In this weekend's Metropolitan section the Times revealed that food is trendy and that young New Yorkers with money and time to burn love eating food that is served outdoors by the people that make it, especially if its in limited quantity, bartered, and in taco form.
Does the article compare food to music? It sure does. Here, a quote from a Queens bartender, "I used to spend five hours in a record store looking for albums. Now everything’s online. But I can’t find artisanal sausage online and eat it right away. Maybe food markets are the vintage record shops of 2012."
Are they? Or are they the new 1980's art movement? Quote: "Some readers may object that a well-made kimchi taco is not the equivalent of a Basquiat canvas, but others will remember that such high-blown rhetoric attended the 1980s’ art world as well."
But maybe food is most like fashion: "food changes with trends at the speed of fashion. Lobster rolls and braised meat abound at most markets; Indian food, despite some of the world’s great street dishes, is rare or absent. Grilled cheese is the new black." The headline for this article, by the way, is "Eat, Talk, Tweet." The kicker: "But without a story, a taco is a taco. And in this summer’s food zeitgeist, story is the secret spice."
· Eat, Talk, Tweet [NYT]