Questions and Food Culture Also Looks Very Great

Trying to communicate to people my full on perspective regarding food is a difficult balance of personal and anecdotal interpretations of life experiences mixed with the empirical data that comes from those who gather such things. All of which provides evidence that helps answer the question of "Why do we eat what we eat?".


The question is far more difficult than one might imagine. It would be far easier for me to ask "Why do I eat what I eat?". But, as seven plus years of food blogging can demonstrate, I'm a bit of an outlier. My activities over the past seven years are not typically those of most people. These activities leave me questioning my own motives, and wondering why I give care what the average person from Skokie, Illinois had for dinner and what motivated them to buy that particular brand of potato chips, or sit down at that particular restaurant.


More than any other question, the one that sticks in my head is thus: since my own experiences had led me to several wonderful discoveries that are often easily obtainable, what is it that leads people to purchase crappier versions of my discoveries. Why do people buy Lipton Tea, Budweiser, or Kraft Singles? What made them purchase these items in the first place, and what motivated them to keep on buying them throughout their lifetime?

As I pulled back from looking for an answer from an individual perspective, I found that the answers to these questions often led to bigger questions. How did Budweiser get so big as to influence the beer market in the United States, putting them in the position to influence purchasing habits? What is there culturally that encourages us to over-sweetening our tea? Why, in God's name, is Kraft cheese such an unnatural color of yellow-orange?


(A quick side note: It's interesting, at least to me, on how my mind works. Because my intent when staring this post, was to discuss how much my family, particularly my parents, shaped my worldview on food. This isn't an uncommon approach to food writing. But exploring that avenue seems pointless to me, irrelevant to most, except for myself. I already know how I came to appreciate food and drink, and what influences my parents had in that. What makes me curious is why my father felt the need to buy cake mixes, when his mother was a near genius in the baking department. But I digress.


Food writing is such an odd vocation, especially at this point and time in American history. Our food culture is a hodge-podge of conflicting ideas and ideals, with different people being motivated to succeed in it for reasons as diverse as trying to do the right thing, to trying to be a celebrity, to out-and-out greed. Then there are the folks who participate in the food culture who don't even realize they are doing so.

ConAgra And Our PR Folly Also Feel Great

For those of you not on Twitter, and are not privy to the latest and greatest news and events, there's been a bit of a hub-bub of late regarding a PR event that failed miserably. The short version, as explained by the New York Times, sums the details pretty well:

In August, food bloggers and mom bloggers in New York were invited to dine at an underground restaurant in a West Village brownstone run, apparently, by George Duran, the chef who hosts the ?Ultimate Cake Off? on TLC.

Sotto Terra, the invitation said, was ?an intimate Italian restaurant? where attendees would enjoy a ?delicious four-course meal,? Mr. Duran?s ?one-of-a-kind sangria,? and learn about food trends from a food industry analyst, Phil Lempert. The invitation continued that upon confirming ? for one of five evenings beginning Aug. 23 ? bloggers would receive an extra pair of tickets as a prize for readers and that the dinner would include ?an unexpected surprise.?

The surprise: rather than being prepared by the chef, the lasagna they were served was Three Meat and Four Cheese Lasagna by Marie Callender?s, a frozen line from ConAgra Foods. Hidden cameras at the dinners, which were orchestrated by the Ketchum public relations unit of the Omnicom Group, captured reactions to the lasagna and to the dessert, Razzleberry Pie, also from Marie Callender?s.

Once the ruse had been made known, the response had been everything from bewilderment to embarrassment to outright anger.
I'm of two minds in regard to this. For one: ShittyCheaply made, processed food presented nicely, is, in the end, still shitty cheaply made, processed food. Ketchum PR and ConAgra foods know this, but hoped to dupe enough people with bells and whistles to impress and influence so as to pimp their shitty cheaply made lasagna and "razzleberry" pie. The folks realized that sending out invitations to food and Mom bloggers to sample the new "Marie Callender's" frozen boxed meals, few people would show up. So they had to find another solution.

Luckily for the folks at Ketchum, the Food Blogger and Mom Blogger system has been built to allow the unscrupulous to take advantage of the unwary. Years of taking free product samples and dining at the expense of PR companies have created an industry unto itself, one where e-mails are sent out inviting bloggers to exclusive events and making them feel part of the larger food world, one where they get to hang out with celebrity chefs and sup at "underground" Italian restaurants in the heart of New York City. Somewhere, out there, PR folks have created a magical, and exclusive, food world. They then sell it to folks who oh-want-so-much-to believe that it exists, with the end goal of the PR clients getting good publicity out of it.


