Would you spend hundreds of dollars on one meal for one person just to eat your way around the world at top restaurants in the U.S., Europe, and Asia? See the January 18, 2012 Sacramento Bee article by Blair Anthony Robertson, "Sacramento couple design their trips around world's great restaurants." Also see a book on a similar topic, Around the World in Eighty Meals, by Nan Lyons. How much would you pay to experience the imagination made food reality of the most creative chefs of the world?
Some people love bacon and eggs ice cream. Why is bacon and eggs ice cream so popular? The Fat Duck restaurant is the birthplace of snail porridge and bacon-and-egg ice cream. Want the recipe for bacon and eggs ice cream? See, Bacon-and-Egg Ice Cream: Diary of a Foodie : gourmet.com. See, Heston Blumenthal's infamous bacon & egg ice cream - Slashfood.
Is too much creativity with food related in any way to the rising diabetes epidemic as more chefs focus on dairy cream and butter and rare red meats, BBQ, or seared foods that taste raw inside rather than olive oil or nut-based salad dressings and raw vegetable-type meals? Or is there more an emphasis on quality seafood and white meats? Or beans for fiber?
Check out these reports from the Atlantic Wire about a drop in meat consumption and a Gallup survey showing slightly fewer Americans were obese in 2011.
In the news today is a fascinating report about one age thirty-something Sacramento middle class couple who travel around the world to dine at the finest restaurants. He's a chef. She designs custom-made swimming pools.
Yet they learn about culture and ambiance through food by paying hundreds of dollars per person per meal at restaurants where even getting a reservation may take months and in some cases even years.
One restaurant, The Fat Duck, in England, even offers head phones to hear the sounds of the sea while eating seafood. It's as if they travel to learn about the finest in dining out experiences. Check out that article online. It's fascinating with information about what the most expensive or the most delicious food is like to experience vicariously.
Looking for more news on Sacramento restaurants from the eyes of those who inspect the establishments? Also see, the January 18, 2012 Sacramento Bee article, "Food safety violations down at Sacramento County restaurants."
The couple's dining experience (or at least the chef) dined at top restaurants around the world such as the Fat Duck – Bray, England, Pierre Gagnaire – Paris, Alinea – Chicago, Nakamura – Kyoto, Japan, Meadowood – St. Helena, Commerc 24 – Barcelona, Spain, The French Laundry – Yountville, Le Bernardin – New York, Eleven Madison Park – New York, Manresa – Los Gatos, Providence – Los Angeles, and Marea – New York. Check out the Sacramento Bee article for a list of the chef's favorite cookbooks and the Sacramento couple's name.
What's startling about the article is that the middle-class thirtyish couple aren't wealthy. Considering what he earns as a chef and what she earns as a swimming pool designer, you can perhaps fantasize about the cost of going to different countries around the world, and cities in the USA, spending money for hotels, taxis, and the price of food. The couple also dined at Aqua, a great seafood restaurant in San Francisco. One meal in Los Angeles cost $250 for one person. Add to that airfare, rental car, and hotel. So check out the article to see what it cost and what the couple learned about fine dining.
Isn't it wonderful to be young, afford to travel and stay at hotels and earn enough to eat in the best restaurants around the world without being wealthy? A chef deserves that experience. The chef eating meals around the world for years was a hardworking chef, who labored 50 hours a week at a midtown Sacramento restaurant.
Yes, you deserve to eat your way around the world too. For everyone else, remember to contemplate the small portion sizes in the top restaurants because with all those courses, sometimes it takes hours to eat all put down on the table. This chef now works as a chef with more traditional hours at a Nugget Market in Davis.
Not only chefs, but food scientists and nutrition writers also are interested in culinary history. The only question that comes up is why does it cost so much for one meal in a restaurant when you can prepare it at home for a few dollars? Perhaps it's the learning experience, the culture, and the ambiance or the environment in the restaurant or the people you meet.
