The Snob

Since getting back to the States a week ago, I haven’t had many encounters with gastronomic greatness; I’ve eaten a lot BBQ leftovers I made a for party we threw for my mother’s birthday and watched my dad eat countless peanut butter/cinnamon raisin bread sandwiches. I’ve been on the search for some decent bread but this is taking much longer than is acceptable. After leaving my bakery job in Binghamton—fresh, hand-made bread definitely spoils you—I jetted straight to Spain where a delicious panaderia is on every corner. Back in NY, every bread that I’ve tried so far has struck out, but I remain hopeful. On my trip to the Columbian bakery that recently opened by my house, I saw a shelf full of mysterious looking sweet breads. This may successfully hold me over while I continue my search.

The reason for this post isn’t to lament about the distance between me and the super-fresh chomps in Spain, however. It is actually the opposite—I am optimistic!

I recently finished a couple of books that inspired me to write this post. The first was Don’t Try This At Home: Culinary Catastrophes from the World’s Greatest Chefs. Despite the great potential of this concept, the book sucked. There is a reason why (most) chefs are cooking and not writing. The second was Jeffery Steingarten’s The Man Who Ate Everything. Steingarten attacks food recipes and concepts with the scientific gusto of a true food dork—it was fantastic! I definitely recommend it to anyone, especially those who are only familiar with Steingarten from his stint as a Iron Chef judge.

The third book—and the one that I just started this morning—is the reason I am optimistic. I picked it up after reading an on-line article about the best food books from 2007. It’s called The Food Snob’s Dictionary: An Essential Lexicon of Gastronomical Knowledge and it is best summed up with a quote from the foreword:

Part groupie, part aesthete, part stark raving loon, the Food Snob is someone who has taken the amateur epicure’s admirable zeal for eating and cooking well to hollandaise-curdling extremes.

How much better can a description be? How else would you describe Jeffery Steingarten ordering 100-lbs of potatoes, countless quarts of various oils and 6-pounds of horse fat from Austria in order to study, test and re-test numerous french fry recipes or why Alton Brown will take the time to measure how long it takes the different sections on his gas and charcoal grills to melt an ice cube in order to understand the best way to cook a steak? The Food Snob’s Dictionary says that its aim is to help normal food enthusiasts defend the ever-lurking snob or help an aspiring food snob reach his goals of complete food snobbery. I wonder which category I would fall in?

So why did the mere foreword of this book make me optimist? Well, it made me realize that I am a mere 30 minutes from New York City, if not the culinary capital of the world, one of the few places where you can order any part of any animal, fruit or vegetable prepared any style you wish at any time of the day. It is here in Manhattan where one can practice his snobbery to the letter.

...Also, there is a BBQ festival in Madison Square Park this Weekend and Calvin Trillin—author of a slew of delicious food books in the 70’s and 80’s—will be giving a free BBQ seminar!

Oh happiness.