Does Writing about Food really Matter?
"Why write about food, when you can write about the struggle for power, equality, love, security..."
"Does writing about food really matter?"
With on-the-go eaters and take-away orders breeding a fast-food empire, stocking up raw ingredients in the pantry can seem quite ludicrous. Living in this era, when a meal is one call away, there seems to be no good reason to still be clutching onto the pearls of home-cooking, artisan goods, slow food.
Yet, as decade-old recipes and dictated dishes disintegrate, so do the stories and tales of those that created them.
Photo by Lauren Zhou
Food generates narrative. As fundamental to and inextricably bound up with life as we ourselves, food as a genre may as well be called “life writing”. While all living things depend on food for survival, for most of us it represents far more than sustenance.
From its origins to its consumption, food, as it’s grown, harvested, selected, cooked and eaten, is bound up with us in a complex and intensely interdependent relationship. Writing about it is to capture the injection of experience, the installation of a personality, the infusion of a life story.
And so, in this way, Food is Power. It inspires, astonishes, excites, delights, impresses. Food is Love, it calms, lulls, soothes, tends, warms. And Food is security, a steaming platter of mashed potatoes on a Sunday night — Food is Equality, it’s the one common ground that humanity shares.
This may all sound quite fanciful, but I’m on a mission to deliver to you my interpretation of food journalism, of savouring not only the dish on your table, but more so the story behind it.
So I bring to you, Savour — The weekly digest about a dish, and the story behind it.
The first issue is here!
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