May 11, 2013

"Over the past decade, we’ve seen the rise of the foodie class and decline of the record industry."

"Are the two related? When did we start talking about new food trucks instead of new bands? When did the line outside El Centro D.F. taqueria get longer than the line outside the Black Cat? Is $8 a reasonable price for an order of duck fat french fries just because we can stream our music for free on Spotify?"

Discussed — improperly, I think — at Metafilter, here.

IN THE COMMENTS: betamax3000:
The source of this:
I Buried Paul = Cranberry Sauce.

(look it up)

The Beatles saw the End of Rock and Roll in a Side-Dish Food Item. Paul Is Dead, and now Glass Onions and Savoy Truffles will Assume the Cultural High Position.

Yoko Ono had an art piece called "Grapefruit". It is All Connected.

Pop Music: ephemeral. Strawberry Post Tarts: Forever.
Yes, clearly. We had to have them all pulled out after the Savoy Truffles.

30 comments:

Nonapod said...

It's interesting what happens when scarcity is removed from a product. Music was once relatively scarce in the sense that it was often nontrivial to acquire in terms of time and money as well as being non trivial to produce/record. Today music is both virtually effortless to acquire for a minimal cost, as well as being orders of magnitude easier to produce (home studios have popped up like crazy over the past couple decades as gear has become more affordable and software like Pro Tools have put a lot of power in the hands of amature musicians).

Very good food in some ways is scarce I guess since it requires time, money, and skill to produce.

Maybe cultures and movements are more likely to be found developing around things that are scarce.

Bob_R said...

I think the WaPo article is stretching it to tie the movement of money from rock industry to the food industry. But I think the 2013 food industry has a lot of the same feel that the 1969 music industry had. There is the same DIY vibe at the low level and the same growth and energy at the corporate level.

I don't see any real cause and effect between the "death" of rock and the growth of food. The biggest thing that the food industry has to do with the death of rock and roll is the draconian drunk driving laws that have killed the bar scene - nothing to do with food.

The whole "death" of rock is overblown. There was a brief moment in time when several technologies and business models converged and made it possible for musicians to get rich. It was a bubble that bust and will probably never inflate again. But we had lots of great music before the bubble and we will have lots of great music after.

edutcher said...

Insta had a link to a piece showing the fattifying of America has taken place in only the last 20 years.

Presumably, there's a connection.

mesquito said...

Huh?

Anonymous said...

lmao.

Meaningless pop bands replaced by meaningless food fads.

Film at 11.

Enjoy the decline, buttfuckers!

Anonymous said...

I download pirated Food.

Three toppings on My pizza: MP3.

ndspinelli said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
traditionalguy said...

But doesn't buying legalized marijuana make the users so hungry the have no money left for concerts hoping they find some marijuana that they already have.

ricpic said...

Hey foodies, there's such a thing as home cooking: tastes better and fresher; you're much much less likely to be poisoned by it; it's cheaper by a mile. But go on, be trendy. After all you're young and won't "discover" home cooking, most of you, till middle age, likely late middle age. It'll be like discovering the wheel, so you've got that to look forward to. Of course you'll do some home cooking before middle age. But you won't ENJOY it. You won't allow yourself to. Because it's unhip. But you'll get there. Sense will come, you perfect trendies. Some day.

Anonymous said...

The source of this:

I Buried Paul = Cranberry Sauce.

(look it up)

The Beatles saw the End of Rock and Roll in a Side-Dish Food Item. Paul Is Dead, and now Glass Onions and Savoy Truffles will Assume the Cultural High Position.

Yoko Ono had an art piece called "Grapefruit". It is All Connected.

Pop Music: ephemeral. Strawberry Post Tarts: Forever.











Anonymous said...

We have a local monthly arts scene nearby that the powers that be have been trying to make happen for years. (First mistake - not spontaneous.) They have music and art, but really it's about the food trucks. That's where all the excitement and real spontaneity are. That's what "the people" come out for in droves. They were an afterthought.

Visual art, the kind of thing you can stick in a gallery, just isn't that exciting to the average person. I cannot see a time in the future when it will be.

The music is more of a mystery because that appeals to the average person, but no longer motivates en masse. If anything I'd place the blame on the many different types of entertainment available. There is no critical mass of focus reached any longer.

There is a huge generational difference between the post-hip hip and older rock/country/ethnic eras. Hip hop itself is hitting middle age. Although it began as street music, today it never seems to be able to make a real street level appearance, but is a Top 40, big $$$, DJ club thang all the way.

The whole thing has a the vaguely 'failed event' air of some churches that aren't drawing the living mojo anymore.

So what's left that naturally, spontaneously draws people outside to mix? The food carts. People who haven't been outside downtown in YEARS come out to get their waffles, cheese sandwiches, Korean tacos, and wait in line for it. But the food carts didn't cause the decline of the others.

Anonymous said...

"Post Tarts": the Post-Modern Pop Tart. My incorrect Spelling was my Correct Intuition.

