I am in a limousine driving towards the Upper East Side of Manhattan. I give my limousine driver a handsome tip after he helps me step out of the cab onto the clean and evenly paved sidewalk. Proceeding to stroll into La Cuisine Exquise, I give an elegant greeting to the owner, who is the cousin of Prince Albert. Seated in a room filled with the finest modern art overlooking the beautiful New York City skyline, I am handed a menu. I read over the house specials; chicken nuggets with french fries, a cheeseburger with onion rings, and an imported happy meal that comes with a hotdog and a toy.
The passage above is my dream and fantasy; that restaurant unfortunately does not exist. Our society considers finer foods to be the more expensive ones, which leaves those with my sort of pallet in limbo. The people who enjoy Doritos, Oreos, Twinkies, and McNuggetts are labeled as unhealthy and looked down upon by those who eat at all the Zagat-rated establishments and watch the Food Network every night.
This is unjust. We “junk food” eaters are discriminated against and mocked. I cannot even be open about my affinity for fast food during family events; as soon as I say, “this lamb shank is good, but I would rather a Twinkie” I am immediately scorned and contemptuously told that I have
terrible manners.
It has become verboten to be truthful about cuisine; it is good when it tastes good. Affluent Americans’ concept of dining has become so superficial that we often take taste for granted. I don’t care about how the food looks! Who started this whole presentation concept? My meal could be shaped like the Sistine Chapel, but that doesn’t mean it tastes any good.
The media undeniably plays a large role in promoting the godly image of fancy food. Shows like Iron Chef and Hell’s Kitchen award money and respect to chefs who make “fabulous” food that the audience can only see through a screen. We are inspired by these shows without even knowing if we would like what is being served.
Unfortunately, the show is representative of many upper class homes in making taste equal to irrelevant factors in foods’ importance; Iron Chef might as well reward points purely based on appearance, because that is all one can realistically judge looking through a television. If I ever had the chance to be on Iron Chef, I would compete with Mario Batali or Masaharu Morimoto by microwaving TGI Friday’s chicken. Maybe it wouldn’t win, but the judges would be kidding themselves if they said that it didn’t taste good.
Upper class society demeans “junk food” because it is cheap and seemingly lacks in presentation; fried Twinkies, corn dogs, and deep dish pizza are too simple according to our superficial view of food. Those who say that fast food is frowned upon purely because it is unhealthy are lying to themselves. There are countless examples where fast food is scorned in spite of the fact that it is healthier than its suave alternatives. According to NutritionData.com, that grass fed, eight ounce, medium rare venison shoulder from the fancy restaurant has around five times the cholesterol of an order of Chicken McNuggets, while Filet Mignon of the same size contains more fat than a Wendy’s cheeseburger.
All in all, our culture’s perception of food is another way that we are teaching children to make surface judgments, and I think this is wrong. Next time you see an uncorrupted child enjoying a Twinkie, feel free to ask for a bite. If everyone did the same, maybe then we could truly relive those glory days when food looked average but tasted perfect.
