It is crazy to think about it, but just in the year 1939 Americans had no idea what a Pizza was. It is hard to imagine this because it is almost inevitable when someone poses the question,”what should we eat tonight?” someone will answer with;”PIZZA!” So, how did we go from a nation of not having pizza to what we have now? I think we have a few individuals to thank for that.
Today food means something completely different than it did back then. Dining out used to be only for special occasions and ordering in, well that was just unheard of. Every day those that had money would pay a visit to their local deli to buy some meat, then they would pass by the market for fresh vegetables, then walk further down the street to the local bakery all in preparation for the night’s meal.
Fast forward a few years to now. What is food now? With all the mass production of food, we often find ourselves asking,”What the hell is this, Is it organic?” or “what restaurant did you get that from?” It is tough to grasp old ways of dining because it seems like now, on a large scale, since the 1980’s people have settled for eating shit.
If you look beyond all the horrible fast food places and deep fryer joints you may find a small place to eat that has surprisingly great food. If you look even further you may stumble across a Michelin rated restaurant, or a Ferran Adria inspired molecular gastronomy kitchen which there are now an abundance of in the United States!
So how did we go from eating so terribly to having in my opinion one of the greatest food cultures in the world? I feel it is most likely due to the status we hold for celebrity chefs. Not your food network stars like Bobby Gay or Paula “I just toss butter in everything” Dean, but three particular people that tried to show the world great food even when it wasn’t very cool to know how to cook. These three chefs James Beard, Julia Child, and Craig Claibourne saw something in food that nobody else did and brought it to the public eye. Sometimes they did it with restaurant reviews, sometimes they did it with television shows and sometimes they just wrote about the great food they would eat and put it in a cookbook.
These three chefs encouraged many younger generations to cook, to eat and to savor/respect food. They opened the door for a new line of celebrity chefs like Wolfgang Puck, Emeril Lagasse, and Anthony Bourdain and opened up an entire industry of food writing and blogging. I would like to now give a personal thank you to all of those before me that helped create something I know and love so very much.
Chef Rants 
“Bobby Gay or Paula ‘I just toss butter in everything”’ Dean”….amazing
Interesting how you see the development of professional food processing in the US. While you’re here in the Netherlands, you should go to restaurant Luce in Utrecht. You’ll be amazed by the combinations of tastes! http://www.restaurantluce.nl/html/home.html
Spot on, dude. I love that food blogs/shows have made expertise so accessible and above all, so personal. I also love the wave back towards rustic, simple, and an emphasis on whole foods.
Well written, Alex. I love Julia Child! I sometimes feel like Chef Katie and will try blending all sorts of random foods. Rarely will it come out tasting AWESOME, you know? Don’t get me wrong, it’s edible and dare I say good, but I’m almost always most spectacular at making desserts. In fact,
I’ve been thinking about the possibility of opening a bakery in my current small city in Louisiana. Then I thought about a sort of “Cookies by Me” franchise and/or pottery decoration, but of course somehow it would have my personal touch. I feel like I could help bring this city into a world that correlates that of St. Louis and brings some damn goodies to the table! But in all seriousness, even in cities like New Orleans, Shreveport, West Monroe, the people need more than a couple less than satisfactory restaurants to attract tourists and encourage entertainment and
uniqueness. A place where you can go on a date with someone special, or even with the whole family, or just some peaceful alone time. Kind of makes me feel like I’m back in grade school art class again.
🙂
the entire family
fat camp Hey, I just hopped over to your site via StumbleUpon. Not something I would normally read, but I liked your thoughts none the less. Thanks for making something worth reading.