You won’t find a takeaway in today’s post. Just food for thought.
My 13 year old son, Dane, has a fantasy about heaven, and it revolves around food. The basic premise is that life’s greatest pleasure is eating decadent meals. “If heaven were perfect,” he muses, “we’d have our favorite foods and eat until we’re the perfect level of satisfied, then get hungry and do it again.” My man wants to sit around and eat…all day every day. What do I have to do to get in, 22?
He’s got the right idea. Food is a universal language, bringing people together and cementing bonds. The best chefs in the world play this game all the time – if you had one more meal, what would it be (and where?)
While we’re on the topic of heavenly experiences, I thought I’d share my dream restaurant. I will find my way to D.O.M in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
D.O.M’s chef, Alex Atala, was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world for essentially inventing a new cuisine in Latin America. A punk rocker turned chef, he knew he wouldn’t be able to compete with French or Italian chefs cooking their native cuisines. Instead of trying to play someone else’s game, he created his own. He committed to mining the Amazon and the nearby areas for local, flavorful, unique ingredients. From the Guardian:
So Atala stopped aping cuisine that relies on imports or poor substitutes, and turned for inspiration to his country’s natural resources, in particular to the Amazon. The world’s greatest ecosystem is home to a cornucopia of ingredients (and many species of plant still undiscovered), and this is where he stocks his pantry. So on the menu at DOM are some weird and wonderful Amazonian foods. Tucupi is a yellow sauce extracted from a manioc root that must first be boiled to remove the toxins; jambu leaf numbs the lips and tongue and, says Atala, “makes everything taste bigger”
He’s undeniably a strong individual. Utilizing your region’s natural resources and doing so better than everyone else is a formula that will never fail. That’s the basics.
I encourage you to participate in the discussion. Whatcha got? Where would you go? What would you eat?
Strong Mind,
Kap
slappythefishman says
If I want my last meal to be a surprise then I would pick Blue Hill at Stone Barn, Hudson Valley, NY.
https://www.bluehillfarm.com/dine/stone-barns
Their menu is based on whatever their farm is producing.
If I want a sure thing then I would go to Osteria Francescana, Modena, Italy.
http://www.osteriafrancescana.it/osteriafrancescana.html
The meal would be:
Antipasto: Snails in the vineyard paired with a – Prosecco
Primo: Ravioli of foie gras, leek and truffle – paired with Barolo Cannubi 2010
Secondo: Monkfish wrapped with crispy lard with aromatic smoke -paired with – Domaine Leflaive Chevalier-Montrachet Grand Cru, 2009
Dolce: 2001 Chateu De Quiem, 2001
Stephanie St Amour says
Nice choices, STF. I can get behind those.
slappythefishman says
Stephanie…With everything you have written, I would really like to know what would be your meal
Brian Frazer says
I don’t have a strong opinion or view of food that way. I know what I like, but struggle to come up with an answer to the question: “What would you have for your last meal?” Food to me is a source of fuel that our body’s need.
gavin says
Like that. What meal then is optimal meal?
Brian Frazer says
Haha isnt that the same question just rephrased? I would just go with the staple chicken and veggies…. Maybe some natural peanut butter with apple slices
Charlotte Marks says
Simple boiled lobster, dripping with melted butter. Just-picked corn on the cob, butter and salt. Baked potato with sour cream. Washed down with a great white wine (not enough of a wine snob to name a particular one, sorry).
I love desserts, so I’ll have two – warm wild blueberry crumble with vanilla ice cream, then German chocolate cake with caramel coconut icing, with a tall glass of ice cold milk.
Location – a picnic table on Pemaquid Point, Maine.
Now I’m starving.
Stephanie St Amour says
Love the images this evokes.
lien says
i am all in with your son 🙂 … can’t help thinking about this quote by MFK Fisher “First we eat, then we do everything else.” LOL … one of these would do for me: The French Laundry, Alinea, Noma, En Celler de Can roca, Blue Hill Stone Barns … for now 😉
lien says
actually if El Bulli was still open i would go there too