Julia Zaucha; Food: A Remix
On Sunday night, some of my friends and I went out to dinner to celebrate the end of the first week of the second semester. We went to a place called Buttermilk and Bourbon (which was very good might I say) and right away I thought ‘wow that sounds like southern food’, and not to my surprise it was. Right away we looked at the menu and it was a pretty slim selection but with a central idea around food-based from the south, but the flavors that were combined with some of the foods almost changed the origin of the food. We ordered what seemed like it would’ve been your basic southern foods like biscuits, fried chicken, mac and cheese, and beignets. But there were also other types of foods like steak tar-tar, brie cheese with toast, and alligator meatballs. It was cool to see the southern influence in Boston but you could definitely sense the different styles of food with some of the flavors.
After the meal had finished, I commented that the food was interesting because it seemed based on the origin of the food but at the same time it wasn’t what I expected. My friends had agreed (and shared our experiences with southern food in the past) and found that the food place we ate at did kind of ‘remix’ (if you will) the flavors of the food. And compared to what we talked about in class, I began to think about how often food is remixed anyways. I mean for each chef to have an original recipe they have to build off the basic recipe and then they literally spice it up for themselves. It seems like recipe making is something that is remixed time after time in order to have some originality in cooking. However, if you’re just remixing the flavors each chef isn’t really making an original dish but rather changing the flavors involved. But since food is just such a common thing in everyone’s lives, I question whether how much originality is actually argued especially when publishing a recipe.
While reading, I was intrigued by the idea that "if you're just remixing the flavors [, then] each chef isn't really making an original dish but rather changing the flavors involved". I agree that when making new foods, chefs have taken older recipes and remixed it but it is the remix that makes the new recipe an original. By adding their own twist to the recipe, they are making it their own. The remix, if different enough, can become an whole different dish. Just think of the different forms that fried potatoes come in. There are steak fries, curly fries, tater tots, waffle fries, home fries, smiley face fries and more. Despite being the same basic ingredients and cooking methods, the creators of each fries remixed it and made it something new. We treat the fries as different dishes which is why we tend to have a specific type that we prefer over the others. Overall, I think that even though a dish may be a remix of an older recipe, how the chef makes the dish is what makes the dish original. Anyways, I really liked your idea. It was something the video never brought up and if you did not mention it, I don't think that I would have ever realized that food could be remixes too.
ReplyDeleteThis was very interesting to read. Preparing a meal is always a difficult process whether it is "original" or a remix. I really like how you applied the film that we watched in class to something that you did in your life over the weekend. Even after watching the film, I did not think about food only about types of literature so this was an interesting perspective to read.
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