The article by Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld is a conversation the authors led with recognized New York chefs Andre Soltner and David Chang. The main topic of the conversation was how the time has changed the face of American cuisine. Andre Soltner mentioned that there was actually no American cuisine in the late sixties, and David Chang agreed that it has probably appeared somewhere in eighties. It has changed a lot since then, but French technique is still basis of cooking in New York City (Patronite & Raisfeld 182).
An important conclusion the interviewed professionals make is that people eat better now. There is a high demand for new recipes and ingredients nowadays, and as a result, farmers grow new sorts of vegetables and herbs. To demonstrate this point, Chief Chang provided an example of Fairy Tale eggplant. He stated that three years ago only one person grew it, and “now everyone’s growing Fairy Tale eggplant” (Patronite & Raisfeld 184). Chief Soltner added that people became much more aware about cooking as they have been exposed to information about it through magazines and TV daily (Patronite & Raisfeld 184). Chiefs are more concerned about their salary nowadays while customers are not willing to pay more for the good lunch (Patronite & Raisfeld 184). All in all, our society has become more interested in food and aware about cooking culture, and this trend will continue in future (Patronite & Raisfeld 184).
The observations in the article are very true. On my own example I see how the society has moved forward with their choices of products and flavoring. The variety of these choices is indeed huge. When I go to a market I sometimes see products or sorts of fruits and vegetables that I did not even know existed. Still, when my friends and I go to the restaurant, we are quite careful with the price of the dish we choose. Some offers in a menu seem unreasonably expensive, as we do not think about the price of ingredients and labor needed to cook it.
Works Cited:
Patronite, Rob and Raisfeld, Robin. “In Conversation: Andre Soltner and David Chang”. New
York 8 Oct. 2008:180-184
