Book Review – “You Aren’t What You Eat” – Stephen Poole
by Jan
Steven Poole skewers chefs and foodism brilliantly, and according to him, they are so worthy of derision. We see food programs on television and social media constantly, and that’s largely because they are entertaining and, if viewers can’t cook, informative.
He skewers gastronomic subcultures eg. organic, wellness, fair trade, holistic, ethical, carbon-sequestrating, allotment-digging, and macrobiotic followers.
And let’s not forget key terms such as: artisanal, heritage, provenance, source, forage, molecular gastronomy, plating up, drizzle, and food sensitivities which can be fashionable etc.
According to Poole, within these subcultures the participants can be intolerant of extremism, and have no patience or balanced opinions. But, there’s plenty of room for hyperbole eg. ‘being rewarded with sighs of satisfaction all around the table’.
The target audience has allowed itself to become obsessed and anxious over these terms and what choices to make in the kitchen. Cooking is not an art; it’s a craft in spite of what one sees and hears on cookery shows, and other media.
Poole obviously is annoyed about the pretence and self-congratulation of people who cook on TV, plus the fact that viewers fawn all over them until the next fad comes along.
This book mocks the gullible viewers buying the moronic mendacity, and trying to do pretentious things with food, like peeling broad beans – each one!! On the other hand, it is not about eating per se. It attacks how our society is being marketed to relentlessly by corporates, media promoting big-name chefs, and the target audience can’t see that they’re sometimes being gullible.
If you’re fed up with all this nonsense and want some witty entertainment, this book is well worth reading.