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Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
@Meat guy
"No publicly owned company would ever knowingly make a product that is hazardous" I'm pretty sure the peanut producers knew their product was tainted prior to the recall. Milk that is chemically adulterated to appear as though it has an increase butterfat content (to cover up the fact it is watered down) is rampant by companies throughout the world (especially in developing countries). Not to mention closer to home, explain the prevalence and popularity of: raw eggs/beef/fish/shell fish and under cooked pork, especially among the "top" restaurants in this country and elsewhere around the world. What about raw milk and cheese in Canada/France? Are these products not inherently "hazardous?" Sure, they aren't razor blade studded apples, but there is certainly a risk and yet people are willing to turn a blind eye to products all the time in the pursuit of excellent tasting food - and so are the very companies who are profiting from it - they only care to eschew the practice enough to limit their own liability and not one bit more.
"As for the quality issue, an 89 cent loaf of white bread that is uniform from day to day and affordable and stays fresh for a week, is far better than a 4 dollar loaf of artisinal bread that stales overnight to a family of four on a fixed food budget. THe standard of quality is not high to you, but the standard it met every time, which by the definition is high quality."
You are really confusing "quality" with "utility" here, nonetheless this is an excellent point. As is:
"All Processed foods are not the garbage you are stating, yes, if it is all you eat, you are getting too much sodium, too much fat, and an unbalanced diet. Food education is more important than subsidizing hucksters and crooks making bad products."
Don't be confused, I am not anti-food industry even in the slightest. I am aware that the advances and benefits of industrialized food processing are many and varied, including the fact (that most other people don't realize) if you take the mechanics out of our food industry only the very wealthy would be able to afford things like daily milk, bread, eggs, and especially protein. I purchase items out of a pursuit for "quality" alone. And I am not referring to the consistently affordable, safe product that is widely available and distributed as "quality." I am referring to: "high grade; superiority; excellence" as it relates to taste and nutritional value regardless of the dangers associated with the product, though for the sake of full disclosure I am not young/old, immune compromised nor do I have any food allergies (other than wheat which I completely ignore because I'd rather have an upset tummy than forgo the beautiful Italian loaf that just popped out of my oven).
Thank you all for the excellent discussion today, it has made my afternoon.
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
"THe definition of quality is the conformance to standards, so the mas [sic] market uniform products are the highest level of quality " is a patently false statement. The conformance to standards is indicative of producing a uniformly consistent product and nothing more - whether it is a safe, high quality product, or an unsafe, horrible product will depend, of course, on what those standards are and metric by which they are measured.
In the food industry, conformance to standards that produce unsafe, or sub-par results is a major contributing factor to the proliferation of mundanity across the board and in some cases, unhealthy or even unsafe products. This is besides the point that it would be fool's errand to tout the "quality" of mass produced industrialized foodstuffs compared to some types of similar products being made on a small scale by a SKILLED artisan producer. Of course, there are cases where the opposite is true, as some products lend themselves to overall better results through the uniformity brought about by industrialization, (canned tomatoes and flour come immediately to mind) but this article is dealing specifically with bacon and jam - two things that are unequivocally of a higher "quality" - in both taste and nutritional value - when produced PROPERLY in small batches, without addtiives, by a SKILLED artisan. The increased prevalence of less than stellar "artisan" products is intrinsically tied to the widening public desire (and marketplace) for those types of products, caveat emptor.
I'm glad that you have done your homework and can reap the rewards of making your own jams and jellies without risking giving yourself botulism etc. and do agree that buying anything from someone with zero training in food handling and safety will increase one's chances of both a) getting a crappy product, and b) becoming ill from consuming it, but again, the due diligence and responsibility for insuring one's safety is something everyone should care about and take seriously enough to put forth the requisite effort to educate themselves on, instead of lackadaisically relying on the imposition of "quality standards" in industrialized food processing plants for their own safety. If one is not willing to consider anything other than a "World's Best Bacon" sign to make a decision on what to buy/eat, one is better off living with the generally mediocre quality industrialized pre-packaged foodstuffs, and hope for the best that they have a) implemented standards that produce, at least, a safe product and b) said standards were followed completely throughout the production, storage, shipping and retail processes.
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
I couldn't agree more that serious eaters are looking for high quality, whether packaged by a jumbo jet sized machine or made in small batches at the skilled hands of a true artisan.
I will generally err on the side of the artisan, knowing that things like the "World's Best Bacon" sign need to be taken with a grain of salt, literally, considering the process. There is a very fine line in charcuterie between adding a "safe" amount of salt (especially if they are trying to market a "nitrite free" product) and way, WAY too much. This is especially true of wet-cured products.
A word of advice: If you are going to pay $$$ for artisan bacon make sure you get a dry cured product, produced from specialty hogs (think Berkshire) and if you are really a sick individual (like me) pay $16 / lb for uncured mangalitsa pork belly from one of the (maybe) 5 suppliers in the US, and cure/smoke it yourself. Then you can say: "I just made the best bacon in the world" - and you won't be far off the truth.
