Food is central to everyday life. Every species is programmed to survive, so it is no surprise that those who possess the power to both nurture us and please our palates have an ethereal quality about them. They are the artists who like to wear white outfits or aprons with cheeky sayings too inappropriate for a Lantern column. They are stereotypically round in the stomach, though I promise that you can trust those of svelte stature.
I am talking about chefs. And for as much influence as the gastronomical gods and goddesses (such as Ferran Adrià of El Bulli Restaurant or Nigella Lawson from the critically-acclaimed show Nigella Bites) have over the gustatory experience of us mortals, we often wonder: what do the chefs eat?
It is humbling and reassuring to know that even the culinary world’s shakers and movers stop shaking their dressings or moving their pan from burner to plate long enough – and often enough – to dip a double-stuffed Oreo into a cold glass of milk or find delight in a homely peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Yet we as students tend to categorize food into two groups, French-fancy or Ramen-cheap.
Needless to say we usually go for the Ramen, but what if the best from those two plates were combined into one style of cooking? Well, such a fusion between two different styles is termed, oxymoronically, “simple elegance.” You can, for example, change your American grilled cheese sandwich into an Italian grilled cheese sandwich simply by changing the yellow cheese to Mozzarella and using Ciabatta bread smeared with pesto instead of two slices of Wonder covered with butter. The difference in cost? Negligible, especially considering you’ll enjoy it so much more.
So continuing with the cheese theme, I invite you to revel in my elegant version of the creamy childhood concoction, macaroni and cheese. I hope it warms you and yours on chilly fall nights and demonstrates that simple can indeed be elegant. Cheers!
Brennan Duty can be reached at [email protected].
