The LA Times did a great article about Corti Bros. Ruth Reichl said she calls him when she wants to know anything about food! Do you think that this would be enough to prove to some curmudgeons that this is about more than yuppies having to drive a few extra blocks for food? Probably not. Probably nothing would prove that to them.
"Not just what it is, but how it's produced from beginning to end."
ReplyDeleteThat's why Corti's is sig, in my eyes. No one knows where food comes from any more, and the more removed you get from that the more industry will create products that are a detriment to public health.
If it's possible, as FSF said, to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, then that's where I am on the Cordi Bros affair.
ReplyDeleteI am glad that people got outraged, took a stand and refused to be cowed by the logic of What's good for General Motors... And I'm even more delighted that these brave people won their cause. How often does that happen?
At the same time, I find the idea of gourmands gathering outside of an upscale grocery store and giving speeches to be inherently ridiculous. It makes me laugh.
you mean 'gourmets'
ReplyDeletegourmands are gluttons. The interchangeable use of gourmet and gourmand is a fairly recent americanism that ignores the original meaning of the words.
You have a point. Here's the usage notes from dictionary.com:
ReplyDeleteA gourmet is a person with discriminating taste in food and wine, as is a gourmand. Because gourmand can also mean "one who enjoys food in great quantities" or even "a gluttonous eater," care should be taken to make clear its intended sense.
Yeah, the connection with 'gourmet' is only due to the prevalence of misuse altering the meaning though:
ReplyDeleteOnline Etymology Dictionary
gourmand
1491, "glutton," from M.Fr. gourmant "glutton," originally an adj., "gluttonous," of uncertain origin. Not connected with gourmet. Meaning "one fond of good eating" is from 1758.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
gourmand
noun
a person who is devoted to eating and drinking to excess [syn: glutton]
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
Gourmand
Gor"mand\, n. [F. gourmand; cf. Prov. F. gourmer to sip, to lap, gourmacher to eat improperly, F. gourme mumps, glanders, Icel. gormr mud, mire, Prov. E. gorm to smear, daub; all perh. akin to E. gore blood, filth. Cf. Gourmand.] A greedy or ravenous eater; a luxurious feeder; a gourmand.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
Oh, and the above uncalled for pedantry was the work of JD. Sorry if I irritated anyone; it's a problem I sometimes have.
ReplyDelete"At the same time, I find the idea of gourmands gathering outside of an upscale grocery store and giving speeches to be inherently ridiculous. It makes me laugh."
ReplyDeleteInteresting concept-- that people speaking up about something they care about and something on which they are deepy informed is ridiculous.
I'm no kind of foodie-- I happily eat at Lil Joes and drink PBR-- but I know enough to recognize that people like Biba and Patrick Mulvaney *might* have a bit more of an informed opinion about food than I do. That they took time to organize this tribute to Corti and to speak about his contributions to Sac's quality of life is anything but ridiculous to me.
Corti cares deeply about what he does, and in so doing has made life richer for all the rest of us-- even those who do not consider ourselves foodies. That you would laugh at the people who stood up to support him in a time of stress says a lot more about you than it does about them.
-omf
"That you would laugh at the people who stood up to support him in a time of stress says a lot more about you than it does about them."
ReplyDeleteYou may well be right. I think of myself as a mild, kindly person, but my wife knows me better than I know myself, and she tells me that I can be quite mordacious (this word is for you, my dear JD). I'm grateful that she loves me in spite of it.
WHERE WAS THIS COMMUNITY SUPPORT WHEN HO SY GUY WAS GOING UNDER??????
ReplyDelete-- Patrone
that's funny that that was you saying "gourmand", jd, becsause before i knew it was you i was recalling your statement "i'm more of a gourmand than a gourmet" and i was wondering if you knew what you were admitting to. i didn't know gourmand was associated with gluttony.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, I knew. Not that I'm proud of it. Of being a bit of a glutton, I mean.
ReplyDeleteI mean I can approach a type of epicureanism, but just to a degree. Like, I thoroughly enjoyed my monster taco at Jack in the Box after the show last night...but I love Corti's too.
JD