Cobey Johnson
Professor Miller
English 110- H6
15 October 2018
Food is Entertainment
Food is important, an enjoyment for most, but when did it become a competitive sport? An entertainment for the masses? As I read through the article and essays, I was able to gather a common theme, which is stability. Food gives people a sense of stability because with food, everyone’s level of satisfaction is in some ways met. Universally, food is the tool that brings people together; capturing their cultures and getting a better sense of who they really are. In the article by Michael Pollan, “Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch”, he emphasizes that Americans nowadays would rather sit down and watch other people cook food on television rather than get up and do it themselves. I would agree with Pollan’s statement, but in response say that in our society today, more and more people are eating out in restaurants or ordering out because of the convenience it brings to their lives. Therefore, it makes sense as to why so many Americans are watching more television; they are getting the food that they are watching on television delivered straight to their doorstep. It’s a win-win. Although food has become more than just what we intake, the traditional American family dinner will continue to stay prevalent whether or not food has become more popular on television.
In the Cameron Shaw essay, she introduces the idea of structure. Explicitly, she glances over the fact that being an incoming college freshman means that she will not be able to receive many home cooked meals versus when she is at home. When she is at home, she feels that there is stability in her life and the cause of that is due to when her mother cooks pot roast. Although her favorite meal may be pot roast, “I believe that it has a lot to do with the childhood memories that flood into my mind each time I take a bite” (Shaw). As stated in the quote above, Shaw cherishes pot roast; she enjoys it, not only because of how remarkable her mother makes it taste, but the memories that she has made and will continue to remember for a lifetime. Pot roast is the element that brings Shaw and her mother together, giving her the stability and structure, she says she likes to have in her life, in her favorite meal essay. Instances like Shaw’s shows us that, as a society, our values have not actually changed, but instead we have implemented the factor of the television and how popular cooking shows have become. Americans are still having family dinners with their loved ones; however, no one is asking each other about their day, rather are gathering around the television and watching the popular food shows because it has become our entertainment.
Structure is an interesting topic that we see very often now, that we hadn’t seen prior to the mass production, “of cooking shows – or perhaps I should say food shows” (Pollan 3) that air on television, who basically compete for which show has the most viewers. (The Food Network averaged over a half a million viewers in 2016.) In the Michael Pollan article, there are several times he revisits the Julia Child show, where he explains her downfalls as a host on her cooking show called, “The French Chef”. One of the many flaws Julia Child’s cooking show had was her lack of structure throughout the show. While this is a negative now, due to all the competitive cooking shows there are on television today, it gave her viewers confidence. Her show was real, there were no cuts or edits; she showed her mistakes because that is what cooking is all about. If you made a mistake, continue, and try again because eventually you will do it properly. Child’s viewers were able to receive a realistic look into her kitchen, which gave them the urge to get up and try to replicate her dishes. Pollan wrote the article, “Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch” because he had grown up watching, “My mother [Pollan]…cooking dishes she’d watched Julia cook on TV: boeuf bourguignon (the subject of the show’s first episode), French onion soup gratinée, duck á l’orange, coq au vin, mousee au chocolat. Some of the more ambitious dishes, like the duck or the mousse, were pointed toward weekend company, but my mother would usually test these out on me and my sisters earlier in the week, and a few of the others – actually made it into heavy weeknight rotation” (Pollan 1). I believe Pollan is just disappointed with how society seems to be going and not how it once was when he was an adolescent.
In the Edward Upton essay, he has a good balance between both the entertainment aspect of the direction society has started to move toward, but never losing sight of the family side of things. Implicitly, Upton dives in deep about the idea of consistency. Even though he might be speaking in hyperbolic terms, the barbecue chicken pizza that he would come home to every Friday night was the key to his relationship with his mother. Imaginably, after the death of Upton’s father, his life became much harder, but he and his mother grew closer, making their Friday night pizza, a meal that both probably looked forward to every week. In fact, Upton states, “This is the reason it’s not only mine but my mother’s favorite meal” (Upton) because they both enjoy each other’s time, while watching movies. Another example of the American family dinner culture staying prevalent is through the thought of recipes. In the Corryn Lachance essay, she relays the idea of recipe through her grandmother’s butternut squash. Lachance’s grandmother restores the value of family by annually making her dish because of its background. Lachance’s grandmother says that she makes the dish, ‘“because I feel this closeness with my mother, and I know she would be proud I’m spreading along the tradition to my children and grandchildren”’(Lachance). The thought that recipes and consistency throughout these two essays convey the idea of family and how families have their own unique way of keeping traditions going is a direct contrast to what Pollan believes Americans have transitioned into doing more of.
At last, I do agree that Pollan’s observation about food becoming more of an entertainment rather than a time to spend with family is true, but we cannot turn a blind eye to those families who have certain traditions that they uphold. I believe that traditions that families continue to partake in, whether it be with making pizza every Friday night or Thanksgiving, when Lachance’s grandmother makes butternut squash that was passed down from her mother, keeping America in balance with the entertainment aspect of things, no matter how popular food shows will become. Family gatherings with our favorite foods are tradition and are the root of the American nation and without them, we lose sight of what America is all about.
