Cafe Gratitude
"Strawberries With Sambuca Baba and Acid Honey"
What in the world is acid honey? What's sambuca baba?
The frivolous, confusing, odd combinations of foods on the menu at El Bulli smack of classism. That is, you can't just be any old person to enjoy "
sea cucumbers with ham fat and hot yoghurt whey jelly." It's an acquired taste reserved for the most sophisicated of palates.
But class issues aside, the title of the dish evokes emotion and invites exploration. Curiosity, adventurousness, exoticness, the consonant, 2 -beat sounds of "buca" and "baba" like the beat of tribal drums. A new experience....What's on the menu, really? Experience!
People may make fun of the menu at El Bulli, or criticize the rhetoric of menus with well-founded accusations of branding, exoticizing, fluffing it up, and overusing adjectives and participal phrases. But the fact is, food is an experience. I don't mean the ambiance of the room, the decor, the plating, the garnishes, though these can be part of the experience. I mean how food is an combination of emotion, personal and shared histories, memories and also new ideas.That's why I don't mind the language of menus as much as I do TV or product advertising. I find it somewhat endearing, actually. It's part of the construct of eating, because like the existence of historical fiction, it's one thing to inform people of an event and it's an entirely different experience to have a fictionalized version, with relatable characters, sensor hoy images, and a different viewpoint. I don't mind being hinted at what I should expect to feel. But at one place, you order by telling them how you feel!
Cafe Gratitude is a chain of organic, vegan restaurants that emphasizes a lot of raw foods. Their menu is probably the most ridiculous I have ever heard of. For instance, you'd walk in and declare"I am Extraordinary" to recieve "our BLT with sauteed maple coconut bacon, romaine lettuce, sliced tomato and avocado. Served with spicy chipotle aioli on an organic wheat bun." If you felt in the mood for the soup of the day, just say "I am thriving!" Being mystical deserves a dark chocolate macaroon. Being transparent denotes elaborately specific sushi.
Cafe Gratitude is committed to celebrating human existence and the earth by providing high quality, organic food. Their mission statement and the whimsical, non-offensively unique titles of their dishes remind us that the cafe is an experience, a novel one:
"Our food is prepared with love. We invite you to step inside and enjoy being someone that chooses: loving your life, adoring yourself, accepting the world, being generous and grateful every day, and experiencing being provided for." Maybe that's why I don't chafe at their menu titles. Unlike a snooty expensive restaurant, I am not lured into a dish, forgetting that it's an experience, through long words or foreign ingredients. I don't feel tricked, don't feel like anything here is being puffed up. Thish feels simple, even though Cafe Gratitude is just as guilty of menu sensationalism as any.
How could anyone resent....
I AM COMFORTED Oven roasted rosemary yams served with your choice of our spicy nacho cheese, sweet tamarind or spicy coconut mint chutney .
"Oven roasted": past participal phrase, check. Fluffy.
"tamarind": sufficiently unrecognizable for most.
"coconut mint chutney": distinctly exotic.
Horrid qualities of "menuspeak" are here, and even a dictation of how you should/could feel when you want a yam.The idea of being comforted with this dish is tolerable, though. The name gives me an expectation, and reminds me that food has emotions and people attached to them, a story of a feeling. This isn't just food. It's experience. And it's more of an experience for me to embrace than an experience that is shoved down my throat.
Look for yourself!:http://www.cafegratitudela.com/menu
It is quite interesting how you note that you are quite aware and able to tolerate the "menu sensationalism" that Cafe Gratitude is guilty of. This idea of expectation and how food is an experience in itself (to be enjoyed!) is quite intriguing, to say the least. Many people fail to realize how food is inherently more than something routinely consumed for nutrition purposes alone. Food can feasibly reflect a culture, an emotion, and even a memory! Thus as you describe the tolerability of Cafe Gratitude because it is an experience, what do I think? Right on target.
ReplyDeleteAmongst all menus of psychology trickery and deceit, I must agree with you on finding Cafe Gratitude's to be the most forgivable. Yes, even their menuspeak contains fluff, and the method of ordering via confident declarations seems cheesy, but the cafe seems to be genuinely brightening its patrons' lives. Although I've never been there myself, I can imagine that the restaurant has a very light and happy atmosphere. I'd be laughing to myself for calling a waiter over just to say "I AM DAZZLING," and be just as amused hearing others say "I AM GORGEOUS" or "I AM MYSTICAL," but past the joke, there's a feel good component that just generates positivity. The restaurant gives people the opportunity to compliment themselves, and even if they don't feel joyful at first, saying that they do might make them smile. A menu of positive mantras like "I AM WARM" and "I AM JOY" creates a strong correlation between healthy eating and feeling good. Cafe Gratitude places its patrons under a sweet, psychological spell in which vegan food and endorphins go hand in hand. This type of menuspeak I do not mind at all. By manipulating the menu to associate the idea of eating right with self satisfaction, diets of customers could potentially improve and become healthier.
ReplyDelete