Artisanal Delicacies

Meredith Ashton

Secret Ingredients

Reading Response 2

13 October 2016

Artisanal Delicacies

            The final chapters of the Local Delicacies section of Secret Ingredients spoke to the beauty and culinary superiority of artisanal food products. As the descriptions of these foods were so lovely and tantalizing, I began to wonder: what is it that makes these artisanal products so delicious? After analyzing these sections, which describe “those particularly gnarly little dark pumpernickel bagels,” unpasteurized cheeses created by a nun, and the artisanal tofu handmade by Japanese monks, I discovered a few common themes that tie these artisanal dishes together.

            The first aspect that surprised me was the incredible amount of hard work and specialized knowledge that these dishes necessitate. When making tofu, for example, many artisans show up at two in the morning to begin the arduous task of ensuring the product is “soaked, ground, boiled, strained, reboiled, curdled, pressed, drained, cooled, sliced, and packaged” (Thurman 328). Such a time-intensive task also requires individuals to have very specific knowledge of the process. In the case of Mother Noella in the chapter “Raw Faith,” she has completed a Ph.D. in microbiology, studying cheese caves in France for her doctoral thesis. The nun has an incredible amount of specialized knowledge about the bacteria and fungi that are an essential aspect of the artisanal cheese-making process. Bagels, too, turned out to be far more complex than I had previously imagined. There are specific flours and an intermediate boiling period that create a huge difference between a bagel and a bread.

            The process of creating these artisanal goods relies not only on the knowledge and perseverance of these cooks, but also upon natural forces. Both cheese and tofu require an intricate understanding of natural forces and native ingredients. Mother Noella explains that “Every dairy, every cheese cave, has its own specific ecology. Every handful of soil, no matter how ordinary, contains more biodiversity than a rainforest,” (Bilger 321). With her keen knowledge of fungi, Mother Noella is able to harness this natural process to aid with her cheese-making. Tofu also requires a nuanced knowledge of the natural, as a key part of creating artisanal tofu is finding the correct ingredients. The author of the section explains the difficult task of locating the right coral reef off the coast of a certain island where there resides the perfect kind of seaweed to mix in with the half-formed tofu.

            The final component of these artisanal delicacies is that their complicated processes result in unique, individualized food products that one cannot find elsewhere. In “The Magic Bagel,” Calvin Trillin spends multiple days searching for the particular artisanal bagel he once enjoyed with his daughter. He refuses to settle for any other kind of pumpernickel bagel because it simply won’t be the same experience. As we’ve discussed in class, eating the same food twice, especially one tied up in nostalgia, will not be an exact simulation of the first time that you tried a dish. Trillin, however, does not seem to be looking for a recreation of his pumpernickel bagel.  Rather he acknowledges and respects the beauty and “magic” of that food from his past, and wishes to possibly taste that connection to food and his family once more. It is this ethereal, magical component that contributes to the success, and arguable superiority, of artisan foods.