I normally would not make a point of this. I would normally read the New York Times, think… Hmmm… and go on my way, but today these two articles — about food — caught my attention, and I felt the need to say something about them.
The first is <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/12/dining/12HOLI.html?ei=5007&en=e21590cb6396c6b7&ex=1383973200&partner=USERLAND&pagewanted=all&position=" title="Wine Enough to Please Them All">Wine Enough to Please Them All</a>, by R. W. Apple Jr. It begins by noting, “These next five or six preholiday weeks are the times that try wine lovers’ souls.” How true. The premise of the article is that the complexities of flavor that our palates will experience through the winter holidays — even within any given meal — do not lend themselves to an easy pairing with any given wine. My immediate reaction was, “What about gewürztraminer?” To which the author obediently replied, “That parade of bland, sweet, fruity, sometimes spicy flavors is hard to match with wine, and it has produced some outlandish suggestions, including gewürztraminer, which the Alsatians who make it drink with everything, from sauerkraut to cheese. Not for me.” The author has many suggestions, some quite good, but the best is this: “This is just wine, not life; a drink, not moral theology.”
The second is <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/12/opinion/12BARB.html?ex=1384059600&en=4f631fcc581a5e3a&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND" title="The Big Apple Circus">The Big Apple Circus</a>, By Dan Barber. Dan makes a point I tried to make with Gretchen before we started going to the local farmer’s market for fresh produce: “All politics is local, particularly when it comes to food.” He makes his point by talking about two apples — “a Granny Smith, an American icon, but grown in South Africa” and a Winesap that “grew up in upstate New York” — “Two apples, roughly 50 feet (and a traffic light) apart. How does one choose? And does the choice matter?” <em>I agree with the argument.</em> However, reading it myself I find a few intriguing issues with the presentation of the argument. First, the use of the Winesap and Granny Smith weakens the argument. If the South African factory farm had chosen to grow both Winesaps and Granny Smiths, the argument would be equally valid. Second, like most arguments, this one ignores the other side of the issue. Perhaps competition with a South African farm apple is the price that we, as Americans, pay for having peace, freedom, and democracy in South Africa. Finally — and this was the kicker for me — Gretchen and I happened to have recently bought both Granny Smiths and Winesaps, and while they are good <em>baking</em> apples — for those of you who are actually <em>baking</em> them — I personally think they are just too firm for most anything else. They do not make applesauce worth a darn. They make a tasty pie, but with much more body than I prefer. So, while I too like to think globally while acting locally, I would not have chosen these two apples.
No fixed plans. Not intent upon arriving.