Although translated one year after The Elegance of the Hedgehog, this is actually Muriel’s first book and was published in French 6 years before. And that’s why i read it first.
I’m in two frames of mind about this book, my first one is that it’s an incredibly well written descriptive narrative that i thoroughly enjoyed, especially being a life long foody myself, to the point i found myself happily picking it up at every spare minute to read some more. However, my other frame of mind comes from my utter contempt for people who look at food as a medium for art when the best part of i billion people don’t get enough calories every day while many many more get absolutely no choice what to eat and very rarely have access to a full range of essential nutrients. At the same time, over 1 billion other people in the privileged developed world gorge themselves on highly processed foods to an obesity epidemic (creating an obscene amount of waste while doing so). A system of food preparation, presentation, advertising and marketing that caters for nothing but a ridiculous conception of what good food is. This system being pushed wholesale through advertising and television cookery programs: Master Chef being a prime example.
Good food is as it comes from the ground with the most minimal processing, just enough processing to maximise the digestion of the nutrients, and each meal should aim to be completely nutritionally balanced. Instead we have these so called master chefs, critics and their sycophants parading food on television that bears no resemblance to reality, is nutritionally corrupt in the extreme and does nothing but titillate people’s mouths and give them a spike of neurotransmitters that they fallaciously perceive as delicious while fuelling a pandemic of obesity and chronic diseases, causing years of suffering before sending them all to an early grave.
So yeah, i loved the writing and enjoyed reading it, but i really hated the main protagonist’s attitude to food, life and everything: the only thing he didn’t treat with utter contempt was his own gluttony and i was quite pleased when he died without the choux pastry he wanted so much.
Anyways, i’m certainly looking forward to reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog.