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Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
@meat guy
"I believe you are confusing quality with personal taste"
Perhaps, but no more than you are confusing it with utility in my previous example. There are sundry connotations associated with the phrase "quality" and perhaps I have crossed the line into personal preference. For the vast majority of people outside of production based industry the definition of quality differs vastly from "conformance to standards" (though most recognize that definition in the phrase quality control) and is more generally assumed to mean "excellence" - its like the difference between precision and accuracy.
"Under cooked food and unpasteurized milk are risky"
They are indeed, which is why I used them as example to refute your assertion that a public company would never provide a "hazardous" product to the public - which has absolutely no bearing on my personal preference to consume said products (with the exception of course of my contributing in a micro-economic sense). Of course there are outbreaks of problems from time to time, in a long enough time line all things that are possible become reality, but there is no doubt that public (and large private) companies contribute on the retail level to the consumption of these. There is no need to name names, the fact that sushi and raw milk products are available inside the US and elsewhere is testament enough that "companies" are willing to provide "hazardous" products, if they can turn a buck on it. Not even to mention the ol' Fight Club saying which may, in fact, be colloquial but brings home a message which has been independently corroborated by several named and unnamed sources since : "A new car built by my company leaves somewhere traveling at 60 mph. The rear differential locks up. The car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside. Now: should we initiate a recall? Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times
B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one."
That is just how business is done, very few companies/people feel a genuine ethical responsibility to anyone else, and until more people understand that, they are going to continue to look the other way while they are spoon fed potentially hazardous products by somebody trying to turn a buck. The food industry is certainly no more immune to this than any other. Why do you think the cost of litigation and insurance has skyrocketed in the past 20 years?
"Trust your life to a chef with an associates degree in restaurant and hospitality, rather than a product that is cooked safely accoding to the USDA and FDA.."
For the most part I do not. I buy a lot of my food directly from the producer, especially my beef, lamb and pork. I have the ability to physically inspect the premises if I so desire and trust that the living conditions for the animals are such that my chances of becoming ill are extremely low. I can name the restaurants I'd eat a medium piece of pork or a beef from on one hand. Oh and, the USDA "cook to" temperatures are absolutely ridiculous and considerably higher than their associated agencies in other countries. You have your $60 piece of beef tenderloin cooked to 145F to feel safe and completely ruin the dish, not to mention waste your money. I will continue to eat my (mostly) naturally produced meat at under the recommended temperature and if I get trich. or salmonella and what not, then so be it, I'd rather something easily treatable than to a) eat food that taste like crap for the rest of my life or b)worry about all the unnatural additives slowly building up in my body until they reach a level that causes some horrific problem that modern medicine is not yet capable of solving.
Look, we can agree to disagree- but I will continually chose to buy products of superior quality (read: handled by the fewest people) and cook it to its maximum potential. You can continually chose to cook your pork to 165F and beef to 145F, ruining both. Enjoy
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
@Meat guy
"No publicly owned company would ever knowingly make a product that is hazardous" I'm pretty sure the peanut producers knew their product was tainted prior to the recall. Milk that is chemically adulterated to appear as though it has an increase butterfat content (to cover up the fact it is watered down) is rampant by companies throughout the world (especially in developing countries). Not to mention closer to home, explain the prevalence and popularity of: raw eggs/beef/fish/shell fish and under cooked pork, especially among the "top" restaurants in this country and elsewhere around the world. What about raw milk and cheese in Canada/France? Are these products not inherently "hazardous?" Sure, they aren't razor blade studded apples, but there is certainly a risk and yet people are willing to turn a blind eye to products all the time in the pursuit of excellent tasting food - and so are the very companies who are profiting from it - they only care to eschew the practice enough to limit their own liability and not one bit more.
"As for the quality issue, an 89 cent loaf of white bread that is uniform from day to day and affordable and stays fresh for a week, is far better than a 4 dollar loaf of artisinal bread that stales overnight to a family of four on a fixed food budget. THe standard of quality is not high to you, but the standard it met every time, which by the definition is high quality."
You are really confusing "quality" with "utility" here, nonetheless this is an excellent point. As is:
"All Processed foods are not the garbage you are stating, yes, if it is all you eat, you are getting too much sodium, too much fat, and an unbalanced diet. Food education is more important than subsidizing hucksters and crooks making bad products."
Don't be confused, I am not anti-food industry even in the slightest. I am aware that the advances and benefits of industrialized food processing are many and varied, including the fact (that most other people don't realize) if you take the mechanics out of our food industry only the very wealthy would be able to afford things like daily milk, bread, eggs, and especially protein. I purchase items out of a pursuit for "quality" alone. And I am not referring to the consistently affordable, safe product that is widely available and distributed as "quality." I am referring to: "high grade; superiority; excellence" as it relates to taste and nutritional value regardless of the dangers associated with the product, though for the sake of full disclosure I am not young/old, immune compromised nor do I have any food allergies (other than wheat which I completely ignore because I'd rather have an upset tummy than forgo the beautiful Italian loaf that just popped out of my oven).
