| Food for the heart, for the soul, from the breast, slipping between the
lips: speaking or silent, eating or nourished. Our very existence depends
upon our consuming food, but the process of consumption also brings us into
coexistence and reciprocation with the world, and allows the world to enter
into and become part of our corporeality. In order to maintain our own
bodiliness, it is necessary to appropriate and absorb the bodies of other
living things. Aristotle read the appetite for food as being animalistic,
and as such a desire to be moderated. But with Christmas on its way, and its
merry Pagan shadows, it seems more human to reach for abundance in all,
including food, so that we might share. A range of writers across the
country have shared their dish of choice in this M/C Reviews feature on food
-- providing a mixed harvest of food, hunger, and desire. May all our
bellies be full and our laughter free!
On the Menu
The twelve reviews which follow are enough to sharpen anyone's appetite. The
first course is provided by Roger Haden, a food and culture academic, who in
his reviews of three books related to the culinary delivers an exotic brew
indeed. The meze platter served immediately afterwards includes Brisbane
poet Anna Jamieson's personal insight into life as a Queensland vegetarian;
Shana Tacon's spicy celebration of women, food and art together for an
evening; and Ian Van Wert's robust tale of an all-you-can-eat sushi
encounter.
After cleansing the palate with Emma Nelms's triumphant comparison between
the puritanical and the abundant -- the dour and the gay -- there is the
acerbic taste of Elspeth Tilley's review on earnestly eating for those who
may not. This is served alongside journalist David Liddle's fascinating
comments on agriculture and history -- questioning who shall profit from a
long overdue change in the Australian diet. This contrasts in flavour with
Rachel Scholl's review of one of Brisbane's élite dining ventures; which
draws the gourmand along to the promise of dessert: in this case Shane
Lewis's elegant connections between food and one of the most brilliant
dishes of any century, Oscar Wilde himself.
I hope your saliva is flowing as you sit poised with your cutlery to consume
the following... Bon appétit!
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