Anonymous said...

I like my "Korean tacos" Gangnam Style.

Beach Brutus said...

When the food got better and the music got worse.

Anonymous said...

The Walrus Burrito was Paul.




The Walrus Sushi was RuPaul.

tim maguire said...

The same internet that allowed people off-label access to their favorite artists also made it easier to compare notes on their favorite food.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Tonight's broadcast of Radiolab had a segment called Musical DNA... about a computer that takes any musical score, written by anybody (the point is it doesn't have to be good) and adds the magic of a Mahler, a Beethoven or Mozart. The computer, its explained in the piece, has distilled the 'DNA', the essence of their sound, and it can put it in any piece of music good bad or indifferent.

I remember going to see Like Water for Chocolate, more than once, and thinking to myself that I had discovered something special behind the story... the cook in the movie would be asked, more than once... how do you make such a delicious food... and the cook would answer simply 'with a lot of love'... I realize now that that was the movie.

Its no secret, cooks add a distinct unique thing to their creations... just like bands have their sound, cooks have a taste unique to them... I've been aware of this since childhood, noticing something different between the neighbors food and the food my stepmother cooked... even though they were made with the same ingredients.

I suppose this is a long way of saying we (the big we) are moving on from the magic of music... the music that sounds less magical and more processed... to the magic of food creations and the food trucks are the natural response to that... a response to a people that didn't pay for music but are still willing to pay at least the minimum for a decent chimi.

Paddy O said...

There's not a food truck industry. Just food truck entrepreneurs.

Food trucks are in the phase music was in during the 1960s and 70s, when DJs could introduce local audiences to new sounds.

Now Twitter and word of mouth introduces audiences to new tastes. And it's not going to be something you get in another city.

veni vidi vici said...

Fat-arsed face-stuffers don't like to dance. Thus, foodie trucksterism up, music industrialism down.

Never the fatassery forever.

veni vidi vici said...

And I'll be damned if the sight of a food truck named "Bull-kogi" doesn't immediately call to mind the idea that they're selling sautee'd bull testes.

Seriously, "Bull-kogi"? With a bull's head silhouette, no less. Sounds like "bull kugels", quite literally "bull balls".

Thanks but please, park that thing somewhere else.

veni vidi vici said...

For the doubters:

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5011/5442489452_1cddba1455_z.jpg

tiger said...

Anyone who calls him or her self a
'foodie' is a pretentious azzhat.

edward irvin said...

No we're just old.

rcocean said...

Can't beat this comment:

"I love it when people think that rock and roll stops existing the minute they stop paying attention to it."

bagoh20 said...

Why? Our eyes and ears are spoiled, and bored.

So now we got taste, touch, and smell. Taste is the next most complex, so the next best market for ideas.

Chip Ahoy said...

I was listening to alternative while making these cheese crackers with jalapeño as fatty as possible.

I'm going to eat them all too while listening to reggae, which means raggedy, trufax, and pop, which means popular. And two cups is a heck of a lot of cheese to go with two cups+ whatev of flour.

But then I find after consuming a mere 6 or possibly 20 I'm not hungry at all. I actually forgot what the original idea was. Too bad because it was a good idea too.

O I know. This is what I'll have when the crackers wear off. Aglio e olio except with broccoli and sausage I made earlier and froze. And I'll listen to r&b, which means rhythm and blues, but not soul and not rap and not rock and roll, no to those three. Think I'll get fat?

Comcast put music sorted by type at the high end of their channels. It's a good resource for music. They are contributing to my weight-gaining efforts.

Rusty said...

Think I'll get fat?

That's how I did it.
I invented M&M Cherrios with whole milk.
You can substitute any Chex cereal for Cherrios.

Rusty said...

Think I'll get fat?

That's how I did it.
I invented M&M Cherrios with whole milk.
You can substitute any Chex cereal for Cherrios.

Aridog said...

Paddy O said...

There's not a food truck industry. Just food truck entrepreneurs.

Food trucks are in the phase music was in during the 1960s and 70s, when DJs could introduce local audiences to new sounds.

Now Twitter and word of mouth introduces audiences to new tastes. And it's not going to be something you get in another city.


Not too sure there isn't an "industry*...the "Bull-Kogi" truck @ VVV cites is part of a chain I think...and it serves Korean foods, such as the bbq dishes like Bulgogi (thin beef or oxen meat pieces marinated), Kalbe (Beef short ribs marinated), as well as other typically Korean dishes and seafood.

However Twitter and word of mouth has replaced DJ's, is a vis food, so to speak...mainly because in the 60's and 70's DJ's were paid to play the tunes they played by the producers. I presume some of the Twitter stuff is "paid" publicity as well.

If anything, specialty food trucks may become the new caterers for parties and such.

Rusty said...

Chip Ahoy said...
I was listening to alternative while making these cheese crackers with jalapeño as fatty as possible.

I made hollandaise for the first time ever this morning. It was a success ceptin' it could have used some more lemon.