20051210

remembrance of meals past.

malcolm

i found a few old photos the other day, and there were several taken with friends at mealtimes. what struck me the most about these photos is that then, i obviously didn't care about taking photos of the food because there aren't any, and now, i absolutely cannot remember what i ate at any of these meals. come to think of it, i rarely do remember the food even if it's exceptional, if i'm in particularly fine company.

the photo above is of breakfast at dean and deluca, in their first café on prince street in soho, new york city (less than two bucks for an iced coffee! eek, this is older than i thought). malcolm is a newlywed here, having just married a dear friend just days before. i barely knew him at this point, but as you can see, we were destined to get on famously--several cameras on the table (not including the one i took the photo with), several beverages each, and he is actually photographing the food, predating my interest in food photography by several years. every time i look at this photo, i recall the slight chill in the air of that april day, the sharp tang of the lemon cake i ate, that funny odorous mix of slightly decaying produce, strong coffee and sidewalk i associate with every soho in the world, and the instanteous feeling of ease when you meet someone new whom you know you will be friends with for a very long time.

even if he was mumbling somewhat incoherently with that scottish accent, ordered a middling blueberry muffin, and made me see "arachnophobia". in the theatres.

6 comments:

S,

How long ago was this? I remember eating at Dean and Deluca, but never remember any of the coffees being less than $2, or do I? At the time, the espresso bar was on the left side of the shop, on the right, in the corner was a VERY small sitting area. Behind that were some fresh produce items...I remember that moment only because I had recently seen Moonstruck (with Cher) and actually saw her in Dean & Deluca that day!

good gravy, i'm not sure. sometime in the nineties, maybe 1995??? that's exactly the layout of the shop, we were at the tall round table right by the doorway.

Hello from Milan, Italy: the country of mozzarella in carrozza, pizza, spaghetti, pasta...
In my town, Milan (in the North), the typical dish is "risotto alla milanese": a risotto with saffron.
Polenta is another typical dish.
At Christmas, we eat "panettone", do you know?!

I'm trying to remeber when I started taking pics of food. I'm pretty sure it was when I started travelling around Japan because the food is so strongly tied to the locality.

Previous to that it was pics of it on the way out of friends during those unfortunate years of acclimation to alcohol.

This reminds me of something that happened to me a few weeks ago. Husband brought a visiting professor home from the university, and the first thing she did at sitting at the table was to whip out a camera. She actually got the food photographed before I'd even got my own camera out, which must be some kind of a record.

hello simone! i love panettone, but i prefer that someone else makes it for me :) happy holidays to you, buon natale!

anthony--i've seen some of your on-the-way-out photos. eurgh.

hi squeezeweasel--how funny! did she explain why she was taking the photos? i tell people it's because if i die i want a record of the last thing i ate.