Thank you all for the excellent discussion today, it has made my afternoon.
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
"THe definition of quality is the conformance to standards, so the mas [sic] market uniform products are the highest level of quality " is a patently false statement. The conformance to standards is indicative of producing a uniformly consistent product and nothing more - whether it is a safe, high quality product, or an unsafe, horrible product will depend, of course, on what those standards are and metric by which they are measured.
In the food industry, conformance to standards that produce unsafe, or sub-par results is a major contributing factor to the proliferation of mundanity across the board and in some cases, unhealthy or even unsafe products. This is besides the point that it would be fool's errand to tout the "quality" of mass produced industrialized foodstuffs compared to some types of similar products being made on a small scale by a SKILLED artisan producer. Of course, there are cases where the opposite is true, as some products lend themselves to overall better results through the uniformity brought about by industrialization, (canned tomatoes and flour come immediately to mind) but this article is dealing specifically with bacon and jam - two things that are unequivocally of a higher "quality" - in both taste and nutritional value - when produced PROPERLY in small batches, without addtiives, by a SKILLED artisan. The increased prevalence of less than stellar "artisan" products is intrinsically tied to the widening public desire (and marketplace) for those types of products, caveat emptor.
I'm glad that you have done your homework and can reap the rewards of making your own jams and jellies without risking giving yourself botulism etc. and do agree that buying anything from someone with zero training in food handling and safety will increase one's chances of both a) getting a crappy product, and b) becoming ill from consuming it, but again, the due diligence and responsibility for insuring one's safety is something everyone should care about and take seriously enough to put forth the requisite effort to educate themselves on, instead of lackadaisically relying on the imposition of "quality standards" in industrialized food processing plants for their own safety. If one is not willing to consider anything other than a "World's Best Bacon" sign to make a decision on what to buy/eat, one is better off living with the generally mediocre quality industrialized pre-packaged foodstuffs, and hope for the best that they have a) implemented standards that produce, at least, a safe product and b) said standards were followed completely throughout the production, storage, shipping and retail processes.
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
I couldn't agree more that serious eaters are looking for high quality, whether packaged by a jumbo jet sized machine or made in small batches at the skilled hands of a true artisan.
I will generally err on the side of the artisan, knowing that things like the "World's Best Bacon" sign need to be taken with a grain of salt, literally, considering the process. There is a very fine line in charcuterie between adding a "safe" amount of salt (especially if they are trying to market a "nitrite free" product) and way, WAY too much. This is especially true of wet-cured products.
A word of advice: If you are going to pay $$$ for artisan bacon make sure you get a dry cured product, produced from specialty hogs (think Berkshire) and if you are really a sick individual (like me) pay $16 / lb for uncured mangalitsa pork belly from one of the (maybe) 5 suppliers in the US, and cure/smoke it yourself. Then you can say: "I just made the best bacon in the world" - and you won't be far off the truth.
Blogwatch: Ricotta Pancakes with Figs
Those look awesome. There is no substitute for the taste of hot, homemade pancakes slathered in real maple syrup. We're gonna post some blueberry soufflé pancakes we had over the weekend later this week.
Cook the Book: 'Baking Unplugged'
I decided to make a mille-feuille. After carefully converting metric units, measuring by weight down to .05 oz, tediously resting and rolling out a cocoa powder puff pastry I made by hand, from scratch over a 2 day period of time - adhering strictly to the specifications in Pierre Hermé's "La Pâtisserie de Pierre Hermé" I entrusted my good friend Geoff to pop them into the pre-heated oven while I worked on the pastry cream.
Little did I know at the time that I should have included "remove moist wax paper" as step 1 in my instructions. What do you think happens to puff pastry covered in wax paper on a half sheet pan in a 400 degree oven? Uh huh.
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
To answer the question...of course not! Never say never and never say always. I must not be eating enough local food (anybody who knows me would laugh hysterically at this point) as I haven't gotten burned badly enough to feel like this...or my standards are awfully low!
Am I down with eating bad food produced by good people? No, but I'd like to help them become better producers with feedback. We need all the good growers/food entrepreneurs we can get. I had an experience where I bought pickles made by a CSA farm I love. They looked great but were kinda mushy. I spoke to the farmer and they realized what happened and learned what to do next batch/time. I think they decided to stick to being growers and not continue with value added items as it can be harder than it looks. I used them in tuna salad, etc and they were fine but not good for plain eating. Unless something is down and out manky/nasty, I can find a way to improve and use a challenging purchase. And if it is manky, any decent food seller will want to know, feel dreadful about it, and make restitution.
Ask for samples, if no samples ask what they'll do if you don't like their food (out of luck, money back, exchange). If you have an issue, speak up...though like others have said, one person's salt lick is another's just right - food is sooooo subjective. If you don't want to speak up, don't go back.
