Like an epistemological knife through butter

בקטגוריות: Uncategorized

9 Feb 2008

At a restaurant today, I noticed a dish called "Bombay Butter Chicken" and an involuntary shiver ran down my spine.

How long ago was this crusade launched? It must have been in the 80’s, when saturated fats became cibus non grata. Maybe later. The effect is clear. Fats are the enemy. It’s been many a year since one could mention lard in polite company, Butter has been taken from the, well, bread-and-butter of society and turned into a positively decadent food. Other people I questioned agreed that the words butter, butterscotch and buttershot can all elicit a physical reaction sometimes bordering on nausea.

Many years ago I remember reading Alfred Bester’s "The Stars My Destination". In one scene, the protagonist releases a group of mutated and disfigured children from captivity. I still recall the children, starved and abused, rushing into the kitchen and desperately looking for something to eat. A young girl, a single cyclopean eye in her head, cracking open a tub of butter and shoveling great handfuls of it into her mouth. Must have been over a decade since I first read it, but that description still leaves me gagging reflexively. The physical sensation of a gob of butter sliding down my throat is much more revolting, to me, than a sad, tortured one-eyed girl.

2 תגובות על Like an epistemological knife through butter

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iod

9 בFebruary, 2008 בשעה 02:56

One of the common types of coffees sold around here is called “Pecan Butter”. Nobody seems to mind.

A couple of years ago I was in a small family restaurant in Mazkeret Batya – an excellent little gourmet place. Anyway, there was another couple there, and the woman was talking to the waiter. She asked him about one of the dishes, and wondered if she could have it with margarine instead of butter. The waiter was utterly offended and told her that margarine will not enter this restaurant even in reverse (I’m guessing he was winging it with that turn of phrase).

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ygurvitz

9 בFebruary, 2008 בשעה 10:06

The last observation is spot-on.

Good post.

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