Confession

At the top of Wheeler Peak, an INTENSE hike
Summer 2008

As I have so aptly named this post, I indeed have a confession to make: I love watching the Food Network. Andrea Heinrichs, you got me hooked! I first watched The Next Food Network Star, Season 1, when I was living with Andrea for two weeks over the summer in 2009 when I was in between housing contracts. How convenient is it that college housing units always seem to kick people out for a week or so in the summer? It's so stressful, but after working things out, I've had the time of my life during these "homeless" periods. In the summer of 2008, I was able to go on an amazing camping trip to Great Basin National Park with some of my best friends, including Josh Smith and Jon & Kristi Harmon, and a bunch of friends of the Harmons from Utah. In 2009, I lived with Andrea and we had girls night every night! And in 2010, I flew/drove back and forth between Utah and Los Angeles in the big move after graduation. Adventure seems to be everywhere when you are homeless ;)

Mom and I

Getting back to the subject of the Food Network, I have never cooked much growing up, thanks to my awesome mom who made us kids whatever we wanted every day (yes, I was very spoiled). But once I moved out to USC I quickly learned that I was pretty good at whatever I tried my hand at. Unfortunately, in college one has little time to cook as much as one wants to. Nevertheless, I do enjoy cooking and baking and all that jazz, and I have been very pleased with what I have been able to make so far. My favorite recipe is my mom's homemade bread from scratch, no breadmaker involved. I like to make my mom's Thai BBQ chicken, Thai popcorn chicken, chow mein noodles, mom's homemade banana bread, and even those Haystack cookies Clarissa taught me how to make last summer. I have a list of new recipes to try in 2011, including soda cake, caramel corn from scratch, and homemade lasagna. And I always want to make what I see on TV. They make it looks so easy and delicious.

As I watched one of the Extreme Cake Challenges on the Food Network last night after eating an amazing Brazilian BBQ lunch at Tucanos for Brianne's birthday yesterday, I began to ponder the world's seemingly newfound obsession with food. Food has always been a necessary part of human life, but when did it become a luxury, when did it become more of an experience than a fundamental need? Up until the medieval times, it seemed that people ate whatever they had access to, and only the rich and famous could afford more substantial and tasty meals. It seems that with the rise of Capitalism, this world has seen a rise in specialization to the extent that people have created products and needs where they never existed before. We know all this through the history of consumerism and mass markets, however it seems almost strange to apply it to food, something that is such a staple in our lives that we hardly have time to think about it unless we think we are "hungry." But really, when did all the millions of herbs and spices appear on the mass market for everyone to use? I suppose the more important question is when did recipes become so popular to acquire for people to make tasty food for themselves? I am not an expert on this subject, but as far as my knowledge extends regarding the history of consumerism, I would argue that this change in society came about with the development of Crisco in 1912, which eventually formed the idea we have of perfect 1950's housewives cooking and cleaning at home.

This idea comes from Susan Strasser's book, Satisfaction Guaranteed: The Making of the American Mass Market, a great read. As food and recipes became more commercialized starting with the invention of Crisco by Proctor and Gamble, the creative realm of cooking had opened up to American families everywhere, albeit for the purpose of producing profit. Crisco began selling recipe books in order to promote ways women could cook with their product, and the rest is history. Recipe books and the domestic role of women were solidified into society. Strasser says "human needs are cultural constructs...some people need yams and breadfruit, others Post Toasties and Kellogg's corn flakes." How true is this? As all kinds of new foods and products were being sold to people in grocery stores, restaurants were gaining popularity. There are so many different types and brands of food; food which we don't truly "need." And yet, I have to buy my Kellogg's Rice Krispies when I go to the store, and not the generic brand. Food has indeed become a luxury as branding and marketing have successfully thrust themselves into this part of everyday life.

The last thing I want to bring up is how eating food has become more of a social experience than anything today. The kinds of food one eats most definitely reflect one's social class. Many times rich people like to eat fancy, expensive foods like caviar at expensive boutique restaurants, and poorer people like to eat at fast food joints like McDonalds. I was raised in a family which could not afford to eat at restaurants. We weren't very poor or anything, but my mom always cooked, and that's the way things were. So when I started college in Los Angeles, one of the biggest food obsessed cities in the nation, if not the world, eating at restaurants was such a foreign experience for me. The idea of leaving tips was annoying, as most of the food at any restaurant is generally overpriced for what you get. And I had to learn restaurant manners quickly, as I ate out a lot on dates. I also had to learn how to decide what I want to eat and quickly. I learned to eat many different kinds of food this way, and really I had to adopt a new lifestyle in order to feel comfortable at restaurants at all. It blows my mind that I generally pay nearly $20 to eat at a meal that is about as half as good as my mom's food, but I'm okay with that. I have to be, or else I would not be able to live with myself after eating out. When I was in middle school, for my best friend's 12th birthday she took three of us out to eat at Anna Miller's restaurant in Pearlridge. It is by no means a fancy restaurant, but it was my first time eating out and all I wanted was a hot dog. I was so confused as to why they gave it to me all fancy in a toasted bun and why it had cost around $10. I've finally understood that when you pay for such a meal, you really are paying for the experience more than the food. People eat at restaurants to enjoy each other's company in a specific setting first and foremost; eating seems like a secondary task no matter how good the food is. In America, it seems like we have been conditioned to fork out the cash for everything these days, so naturally we pay people to cook us food as we socialize with our friends and family. It's like how at Disneyland you pay for experiencing the novelty of being in the "happiest place on earth," and at restaurants you pay for experiencing a good chat over good food. Eating food is no longer just a basic need, but a social platform in itself as well.