As far as thanking my lucky stars for Smuckers & Oscar Mayers? Food is better than no food however, I'm an upper lower class blue collar person who's been buying local/organic/natural for too long to feel very celebratory about agribiz and industrial food production. Not ungrateful mind you as I was raised on it and once I'm eating out and about...who can keep track of where everything comes from? I'm watchful and do what I can but don't get mental about it.
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
We have a farmer's market in our small Pa. town from May-October. While we don't have any meat products we do have some kick butt fruits and vegetables during that time. It is mostly our local Amish farmers with a few "english" stands. The Amish are far and above the english, but are very pricey. You have to decide if it is worth it and most of the time it is. You can only get squash blossoms from them in this area. The Amish baked goods are okay, but do you want to make the whoopie pies yourself??? The english have some jams and plants and occasional vegetables (hard to compete with the Amish) and when it comes down to fresh corn on the cob the Amish at our market athe price and taste is competitive. There are many more veg. stands in South Pa and South Jersey that are looking to take advantage. You just have to know your vendors. I have been taking note the past few years of where to buy artisan products on the web. Sometimes it is worth it to pay for the postage. Costco has incredible bacon and vegetables and their meats are often restaurant quality.
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
1-I have a couple of farm stands I go to regularly to buy fruits and vegtables and the occasional dairy product. They also sell various baked goods, and once in a while I'll buy a baked good thinking it *has* to be good cuz its from the farm. It never ever is good. I should just stick with my local bakery -- or even myself!
2-This is kinda along the lines of why I don't buy grass-fed beef and such from my local farmers just because they sell it: I wonder "who's inspecting this stuff"? "How do I know its safe and handled properly"? I wish I would have some assurance so I could bring myself to buy it, but so far, I see none.
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
Like Ed, I have spent top dollar on food that sucked and then feel that I have been "cheated" by that person. It really ticks me off! Thanks for bringing this up Ed. At least I know I'm not alone...
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
I've had some truly amazing artisanal salumi and cheese, and I have had some truly awful meat and cheese. The awful stuff inspired me to step out on my own and cure some meat. I have had really good luck with smoked bacon, pancetta, guanciale. My luck with sausage has been less impressive. I even had some success with making what amounts to venison prosciutto.
The one thing that I never do is rate my own products. I might really love the salt level in my bacon, someone else might think they are eating a salt-lick.
So before I decide that I can open my on charcuterie stand at the market, I'll make sure that my products are the best I can make if not the "best in the world".
I think finding and supporting artisanal food producers is as important as finding sustainable farmers.
Chris
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
I agree that homemade doesn't always mean better. I mean the boxed stuff would certainly beat my homemade pasta any day! I think it's just intriguing when you find out something was made from scratch - it makes you give them more credit for the effort at the very least.
Hillary
Chew on That
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
You're all pointing out something wonderful about local, artisanal foods--they are unique, they are different as night & day from one another, and although they can be good, bad or ugly, they are "self-regulating".
If you get a hairy, nipple covered, salty slab of bacon you don't like, will you buy from that producer again? Probably not. He has just lost a sale. If enough people stop buying from him, he will dry up and blow away. Or...Perhaps you should provide him feed-back. As a consumer, help him become a better producer. Take it as an opportunity to explain why you didn't like the food he was producing. If he's smart he will take it on the chin, adapt and try to do a better job at producing a quality product and providing what the market will buy.
There are going to be some bumps and ruts on the road to local, sustainable, quality foods. Too long we have been lulled into a palate deadening wasteland. We are going to have to re-learn to cook foods which our grandparents knew how to prepare instinctively. Producers are going to have to experiment and learn what works, what doesn't and to rediscover how to make excellent artisanal foods--which once upon a time were standard fare.
And producers--give your customers a feedback form. Offer free samples & tasters. Open yourselves up to criticism. Ask you customers to help you be better. Learn from other producers. Have tasting competitions amongst one another. Earn the right to sell you Mother's Jam recipe or "the Best bacon in the world" Do this, or you will find your products marginalized, your sales figures weak and you farm broken. A free market, a self-regulating local system means the best get better and they get the business while the rest loose money or earn nothing at all. Don't give up. Strive to be better! And if someone does have a complaint, if your product falls short of your sales pitch, your standards or reputation, offer to replace it, exchange for something else or give them their money back.
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
I agree that artisanal food may not always be better and you bring up a valid point there, Ed. It sucks that you were duped into buying jam that wasn't made by your friend's mom and that the "world's best bacon" was anything but; You just have to take this one for the team and count it as a loss. Your one-time experience does not an industry make. I don't appreciate bad food. I do appeciate the time an consideration put into food. But make no mistake, I won't be eating there again, if it's bad. Or at least, I won't put my $$ down on it.
