Food, the first and final luxury

America's recession is far from over and we are nowhere near the heady times of the dot com boom of the nineties. But the seismic tremors in our economy has brought me to thinking about food.

The reason I bring up food is because when Silicon Valley started pumping out multi-millionaires faster than anything a parallel movement in the foodie world occurred. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, "foodies"are gastronomic enthusiasts who range from the passionate to the zealot. They enjoy fine cooking, especially by celebrity and up-and-coming chefs, obscure food trivia, and one-upping their peers in such matters. In the nineties, because there was a surplus of money all kinds of new restaurants and other novelties started popping up. Chefs were able to use more expensive ingredients, including organic and obscure ingredients as people were willing to shell out for them. Chefs were also able to entertain outlandish ideas such as creating foods that were more like foams and tiny edible towers.

But now we might all literally have to tighten our belts a little bit. Basic food consumption has not been immune to the rising cost of life and the accompanying recession and there has been rumbling in several publications, including Esquire (October 2008, "What the 21st Century Will Taste Like" by: David Chang,p.208-210) and Metropolis ("Back to the Land" by Karrie Jacobs p.92-94) that we may all have to start getting in touch with our inner gardener. As food costs skyrocket people may have to grow their own food.

I'm not much of a gardener. I'd like to be. But I'm rather lazy in that department. I have a rather nice basil plant that I purchased from the dollar bin at Target, but other than that my forays into gardening have been less than successful.

In Marina del Rey, CA,between Santa Monica and L.A. there are community gardens, which are a great idea and the idea was even used as a plot point on the now defunct TV show Will & Grace.

This shifting of tides may force us to change our ways, but this doesn't mean change for the worse.

I, like most Americans, take food for granted. My gastronomical Achille's heel is popcorn, in most every form, though hot, fresh, buttered, and salty is the way I prefer it. I have developed an addiction to white cheddar popcorn and it is my primary motivation on my walk home.