The Social Consumer.

Book Review — In Search of Perfection

by Nick Schonberger

Heston Blumenthal, In Search of Perfection: Reinventing Kitchen Classics (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2006). ISBN 0-7475-8409-5

As discussed before, foodways are a vital component to the make up of a specific culture or community. The exploration of food, at a very surface level, has become rather popular, notably through FOOD NETWORK. Several of the shows are, to be honest, dull and traditional in their intent and outlook. However, there are programs like Alton Brown’s Feasting on Asphault that do a tremedous job of exploring history and culture through food.

You might consider Heston Blumenthal Brown’s UK counterpart. Except, Blumenthal takes Brown’s interest in the science and history of food and in the words of Emeril (or now Martha Stewart after the buy out???) “kicks it up a notch.” More bluntly, Blumenthal’s approach is even more methodical, and his search for perfection more obsessive. His restaurant, The Fat Duck, was Michelin’s 2001 Restaurant of the Year, a testiment to his approach.

In Search of Perfection, the companion to Blumethal’s BBC series, finds the chef exploring the ins and outs of eight of Britain’s favorite dishes. Selected on the basis of the respective popularity and the strength of memories and associations generated by each meal, these are simply dishes any cook should know how to prepare. Roast chicken, steak, mashed potatoes. Simple foods that speak to tradition, family and comfort.

For each dish, Blumenthal investigates the origins and development of the key ingredients. The food the animals eat. The people that correctly butcher them. The chefs obsessesed with aging each cut to perfection. He travels to France to eat chickens, and eats steak in a NYC strip club (so awesome). These individual quests are coupled with accounts of experimentation with ingredients. What potato roasts best, for example, and why. The history and the science of food meld in easy prose.

Blumenthal doesn’t have the same flair for language or description as Anthony Bourdain, yet his conversational tone and passion for the subject keep the chapters humming along. In fact, it is possible to simply forget that the tome is, after all, a cookbook, and get lost in Heston’s search and the people and places he visits.

The journey brings the mundane of the chosen recipes to life. Puts a little adventure in the everyday, and reminds why special meals are not only simple, but full of exciting historical intrigue as well. Blumenthal manages to turn the cookbook into a tidy introduction to foodways.

Read more | By Nick on 12am on 10/17/08 | no comments;

A Conversation About Zoot Suits

by Nick Schonberger

Contrary to popular belief, streetwear started before Stussy. In order to give us all some historical context on leisure/casual/street/whatever clothing, I’ve decided to interview a series of experts on specific styles and time periods. The first of these was about the zoot suit.

Dr. Eduardo Pagan was gracious enough to let me email him some questions about zoot suits. He is the author of Murder at the Sleepy Lagoon: Zoot Suits, Race, and Riot in Wartime L.A (2003) and an associate professor at Arizona State University. Learn and enjoy. My questions are in bold, his answers in plain text.

What constitutes a zoot suit?

I’ll try my best to describe a zoot suit, but you really have to see one to appreciate it. The zoot suit looked like a regular man’s business suit on steroids. As a fashion, the suit jacket produced a very striking silhouette by exaggerating the upper male body with wide, padded shoulders. The jacket then tapered dramatically down to a tight waist that flared out again down to the knees. It looked like something between a formal day coat (if you’re familiar with men’s formal wear) and a tightly fitted overcoat. Men on the East Coast wore suits of garish colors like lime green or bright orange, or with very exaggerated patterns like enormous plaids or wide stripes. On the West Coast the colors and patterns were much more subtle, as was the cut.

Who Is We.

“The Social Consumer” is an ongoing review of the moment. Submissions are always welcome.

Jeff Carvalho is co-host and founder of the WeeklyDrop Show, syndicated on Sirius Satellite Radio. He received a degree in journalism from Northeastern University sometime back in the late 90’s and today spends his time hunting trash bins for modern furniture. When not thrifting, Jeff enjoys riding his Surly around Boston all season and watching soccer on TV.

Nicholas Schonberger is a graduate of the Winterthur Program in Early American Culture at the University of Delaware. An expert in nothing, Schonberger knows a little about Connecticut Furniture built between 1790 and 1800, American tattooing in the years 1870-1920, and British Rap music from 1997-2000. He serves as senior editor of Words Beats Life: Global Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Contributors:
Steven Vogel, Robert Heppler.

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