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
Thank you for bursting this bubble! Like many of the commenters here, I greatly prefer handmade to mass produced, but I'm not a "joiner" by nature, so I keep a healthy skepticism WRT trends and bandwagons. In other words, I don't automatically assume something will be good just because it is hand made and bears the stamp of approval from the "artisinal" camp.
However, I do find that most of the time artisinal and hand made stuff really IS better than the mass produced stuff. What springs to mind is my friend Michel's pancetta, which he started making after reading Ruhlman's "Charcuterie" book. So easy to make, and miles ahead of any mass produced stuff. I basically cannot eat production line pancetta anymore!
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
If the question is: should you eat bad food simply because it is artisan or home-produced, of course the answer is no.
I think Ed's point is a larger one, however--industrial food is quality-controlled. One reason for its popularity is that too many children (and many adults) value consistency over what most people would call good taste. For example, have you ever taken a tiny tot to a really great restaurant that makes fab hamburgers, and have them complain they'd rather be at McDonald's?
If you eat artisanal food you have to accept sometimes the food will be poor, even made by a good producer.
Guess what? If you eat APPLES, you will find an apple with a worm/bruise. If you eat McDonald's apple pie, it will always be molten hot, symmetrical and taste the same.
Eating 'real' food means being surprised by goodness and badness sometimes. If it is bad, throw it out, but the thing is eating well is about EFFORT (finding who does make things well or making it yourself) and RISK. Risking eating something bad for something that is oh-so-good.
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
did you ever wonder who produced food before the big industrialized agri-businesses??????
regular people. in their homes, backyards, barns, cities, in caves.
thru trial and error the human race has managed to feed itself and not poison the species by smoking meats, making jams, baking breads long before the "culinary frankensteins" invented all of the hormones, preservatives, and other unnecessary "CRAP" .... that passes for food today.
hey, if you feel safer eating food that's been dis-assembled and re-assembled because it was done in a big secure science-fiction food manufacturing plant, knock yourself out.... but don't knock the knowledge of the common man.
the time line:
industrial food vs. food made by the common man
a mere drop in the bucket, folks. duh.
are we better off now than we were 100 years ago?
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
Good cooking (id est, processing raw food in any way) is partially skill, partially art. Anyone can pick up a paintbrush, smother a canvas with gunk, and try to pass it off as art - but serious art enthusiasts would instantly be able to distinguish between genius and garbage. And the serious art enthusiast, if asked to do something with that same paintbrush and canvas, would probably approach the task mindful of the way it might be received by other enthusiasts.
Which is why it's probably safer to buy fresh produce from serious growers but artisanal food from fellow serious eaters. Or to ask for a taste before purchase, if at all possible, unless it really is art you're buying.
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
One aspect of the local food movement that is emphasized around here (RI) is that you can know your farmer. I think you now know your pig farmer and preserve seller and needn't patronize them again.
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
I believe you are confusing quality with personal taste. Taste is relative to your experience. Quality is conformance to standards set for the product. Taste is a determination of quality, but depending on the product, your standards are not what is applied to the product.
To the vast majority of Americans, what passes as good taste does not meet the expectations of what "foodies" think it should be. To hold one's personal taste as the end all and be all of quality, is only a recognition of your tastes, and anyone else may think what you prefer is swill. God knows why, but that guy thought his bacon was the best. MAybe it was the Best way to make money. If that was the standard, it was high quality.
Under cooked food and unpasteurized milk are risky. Last year there was a TB outbreak in California linked to unpasteurized Mexican style soft cheeses. Any chef who doesn't cook free range pork to over 140 degrees is a fool as the vectors for trichinosis are available to free range pork and has been reported in pork from free range. Ignorance is bliss, but if you are ignorant, you shouldn't be serving food in risky manners, but you can eat all you want. Trust your life to a chef with an associates degree in restaurant and hospitality, rather than a product that is cooked safely accoding to the USDA and FDA..
PCA was a privately owned company, with an owner insisting everything be turned to cash. Many companies have tightened up inspections and testing even more to ensure they are never involved in a fiasco like that again. It has cost millions of dollars and embarrassed companies who trusted a sleazy individual. Several years ago, Sara Lee had a listerosis outbreak in a Bil Mar plant, they fired everyone involved and closed the plant permanently. Reputable companies behave ethically with the public. They are interested in profits, and the sick and dead don't spend money, and their relatives sue, making people sick isn't good business. The companies that make the news are usually provately held, public interests make the company more responsible, they have stockholders and investors to answer to as well as the public at large.
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
First, I'd say there needs to a distinction between Handmade Foods and Artisan Handmade Foods. Artisan implies knowledge and specialization in the specific thing you craft. (i.e. Time, Experience, etc.)
Secondly, use your eyes and taste buds to tell you what's good. Sure, I bought a dozen free range eggs from the bearded hipster at my local open-air market last week, yeah. But they looked great and when I got home, I cracked them - most fantastic yolks I've ever seen and they tasted great. So next time, I bought two dozen.
