Читать книгу A Long and Messy Business - Rowley Leigh - Страница 62

Not Just a Pretty Picture

Sea Bass en Papillote

A chef in France has banned his customers from taking

photographs of his food, citing his ‘intellectual copyright’

as having been breached by diners who might otherwise

have breathed in a dish’s aroma, tucked in and spoken to

their companions. I agree that it is a silly, slightly rude

custom that completely misses the point, but I would

never impose such a ban. It is their food and their dinner

that is being spoilt. Nevertheless, it is a worrying trend.

I blame the TV. Ever since food programmes stopped

being fun and started taking food too seriously, the way a

dish looks has become more important than the way it

smells or tastes. I recently experienced a dish that

illustrated this unbalanced visual emphasis. It was sculpted

on a black rectangular plate in the shape of a tree. The

leaves were a blossom of ice-cold creamy emulsion that

tasted of very little. Among the leaves were little spheroid

charms in purple, green and orange, with ever more bizarre

flavours. At the base of the tree was a collection of small

fruits of the forest, which included mushrooms fashioned

out of foie gras, shards of Ibérico ham and some micro

leaves. Not content with his work, the chef had directed the

waiter to come over with a dredger and shower ‘snow’ of

dehydrated essence of some worryingly unidentifiable

substance over the ensemble. Still worried he might have

left something out, the chef came over and shaved some

excellent but redundant truffles over the surface. With chef

finally satisfied, I was free to savour the dish. It was visually

arresting and tasted quite repulsive.

There is a deeper problem. Food becoming pretty

pictures is just another symptom, I fear, of our alienation

from the processes behind our food and our inability to

deal with them. In Hong Kong it is considered poor form

to buy dead fish – it is usually sold still flapping around in

a tank – and chickens are often sold alive and dispatched

in front of you. I am not suggesting that we should adopt

or return to these practices, but a renewed connection with

the feel, smell and taste of what we eat might be in order.

This dish is something of an antidote to modern trends.

It arrives at the table in a paper parcel and then has to be

negotiated before it can be consumed free of bones. It is

simple to cook, looks like nothing at all and is, of course,

aromatic, full of flavour and tastes of what it is. Pick the

bones, as they say, out of that.

92