The Cheesecake Factory’s One Trick Pony
Ezra Klein goes after those arrogant foodies:
Foodies have an unfortunate tendency to alight on a Unified Field Theory of Corporate Food: It’s bad for the environment and bad for workers and bad for animals and bad for waistlines and, above all that, a fraud, because it also tastes bad. This would be convenient, if true. Foodies could be like Morpheus walking around in a chef’s toque offering people freedom through an organic fig. This has the virtue of being wrong and condescending at the very same time. If people weren’t actually enjoying what they were eating, then getting them to change it would be pretty easy. People aren’t somehow incorrect when they judge their meal a sensually pleasing experience. They, after all, are the ones who ate it.
I agree! That being said though, I think most foodies (myself included) would argue that there’s more to a good meal than fat, sugar and salt. For instance, I think good service makes or breaks a restaurant, and I definitely take into consideration the quality of an establishment’s bar when I’m deciding whether or not to return. Although, I do suspect Klein could cede all this while still contending that when it comes to the taste of the food all that really matters is the before mentioned holy-trinity of deliciousness.
That may be true—I suspect delicacies, such as deep-fried macaroni and cheese (PDF), probably do taste pretty good. The problem with dishes like this though, is they really only have one thing going for them: an insane amount of calories. Once you get past all the sugar, fat and salt I doubt there’s going to be much substance left in the dish. On the other hand, if you go to a fancyschmancy restaurant where all the dishes are made from scratch and the clientele largely well-educated, pretentious liberals, you’re more likely to find food that has depth. Sure, sure, these things are subjective and I can’t say with certainty that a place like the 112 Eatery is better than The Cheesecake Factory but I still have to believe (in fact, I can taste!) that there’s some substance behind the critique of corporate food by the much-maligned foodie.