Let's be frank here - those who accepted the invitation bought full-on into this false idea, and were played like a fiddle by Ketchum. But here's where it get's interesting - Again, from the New York Times article:

Once we sensed it was not meeting attendees? expectations, that?s where we stopped, we listened and we adjusted,? said Ms. Moritz, of ConAgra.
?It was never our intention to put any bloggers or their guests in an uncomfortable position and for that we are sorry,? she said, adding that the brand subsequently offered to reimburse attendees for such expenses as cab fare and baby-sitting.
Still, ?most attendees had a fun evening? and in a survey, 62.5 percent of participants indicated having a favorable impression of Marie Callender?s, Ms. Moritz said .

Major Players Want To Cook For People

So if I'm to dabble in the world of the Renaissance and Colonial Eras of Europe, it's good to know who, exactly, I'm going to be talking about. The topic is so large and so intertwined, that the amount of people involved make it just a little less complex than A Song of Ice and Fire (or Game of Thrones, for those of you who couldn't slop your way through the books).


It should be noted that my brief overview should not be considered complete, nor should it be considered factual. More, it should be considered where I'm going to start, and perhaps I will find evidence that contradicts my points below. The task here is to find a way to keep an eye on everyone, and see how far the trade for spices, and then later coffee, tea, and chocolate, affected the world. If I've missed anyone, let me know in the comments.

The Main Cast
Portugal: The country that could be said to have started it all. From the creation of the tireme, to the Pope giving them half of the world, the Portuguese were one of the first to have it all, and one of the first to lose it all.


Spain: The center of the Roman Catholic world thanks to their ties to the Hapsburg dynasty, they had the difficulty of balancing bankruptcy and fighting for their souls against the Protestant world.
England: The small bit player who ended up to being the empire where the sun never set, (which was the exact opposite of what the Pope wanted), the English, ended up becoming the tea merchants of the world and a major player in the opium trade.


The Dutch Republic: The little country that could, starting out being the stepping mat of Spain, to making so much money that they could commit genocide in order to ensure the supply of nutmeg. And they never did it in the name of God. They did it all for money.


India/The Mughal Empire: When we talk about pepper, we talk about Goa, which was on the west coast of India. The quest for pepper in India would eventually lead to the British Raj. Of course getting from the 1500's to the 1850's will take to explaining.


China: China is a bit of a cipher to me in all of this. The Europeans were just another bunch of traders in their eyes, and the focused diplomatically instead upon their neighbors. That is, while they weren't in the midst of their own civil wars.


Indonesia/Sultanate of Mataram: How can over one thousand islands defend themselves against interlopers with bigger ships and bigger guns? And what happens when they have several of the most valuable commodities on the planet?
The Bit Players:

France: France played at the edge of trading history for the longest time before diving into colonialism and trade. Their standing in this aspect of history was not helped by the fact that the Royalty tended to spend beyond their means.


The Hapsburgs: The origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, the Hapsburgs had their fingers everywhere in Europe. And some say they were the real power behind Spain.

Do you like the chinese food

One of the reasons I love ordering Chinese food with friends is that there’s something for everyone. When you order pizza or subs, you have fewer options and there’s always someone not happy. With Chinese food, you have a huge variety of treats from which to choose, and everyone can order something that they enjoy.

Do guest posts on other sites in your niche. Write content that can easily be linked by other bloggers. Get people excited about what you’re doing so that your name just starts to just appear everywhere. You want people to be like, “Oh, I’ve heard of him/her…” even if they can’t rattle off your bio (yet). 

One of the complaints that lots of people have about Chinese food is that you’re hungry again an hour later. Is that true? Maybe…but for bloggers, this is a good thing! You want great content, but you also want to always leave them always wanting more. Include related links at the end and links within the body to keep readers on your site. Encourage readers to sign up for your mailing list or subscribe to your RSS feed. Clearly link to your social media profiles on your sidebar and make sure you promote you content on these platforms. Most importantly, make sure every single post you write is awesome. It only takes one “meh” post to make a reader decide they don’t need to come back to your site.

Most Chinese restaurants even have healthier options for those who are dieting. Does you blog have something for everyone? Of course, you won’t connect with every person in the world (that would be a crazy blog), but within your specific target market, there are going to be a lot of different tastes. If you rely on just one type of post (like just list posts or just rants), you’re not going to appeal to as many people. Make sure your target is focused, but don’t make it so focused that your audience is too small.

No matter where you live, you can find Chinese food. Heck, even at my mom’s house, which is located in a super rural area with less than 100 people in the entire town, you can get to a Chinese restaurant pretty quickly. Make your content similarly easy to find. You want to create a presence for yourself so that others are mentioning you and your name just pops up in conversations related to your niche. Attend offline conferences (like BlogWorld LA of course).