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
You can get good food on any level, it just takes time to weed out those that are sub-par. My mom's SO is one of those "if its organic/local/artisanal it MUST be better"...he has come home with some pretty awful food, but swears that its better! A few things have been inedible! I always wonder what he would think if I took a mass produced product and disguised it as local/organic/artisanal....
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
Thanks for bringing this up! There has always been a certain snobbish tendency to assume that something home-made or artisanal is better- even back before the recent food revolution. While I can appreciate the importance of bacon-man or jam-guy plying their trades (because it is important), just because they CAN sell bacon or jam doesn't mean they should. Maybe that's a harsh thing to say, but it's true. I CAN sew a little, but when I'm done cross-stitching I'm not going to attempt to sell my aborted attempts, because I know that it's not something that people should be buying. Does this mean we should stick to eating nothing but processed food? Not at all. It just means that we need to be wiser about what we buy- take the time to find the best bread-baker and the dedicated cheese-maker and support their businesses. Don't just buy the first loaf of bread that has an "artisan" sticker on the wrapper.
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
It's a topic& question that is indeed on the minds of many, especially folks who are well versed and schooled in the world of food both artisanal and mainstream corporate. I so often find myself tensing up when I hear or read this question or response. Not because I do not find the topic debatable, because I do and I have my own pet peeves with the artisanal world producing substandard products. I am still a believer in the bigger picture and believe that we are in a moment in time where we are on the verge of a shift or tilt in our modern day thinking, especially here in the USA. The tilt to which I am referring is the idea that our foods should be a little less mainstream and corporate and a bit more artisanal. Now I am not saying I think every glass of milk we should be drinking should come from a cow some artisanal farmer is raising and the cow has to have a name like Dafadil and be stroked 5 times clockwise on the side of its head before being milked after it dines solely on organic alfalfa with a dusting of bee pollen, but I do think we need to have more artisanal food producers in our repertoire of choices in both the existing artisanal sectors (farmers markets, local farms, specialty grocers, etc) and in the mainstream sectors as well (supermarkets, chain restaurants etc.)
So back to the main topic idea: can serious eaters “assume that just because something is handmade or homemade by someone with the best of intentions that it’s going to be good?” And the answer of course as we all agree is no, they cannot assume and nor should they or better yet why would they? Serious eaters are typically food snobs of sorts and have typically a pretty good knowledge of the food world both modern and artisanal and they know they are not always guaranteed the path to the best every single time. As Ed states, you need three things :
• Experience: Which means time allowing for lots of trial and error and sufficient apprentice time
• Time: To understand how to make it good
• Knowledge: That is, you have to know how to do something, and when it's delicious
But without the trial and error chance and without the opportunity for feedback and improvements, many of the artisanal masters of today, would not exist. The profound disappointment is part of the process. Like choosing restaurants, movies and a host of other things. We take a chance and yes there are times, we want a Dr. Pepper and we 100% want it to taste just like we remember and just like we expect. But there are other times when we take a chance because sometimes we can have the exact opposite of a profound disappointment happen, and that is maybe just maybe the bacon or the jam, would have been the best you had ever had, and just maybe Ed & Vicky could have sat having their breakfast with the biggest smiles on their faces knowing they had just eaten the best bacon and jam of their lives. It is the risk we take and for all serious eaters, the pure act of the discussion is a good portion of the fun. So in the end the worst bacon and jam ever, sure has stirred up a plethora of conversations.
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
Perhaps because I Live in both worlds, Industrial and culinary, I see no difference between a bad industrial product and a bad artisinal product. Both are selling it, for profit, to me, or at least trying to. Safety is always first, and the unknowing or unwilling should not be allowed to be in business, Peanut Company of America for instance. But to say a bad tasting, possibly unsafe product is better than any commercially produced product regardless of source, is plain stupidity. No publicly owned company would ever knowingly make a product that is hazardous, that is why Products get recalled, plants get closed and people get fired. Standards are always for safety first, this is supported by uniformity of product, if it is not the same everytime, it won't act the same way every time.
As for quality, Industrial foods are generally designed as not to offend products, give the impression of what you are delivering, but don't bring it to a point where it is offensive, perhaps that is what offends some people. As for the quality issue, an 89 cent loaf of white bread that is uniform from day to day and affordable and stays fresh for a week, is far better than a 4 dollar loaf of artisinal bread that stales overnight to a family of four on a fixed food budget. THe standard of quality is not high to you, but the standard it met every time, which by the definition is high quality. I personally prefer a fresh Bohemian rye out of the oven, but that is totally unrelated to the quality of Wonder Bread. Take apples and oranges, are apples higher quality because you prefer them to oranges? What an irrelevant question. But it shows just because you don't like something does not make it lower quality then the product you like. Who's food is better, the artisan who feeds a dozen a day, or the one who feeds thousands? Quality is measured in levels. if a commercial processor can't meet yours, no loss there are hundreds of thousands they can reach.
All Processed foods are not the garbage you are stating, yes, if it is all you eat, you are getting too much sodium, too much fat, and an unbalanced diet. Food education is more important than subsidizing hucksters and crooks making bad products.
