate and to puff out my chest every now and again - but I couldn't help but feel that this article creates the sense that Brooklyn is some kind of island where young folks engaged in thinking critically about food can find refuge. That the only place a real unique food culture could emerge was, of course, in one of the boroughs. Now in retrospect, after a long conversation about the article with my friend Adam, I realize that I was probably overreacting. The article mentions a "culinary-minded generation" which leaves room for other members to live outside the hallowed ground of Williamsburg. But I guess that's what I was reacting to - the fact that the article fetishizes Brooklyn as some holy land of local food, where (and I quote) “Every person you pass has read Michael Pollan, every person has thought about joining a raw milk club, and if they haven’t made ricotta, they want to.”
Oh, Brooklyn. How do you make hip look so easy!?
There goes my smugness again. Sorry. I guess this unexpected reaction to the article comes as Rashmi and I have had countless conversations in recent weeks about the enthusiasm for what we're doing here in - gasp - Alabama! And that the enthusiasm for our project isn't based on some curiosity about those weirdos who only eat food from Alabama, but it's based on a groundswell of folks thinking critically about their food - where it comes from, how it was grown, how we can make it better, and how food should inspire community. For our generation - beaten down by the homogeneity of just about every one of our daily interactions - food has become a revolutionary act. It's the new counterculture. And it's not just a passing fad. What we're arguing for, this generation engaged in thinking critically about food both inside the hallowed ground of big cities and marooned here in the flyover zone, is a wholesale revolution in our food system. We're engaged in this action because we truly believe that our current food system is unhealthy for us and for the earth. Further, we know that losing the traditions of local and regional foodways would be devastating to our culture and our sense of history. We have to believe in cornbread and collards - not just as good food, but as a way to preserve what it means to be from here.
So if you, like me, live outside of Brooklyn, that doesn't mean that you can't start a food revolution. Just meet some local farmers, encourage them by buying from them, and ask your local chefs to do the same. Ask where your food comes from and slow down when you're cooking and eating. Slowly but surely we can bring this revolution out from its safe hideaways in the five boroughs and down the street to your local restaurant and produce section.
Reader Comments (3)
THANK YOU, Andy, for posting your response to that article. I was equally perturbed at the pretentiousness of the Times suggesting that Brooklyn was somehow above the rest of the country when it comes to food intelligence, among everything else they're already credited for as being "hipper-than-thou". Even suggesting that everyone in Brooklyn has read Pollan is an almost prejudice stab at the "other" half of the borough. What, does Brooklyn now only consist of Williamsburg hipsters buying handmade pâté from their neighborhood charcuterie? I think not. And how about alienating the remainder of the city or country, as if it is the only "incubator for a culinary-minded generation"? Sure, Portland gets its fair share of these types of articles as well, but to suggest that it can't be done in small town, rural America is a disgusting thought. No wonder we're so behind the times if entire communities feel they can only move towards sustainable living if they live in Brooklyn (or some other self-described mecca of craftsmanship). BOOOO!
I say this as someone born and raised in Massachusetts...My husband and I routinely get annoyed at these types of articles and the underlying supposition that "you poor schlubs in the hinterlands (especially the southern United States) are so ill informed as to only be dimly aware of this movement." Then they proceed to enlighten us in hallowed tones for the remainder of the article about how less than hip we are down here. It is a bias, sad to say, of very myopic mainstream NY media.
I would suggest that you gently inform the Times of your lovely Blog and challenge them to get some coverage out here. Doesn't Rick Bragg still associate with them for Pete's sake! Urgh!
See you at the Library on 3/29
NYT trend stories infuriate me regularly. They used to get my (southern) back up too, but after living in NY and realizing the paper only reflects the reality of a very small slice of the city's humanity, I've come to see them as neon signs advertising who, what and where to avoid rather than evidence of actual movements or hipness (see push presents, hipster librarians, vegan dog and cat owners, the impossibility of living on 500K, etc.). Even during this Depression 2.0 you couldn't pay me to spend time in Williamsburg.
If the paper can't reflect it's own city accurately, I hold no hope it can accurately address the nation.