We truly live in a golden age for gourmets and connoisseurs, with so many kinds of food and drink now readily available. But I worry it goes too far. I worry about my own penchant for getting enthusiastic about selecting the very best of everything.
In addition to wine, you can become a connoisseur of single malt Scotch and small-batch bourbon. Now you can also choose from a selection of finely crafted gins and vodkas, as well as tonic water and bitters.
The same holds true for coffee and tea, for salt and pepper, with vast new categories of special products becoming available. I'm currently reading and enjoying a book about olive oil, Extra Virginity, to review for the Washington Independent Review of Books, and I'm sure it will stimulate me to pay more attention to oil provenance and cultivars (the equivalent of varietals for olives).
Where will it end? Will it ever be possible just to have a cup of coffee, without knowing which bean it is, where it comes from and how exactly it was roasted? Will we ever feel free just to salt and pepper our food without knowing what sea basin or pepper tree they come from?
I'm supposed to pay attention to where my meat was raised, what it was fed, how it was slaughtered and how far away all this took place. I have to decide whether I want ultra-pasteurized organic milk or non-homogenized raw milk and whether I buy it in a carton or a glass bottle with a deposit. I buy heirloom beans with exotic names in amazing shapes and colors.
Yes, it's all fun, kind of a game, really. But I think it's easy to get carried away and perhaps a little too precious.
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