And when does and artisan join the evil ranks of food processor? there are artisans all through the processed foods industries, some have small companies, some are hidden in the background at large companies, making great things that get turned to beige for the mass market. Some are at the farmers market or online selling their recipe made at one of our evil industrial complexes to their specifications.
As for quality in small batches, where is your green ethic? small bakers use far more energy than commercial bakers on a pound per pound basis, boutique meat processors produce more smoke and air pollution per pound than an industrial operation. And as for additives, they are added for two reasons, Food safety (nitrites, Lactates), or other technical reasons ( stabilizing viscosity, prevention of oxidation), at Government regulated levels. Natural meats and bacon are not so safe, and the additives are generally hidden through highly processed vegetable juice concentrates which contain Nitrates, which were banned in the evil industrial processed bacon and hot dogs 30 years ago. Finally, how much does your artisan know or care about labeling the food correctly? Did they identify allergens? Did they declare all of the items they added? Did they even label it?
Don't tell me someone is better at a job because they are on their own and not working in the food industry, I went to culinary school with many who thought themselves artisans, who could only generate enough skill to be a line cook at Denny's.
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
This is why, more and more, I'm becoming my own "artisan." I haven't bought bread for a long, long time. The last time was when my oven was busted. Then, when a decent loaf of bread was over $6, I almost fainted. Bread ingredients are cheap. Six bucks for faux artisan bread from a chain bakery is insane.
Last year a "chef" was selling some of his food at the farmer's market, and that included his famous smoked salmon. I tried a sample, and it tasted okay, but it was riddled with bones. And crazy expensive. For that price, they could at least go over the carcass with some needlenose pliers and pull out the bones. The next time I was there, they were cooking the salmon on site. On a barbecue grill. That was the entire "smoking" process. Just slow-cooking on a barbecue grill that had some wood chips somewhere. I understand that manning a booth at the farmer's market costs something, but I know what salmon costs, and the smoked stuff they were selling was easily 3-4 times what you'd pay for a decent raw fish in this area. Of course he has to make a profit, but I couldn't justify paying that amount when I can easily do the same thing at home. Even crazier was the "salmon spread" he was selling. A small container of salmon bits mixed with cream cheese and a few herbs, and it was also insanely expensive.
On the other hand, one of the fruit growers sells a cherry-almond jam that I like, and I'm happy to pay for it. I use maybe one or two jars a year of jam, so there's no sense in my making batches for that little consumption. But bread and salmon and pies, cookies, cakes...all the rest of that stuff I can make as I need it and exactly how I want it at the time.
I'm also perfectly happy to buy cheese from the local goat dairy. And honey from local producers. But the woman selling potato pancakes for $5 for two average-sized pancakes is not going to get my business any time soon. Or $7 for two small blintzes.
A lot of this "artisan" food seems to be a rebellion against buying processed, factory-made or commercial products. Which is fine. But it's a little crazy to think that you can't make your own potato pancakes and that you need an artisan to make them for you. If they were hot and you were eating them there as a meal, that would be one thing. But these are stone cold.
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
If the point of the article is that poor attempts at "artisinal" food/bevs can give one an appreciation for industrially manufactured versions, I agree.
Try making a dry-cured salami, and you'll gain an appreciation for Oscar Mayer being able to produce reasonably edible stuff at economical prices, even if you prefer to stick with your artisanal salumi. Try brewing a delicate pilsner, and you'll gain an appreciation for Budweiser, even if you prefer hoppy microbrews. There are some bad attempts out there, begging you to embrace them simply because they are small-scale. Kudos are reluctantly due to the companies that have successfully mega-industrialized production of these things.
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
@Meat guy: "THe definition of quality is the conformance to standards, so the mas market uniform products are the highest level of quality." - That depends on the standard to which the product is held. If you demand very high quality, fresh, tasty, locally-grown food, mass-market will fail every time. Sadly, so will most so-called artisanal products.
@Ed: A kitchen wizard can turn mediocre ingredients into good food, and good ingredients into great food. A kitchen klutz can turn perfect ingredients into inedible crap. This is axiomatic. Furthermore, there is a world of difference between producing good INGREDIENTS and producing good FOOD. As you note, a talented pig farmer may be a miserable smokemaster; a talented orchardman may make lousy jam. We have to encourage people to explore their boundaries... but at the same time, DIScourage them from sharing poor product... and the only way to do that is to vote with our wallets. If it's crappy food, don't buy it again... and tell them why.
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
The fallacy is in the title of the post: of course locally made goods aren't "always" better. When in real life is the word "always" ever going to be accurate? Ian spefii examples of poor quality, greed, etc among small producers in a reverse-snobbism attack on those who try to eat local, high-quality foods is unproductive and tiresome. Homemade isn't "always" tastier than store-bought, buri guess that doesnt make for a story with an nflammatory headline. Yes, there are those who pursue local, artisanal food to the point of absurdity, but it is equally absurd to insist that local and sustainable are meaningless marketing concepts in order to justify purchasin primarily mass-made goods. Like with most things, the middle ground here is wide, and there's no benefit to debunking extreme examples beyond satisfying an unproductive reactionary impulse.
