The producer has launched a food blog, sharing dishes he prepares for his wife. But he's not the only indie gastro geek ...
Blog: Comment Is Free cook up some other rock star recipes
Steve Albini, founder of Big Black and Shellac, producer of PJ Harvey and Nirvana, has a food blog. It's a good one, based around whatever he's recently cooked for his wife. As with his work as a musician and producer, it's a serious affair ? but not without humour. For example, it's called mariobatalivoice, after the impression he does of the noted Italian-American chef when plonking his latest dish on the dinner table.
Recently interviewed about the blog by LA Weekly, Albini said he regarded American food shows as populated by "frathouse cocksuckers with gimmick hairdos", which is much the same way he felt about mainstream US rock in the 90s. It is all the more fitting that a producer so committed to fuss-free recording also appreciates our own Fergus Henderson's equally forthright, no-frills approach to cooking.
Albini's blog is the latest crossover between the worlds of food and indie rock, discussed by the Guardian's indie professor a few months ago. And there is even more where that came from. Foals kebyoard player Edwin Congreave has opted for the Alex Kapranos route, detailing the band's on-the-road eating habits via Tour Bar Blues. Congreave becomes particularly enthusiastic when the itinerary reaches the Mecca of indie foodies: Portland, Oregon. It's a place where you will find former Shins drummer Jesse Sandoval hawking Mexican meals from one of the many food trucks for which the city is famous.
We now live in a world where the drummer from Grizzly Bear makes his own pasta and indie musicians are as likely to be interviewed by excellent food website Eater as Spin magazine. And if you want to go to extremes, there's always "dishes inspired by indie-rock albums" of Eating the Beats. As for anyone thinking this is getting silly ? you'll be pleased to know that the satirical Portlandia is a step or three ahead of you.
As the indie professor pointed out, both worlds share an interest in "authenticity". Though I'd argue that, as with music, indie foodies sometimes prize dogma over more important ideas, such as deliciousness. An overpriced, poorly executed "artisan" meal purchased in Portland, Williamsburg, or even London's Dalston, being the equivalent of an album you download because it was rated 8.3 on Pitchfork but never play because, on reflection, it's rubbish.
It's also worth paying attention to David Chang, Pavement geek and Michelin-starred chef behind New York's Momofuku, who points out that one of these professions is more like a proper job than the other. Traits required for success in the food world ? Herculean work ethic, punctuality, discipline ? are not necessarily those celebrated in musicians. So it would be a bad idea to put the newly incarcerated Pete Doherty to work in the prison kitchen ...
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/musicblog/2011/may/27/steve-albini-food-blog
No comments:
Post a Comment