Foodies and their haunts
Dara Moskowitz, a food writer for the local weekly Citipages, has an interesting article this week about the closing of several high profile restaurants in the Twin Cities. I feel some ambivalence about the "foodie" label, and this article illustrates some of the reasons why. Am I a person who is deeply interested in food and foodways? Yes. I think it's interesting to learn about how different cultures and places approach this fundamental act of eating. The myriad processes by which meat and leaves and fruit can be prepared is deeply intriguing to me. Yet at the same time, restaurants like the one Moskowitz mentions are for those with the financial and time resources to make food a particular kind of hobby. (Disclaimer: I have in fact had a meal at more than one of these places, however.) I'm interested not just in places that serve locally grown organics, but in how the people of north Minneapolis get and make their food as well. While I have a distaste for the Appleby's and Olive Garden's of the world, the restaurants mention here put up their own barriers of exclusivity. And I don't feel like being part of that club.
In any case, the larger battle here is between the global economy and the local. Does Wal-Mart win or the corner hardware store? Or where does the truce get drawn? As much as we might disavow it, people like Wal-Mart and Appleby's. There's a comfort and safety to it. It's convenient and inexpensive. The question is how we value local identity, service, and even economic justice (though that last point is contested). It's a battle waged on many fronts, but this is one of them.