Check out the article. It's a vicarious experience reading about it because I can honestly say I've never been able to afford to eat in a restaurant other than a fast-food place or a vegetarian-friendly buffet that charges under $10 at the senior rate, nor have I ever traveled as a nondriver, more than two days away from home, at least since I got married nearly 40 years ago.
So I can only imagine what culinary culture feels like having never eaten more than soup, salad, and a vegetable plate anywhere outside my home or the usual fast-food faire in Sacramento at the numerous chain fast-food eateries walking distance from my home. The biggest shock came when I spent two days in San Francisco and had to pay up to $20 for a buffet for vegetables and the saltiest fish that burned my mouth as I'm on a no-added salt diet. Everything else is prepared at home from scratch on my tiny fixed income retirement budget.
It's nice to fantasize about what it would be like to travel and eat at the finest restaurants. Is the food low-fat and vegetarian friendly? Probably not in some of the restaurants, but not all, named in the article. But who knows, since it's so painstaking the wait to get a reservation. Then again, if the food is healthy for you, eat it as they say in the media.
It might be more thrifty for some to buy the cookbooks of the most imaginative chefs and try to follow the recipes if they're within your budget, if it's the taste you're after. But cooking in your tiny apartment in Sacramento with all the traffic below your window won't give you the same ambiance as dining near the sea listening to the sounds and the scent of the ocean while dining in a plush setting. For some, that's the only reality. For others, it's pleasant to vicariously read about what the experience may have felt like when it comes to food. But what about nutrition say, compared to the taste of the food?
Also check out an excellent cook book, The Flavor Bible - By Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg | Amazon.com. Another great book about food and chefs is The Fat Duck Cookbook - Heston Blumenthal. This book according to reviews, is about culinary creativity, based on the wisdom of American's most imaginative chefs. The Fat Duck restaurant is the birthplace of snail porridge and bacon-and-egg ice cream.
Chefs need a certain passion for perfection and sometimes weird science. Check out the book about the chef and the restaurant. This book according to reviews, is about culinary creativity, based on the wisdom of American's most imaginative chefs featuring the meteoric rise of Heston Blumenthal and The Fat Duck (restaurant).
Surprise from Paula Deen's Type 2 Diabetes Announcement
Another surprise was hearing the announcement that Paula Deen is diabetic with type 2 diabetes. View the video: Paula Deen's Diabetes Announcement Begins New "Healthy" Recipe. Last time when she was on the Dr. Oz show she admitted she wanted to stop smoking, and when asked what she couldn't live without related to cooking, her reply on that show was her "deep fryer." See, Bites - Paula Deen: Diabetes diagnosis won't change how I cook.
Also check out, Butter Connoisseur Paula Deen Admits Type 2 Diabetes Battle, and see, TV chef Paula Deen touts diabetes drug along with high-fat southern cooking. According to that Washington Post article, Paula Deen, the Southern belle of butter and heavy cream, continues to dish up deep-fried cheesecake and other high-calorie, high-fat recipes on TV.
According to the Washington Post article, she explained that she isn’t changing the comfort cooking that made her a star, though it isn’t clear how much of it she’ll continue to eat while she promotes health-conscious recipes along with a diabetes drug she’s endorsing for a Danish company.
The issue in nutrition is that when you eat just a piece of cake and not the whole cake, the sugar changes your brain so that it's addictive and you crave the whole cake. Some can and some can't resist the whole cake. The same goes for saturated dairy fats such as cheese and butter. The four most addictive foods are sugar, chocolate, dairy, and meat.
How Food May Change Your Brain
When you eat just one piece of cake, chocolate, or one cookie, the hormones in your brain change in such a way that it becomes harder to resist the next piece. When you eat a fatty potato chip, can you eat just one? Or do you crave the entire package?
Check out the articles, What Sugar Does to Your Brain | OlsonND.com and How does food affect our brain? | Psychology Today. If food didn't affect the brain as well as the sounds and smells or view of any given restaurant as well as the food and the service quality, would anyone come back again for more?
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