4 ms·

>a cuisine in many ways inferior to that of the US, Germany or other countries embracing fresh and organic good. Okay, I was with you until this bit. Food does

>a cuisine in many ways inferior to that of the US, Germany or other countries embracing fresh and organic good. Okay, I was with you until this bit. Food doesn't necessarily need to be fresh to be good or healthy, and there's nothing inherently good in organics. Putting fresh/local and organic food on a pedestal stinks of privilege at best, and represents a rather problematic neo-luddite worldview at worst.

true_religion 10y ago
People use 'organic' or 'locally sourced' as a proxy for any kind of food where the seller cares about flavour quality, nutrition, and appearance in equal amounts. The contrast to it, is 'industrial' food is of the sort where crop-yeild was the most important constraint to the seller. I don't doubt most people would buy GMO foods if they were marketed as being healthier or tastier. People certainly buy milk infused with all kinds of vitamins that aren't naturally present.
vonnik 10y ago
Good food, and innovations in food, follow the money. The money's not really in France. What ideas they had to contribute, other countries have now absorbed. There is as much good food and wine to be had in the Bay area as there is to be eaten in Paris, if not more.
- riffraff 10y ago
  But food culture, like all culture, takes a lot to build up. The US might have a lot of high quality restaurants, but it also has walmart selling a ton of kinds of "asiago", most of them spreadable. The fact that a movie like "supersize me" can be produced, is a symptom of a totally broken approach to food, not because eating pizza margherita and drinking wine for a month would be healthier than mcdonald's, but because any 10 year old would tell you it's idiotic to have a monotonous diet. (For the uninitiated, Asiago is a single kind of cheese with a couple minor variations produced in northern italy. It is very much non-spreadable.)

true_religion 10y ago

People use 'organic' or 'locally sourced' as a proxy for any kind of food where the seller cares about flavour quality, nutrition, and appearance in equal amounts. The contrast to it, is 'industrial' food is of the sort where crop-yeild was the most important constraint to the seller. I don't doubt most people would buy GMO foods if they were marketed as being healthier or tastier. People certainly buy milk infused with all kinds of vitamins that aren't naturally present.

vonnik 10y ago

Good food, and innovations in food, follow the money. The money's not really in France. What ideas they had to contribute, other countries have now absorbed. There is as much good food and wine to be had in the Bay area as there is to be eaten in Paris, if not more.

riffraff 10y ago
But food culture, like all culture, takes a lot to build up. The US might have a lot of high quality restaurants, but it also has walmart selling a ton of kinds of "asiago", most of them spreadable. The fact that a movie like "supersize me" can be produced, is a symptom of a totally broken approach to food, not because eating pizza margherita and drinking wine for a month would be healthier than mcdonald's, but because any 10 year old would tell you it's idiotic to have a monotonous diet. (For the uninitiated, Asiago is a single kind of cheese with a couple minor variations produced in northern italy. It is very much non-spreadable.)