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Of second chances and cleared tablesAug 06 '01 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line “An’t please your honor,” quoth the peasant, “This same dessert is not so pleasant.” — Pope
Oh that wacky Epinions. Throwing us a change up when we’d come to expect a slider. If you’ve been around Epinions for a while, you’ve heard of the famous Quick Meal Recipes category, the saving grace of those who couldn’t think of anything to write in a “useful” category. And we can all understand that frustration. If you really, really want to write a carefully thought out opinion about your favorite adult incontinence product or have a compelling urge to help consumers make good choices by deftly highlighting the pros and cons of that 1987 Yugo that you just test drove, it’s tough to make your lovingly crafted opinion stand out among the hundreds of other fine opinions about those weighty subjects. But wouldn’t you know it? You were all set to post the best Quick Meal Recipe EVER, and your recipe for Grilled Aardvark (Stuffed with Prosciutto and Sun Dried Tomatoes) was a sure bet to pop to the top of the search engine results (you made sure to say XXX minutes rather than 30 minutes when you discussed the preliminary walnut-basil marinade). And then Epinions pulled the rug out from under you, “retiring” the Quick Meal Recipe category because so many evil people had abused the topic in the eternal quest for a fist full of pennies. Plagiarism had run rampant. People copied recipes from their recipe books verbatim. People stole recipes from aunt Ruth without so much as a by your leave and claimed authorship for a shrimp scampi dish that had been prepared by aunt Ruth before they’d been born. Members “borrowed” recipes from sites on the net (and even “borrowed” the typos), and at least one Advisor was stripped of funny hats for plagiarizing recipes. Those evil, evil people ruined it for the rest of us. Consumers wanting to make better-informed buying decisions (and cooking decisions, by gum!) were left in the lurch when the steady flow of Quick Meal Recipes came to a sudden screeching end. Mothers and fathers throughout the world were left staring at their monitors in horror. What would they cook for Johnny and Betsy tonight? Where would they be able to find a good recipe for Grilled Aardvark (Stuffed with Prosciutto and Sun Dried Tomatoes)? Johnny and Betsy’s parents complained and Epinions listened. People need advice about food, and where better to come for it than Epinions? The exact reasoning behind the decision to open new food categories is probably shrouded in secrecy, but some hint of the careful consideration that went into the decision may be gleaned from the subject matter of one of the first new food-related categories since the Quick Meal Recipes debacle, What Is Dessert? (I will reserve for another opinion a discussion of the subtle difference between the topic title What Is Dessert? and the question posed by Epinions within the topic, What is a Dessert?) We can only hope that this is but the first in a long line of useful topics so that, thanks to the fine writing talents of the Epinions community, consumers will be empowered to make better buying decisions after reading well thought-out and carefully structured essays on topics like What is a Main Dish?, What is a Beverage?, and (dare we hope?) What is a Meal? Scholars of dessert argue the finer points of dessert arcana in such learned peer-review journals as The International Review of Dessert Studies and Dessert: A Journal of Deconstruction but most of us who are mere mortals know only the general outline of dessert studies. At some point along the line, we learned that dessert is derived from an Old French word meaning to clear the table but few of us (and I must admit that I’m not one of them) have any idea whether English-speaking people ate dessert before they “borrowed” the word from the French, or, if they did eat what we would call dessert, what they might have called it in Old English. The French really knew how to make a fine dessert — during the French revolution they had a wickedly tasty cake called La Mort (“Death”) that was so rich that people tended to fall into a deep sleep after having a slice of it. Jean-Paul Marat asked for une part de la mort but Charlotte Corday was just a bit too literal in granting his request. Modern desserts tend to be sweet (pies, cakes, ice cream and so on) but the desserts eaten by our ancestors after they’d cleared the table (apparently peasants who did not own a table just went to sleep in the dark) were often simpler dishes such as fruit or nuts. Dessert is a time for celebration and reflection. When you’re next gathered around the table with friends and loved ones, celebrate this new useful category. And save me une part de la mort.  |
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