2004: It's About More than Food

Peppers feature in Northern Thai food, drawing by Lucey Bowen from Gourmet, 2004, photograph.

    Perhaps the most celebrated piece of writing in Gourmet's 2004 issues was David Foster Wallace's "Consider the Lobster."  It's a mad ramble of a piece which begins with a celebration of Maine's lobster industry and ends with Wallace raising all sorts of questions of the sort not previously addressed in the magazine devoted to "the good life."

    Other articles that year celebrated Bangkok and the fish sauce of Vietnam but are imbued awareness of the illusory nature of tourism and travel.  Perhaps this is most obvious in "Salaam Bombay," dedicated to India's Bollywood film industry.

     The sheer physicality of traveling by bicycle is an antidote to touristic illusion.  As a high school graduation present we asked Connor to accompany us on a cycling trip.  He voted to split the trip between France and Ireland, and we obliged.  Except for the heat, the cycling and the food were better in France than Ireland.  We continued to follow the no fast food rule.  I remember: Connor ordering Pizza Americane at a restaurant on the outskirts of Les Eyzie.  It proved to be pizza crust covered with French fries, hamburger and cheese sprinkled on top.  I would like to say that such a thing was never served in the United States, but soon Connor would discover the civic specialty of Pittsburgh: Primanti's sandwiches, all of which contain an order of french fries, coleslaw and tomatoes.

     My routine of triathalon training and tutoring was about to be modified.  In the fall I began attending the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco's friday docent training lectures.  The curriculum was designed to complement Avery Brundage's collection of Asian art.  It paralleled the Museum's chronological and geographical ordering of the collection by beginning in India, and over the course of three years, encompassing Southeast Asia, China, Korea and Japan. Under the direction of a wonderful teacher, Yu Chun-Hui.  The overview I'd taught in my 6th grade social studies classroom was just a start.  

New York:
Oriental Garden at 14 Elizabeth Street is still Oriental Garden.
Big Eat at 97 Bowery is closed.
Joe's Ginger at 113 Mott Street is closed.
Joe's Shanghai at 9 Pell Street is still Joe's Shanghai
New Green Bo at 66 Bayard is Nice Green Bo.
Jing Fong at 20 Elizabeth Street is still Jing Fong
Golden Unicorn Restaurant at 18 East Broadway is still Golden Unicorn Restaurant.
Big Wong at 67 Mott Street is still Big Wong.
Ping's Seafood at 22 Mott Street is still Ping's.

San Francisco:
Cetrella Bistro and Cafe at 845 Main Street, Half Moon Bay is still Cetrella.