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
The answer to the title of the post is - of course not. Just like in all of life there are no absolutes.
You were simply a victim of shrewd marketing. The greenmarket setting sold you. Seeing a "dude" with his authentic beard and jeans sold you. The insanely expensive price(How could it not be great for this price?) sold you. And- I'm disappointed at this one, the sign "World's Best Bacon" sold you.
Yes, the greenmarkets are great. But that doesn't make them somehow immune to the desire to make a buck (or 12).
Is Artisanal, Handmade Food Always Better?
There's good there's bad, which initially shocked me because sometimes I'm not very bright. Just because something is organic or artesianal, or "made with love" or in small batches or whatever, doesn't mean it's going to taste good.
A for instance: At farmer's market by my office there's a stand that has awesome apples, apple cake and apple walnut bread, and now equally delicious grass fed red and black angus beef that they grow themselves (Samascott Orchards) . Maybe 3 or 4 stalls up is an artesianal baker who makes crap bread, rolls and pastries (I've tried them several times, they've never not sucked), and next to him is some Amish guy who sells amazing cheeses and sliced dill pickles loaded w/jalapeno and heaven from his farm, and who knows I think he makes the best cheddar in the world because I tell him every time I see him. At the far end of the market is this couple who charge more than any other stall for the same product, and that product often overripe and damaged. There's a Ronnybrook stall there also. The drinkable yogurt they sell at the stand is not as good as the drinkable yogurt they sell thru Fresh Direct. It's thinner and less tasty, so I don't buy from them anymore and go through FD instead.
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Location: Washington, DC
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Favorite foods: I don't even know where to begin answering this question. I will say this: if there is butterfat or bacon in it we're halfway home.
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@meat guy
"I believe you are confusing quality with personal taste"
Perhaps, but no more than you are confusing it with utility in my previous example. There are sundry connotations associated with the phrase "quality" and perhaps I have crossed the line into personal preference. For the vast majority of people outside of production based industry the definition of quality differs vastly from "conformance to standards" (though most recognize that definition in the phrase quality control) and is more generally assumed to mean "excellence" - its like the difference between precision and accuracy.
"Under cooked food and unpasteurized milk are risky"
They are indeed, which is why I used them as example to refute your assertion that a public company would never provide a "hazardous" product to the public - which has absolutely no bearing on my personal preference to consume said products (with the exception of course of my contributing in a micro-economic sense). Of course there are outbreaks of problems from time to time, in a long enough time line all things that are possible become reality, but there is no doubt that public (and large private) companies contribute on the retail level to the consumption of these. There is no need to name names, the fact that sushi and raw milk products are available inside the US and elsewhere is testament enough that "companies" are willing to provide "hazardous" products, if they can turn a buck on it. Not even to mention the ol' Fight Club saying which may, in fact, be colloquial but brings home a message which has been independently corroborated by several named and unnamed sources since : "A new car built by my company leaves somewhere traveling at 60 mph. The rear differential locks up. The car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside. Now: should we initiate a recall? Take the number of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probable rate of failure, B, multiply by the average out-of-court settlement, C. A times
B times C equals X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one."
That is just how business is done, very few companies/people feel a genuine ethical responsibility to anyone else, and until more people understand that, they are going to continue to look the other way while they are spoon fed potentially hazardous products by somebody trying to turn a buck. The food industry is certainly no more immune to this than any other. Why do you think the cost of litigation and insurance has skyrocketed in the past 20 years?
"Trust your life to a chef with an associates degree in restaurant and hospitality, rather than a product that is cooked safely accoding to the USDA and FDA.."
For the most part I do not. I buy a lot of my food directly from the producer, especially my beef, lamb and pork. I have the ability to physically inspect the premises if I so desire and trust that the living conditions for the animals are such that my chances of becoming ill are extremely low. I can name the restaurants I'd eat a medium piece of pork or a beef from on one hand. Oh and, the USDA "cook to" temperatures are absolutely ridiculous and considerably higher than their associated agencies in other countries. You have your $60 piece of beef tenderloin cooked to 145F to feel safe and completely ruin the dish, not to mention waste your money. I will continue to eat my (mostly) naturally produced meat at under the recommended temperature and if I get trich. or salmonella and what not, then so be it, I'd rather something easily treatable than to a) eat food that taste like crap for the rest of my life or b)worry about all the unnatural additives slowly building up in my body until they reach a level that causes some horrific problem that modern medicine is not yet capable of solving.
Look, we can agree to disagree- but I will continually chose to buy products of superior quality (read: handled by the fewest people) and cook it to its maximum potential. You can continually chose to cook your pork to 165F and beef to 145F, ruining both. Enjoy