Unreal
"In the end ... the dessert has to be something people will want to eat, just like when you make a building: you can do anything as long as it won't fall down." Baruch Ellsworth
"You can have a dessert that looks like a work of art - or you can have a dessert like a. cookie or a slice of cake that creates an experience of joy." Agatha Kulaga
It's Sunday - luxury magazine day. How the other half lives. Only, of course, it's not the other half - more like the other 2% or maybe even less. The unreal people anyway. And it never disappoints with ideas for blog posts.
Today it was the Paris collections and architectural desserts. I'll come back to the Paris collections which was a curiously complementary article to the one on desserts.
According to the writer (Priya Krishna) of the article entitled Sweet Guggenheim today's upmarket trend in desserts is architectural, and interestingly the trend in architecture seems to be to go all soft and floppy - well sort of. Think of the Guggenheim, but also look at this one - the Lotus Building in Changzhou, China. Beautiful don't you think - both in itself and in the context into which it has been placed? Like a posh dessert.
How do they do that? Which is what one thinks when confronted with a dessert like the one at the top of the page. Apparently the top piece is made from a mould that was produced with a 3D printer. So very much a case of technology in the kitchen. These things are measured to the nth degree, drawn like an architectural drawing, planned, tested and constructed like a building. Lots of the cooks referred to in this article actually began their careers as architects and they produce desserts like this:
Words like exquisite spring to mind. The apple strudel which is the first picture is apparently also structured inside. And maybe the others are too. But to me the real problem is that they are so perfect looking that I don't want to eat them. I don't want to spoil the effect. It seems like sacrilege to reduce that beauty to a messy smear on a plate. You would think that all that effort would make it devastating to the creators if you actually ate it. For this is destroying it. The chefs themselves apparently claim that "baking a cake is a lot more interesting - and immediately gratifying - than designing a building" . All very well when you are creating the dessert, even more so when you are designing it I would think, but seeing the messy plate come back into the kitchen? And what about the customer? Does it satisfy an innate desire to destroy beautiful things to eat them? And do the creators consider the taste as well? I guess they do, though it's a worry is it not. And I'm guessing that if it doesn't taste good too then the ultimate effect is disappointing. And looking at the last one - a bit of a challenge for the waiter not to let the balanced little things on the chocolate roll fall off. Though maybe they are stuck on.
"My worry is always that the culinary element is being forgotten. I have had so many meals at high-end restaurants that were extremely memorable but more like a trip to a modern art museum, where you would never want those kinds of things in your own home." Stella Parks
Well let's face it, we're not going to create these things in our own home are we? You can, of course, buy them in expensive patisseries. I suspect it is very rare indeed though to have something look so wonderful and taste wonderful too.
And before I leave the food for the clothes have a look at this one:
"One of his most popular desserts explores the kaleidoscopic, shape-shifting nature of chocolate. On a single plate there's a tobacco-infused chocolate mousse, a caramel cream with caramelised white chocolate, and white chocolate streusel - all covered in a dehydrated layer of chocolate elegantly draped like a silk sheet." Priya Krishna
You can see the Bilbao Guggenheim influence here but really - what are you supposed to do with it? Are all those things really underneath? So do you take the chocolate sheet off? How? Does the waiter do it with a flourish? Do the things underneath look as elegant? What's the point of having them hidden? If you don't take the chocolate off then you just dig in and get a complete mishmash of tastes and textures. Very confusing.
"Being an architect is not all about the structure. It's about the intent. How will this improve someone's life?" Jennifer Yee
Which is a very grandiose claim. But then I guess this is food as art not as food. Which takes me to haute couture. For in the same magazine there was a review of the latest Paris collections of Givenchy, Gaultier, and Dior - all in their way architectural and unreal, though beautiful - art not clothes for everyday.
The pants suit was described as perfectly acceptable in the boardroom? Really?
Chanel on the other hand under the control of the amazing Karl Lagerfeld, was sugar sweet and described in terms of food:
"The spring/summer 2018 couture Chanel suit comes in almond pinks, violet creams, lemon meringues ... you name the bonbon." Lisa Armstrong
And almost wearable (well the one on the right anyway) if you had a special function to go to. Not when you are out shopping at Doncaster. The one on the left does look rather ridiculous and rather like an over-decorated wedding cake. But then, "Architectural ideals, often leave out a vital element: nostalgia." says Agatha Kulaga and maybe that's the power of Chanel - nostalgia. For it seems to me that Lagerfeld has mastered the ability to create something new every time but always with a nod to the heritage of Coco Chanel. Which is maybe what makes them more approachable than many.
So all a bit mind-blowing and definitely for the other 2% or however small that percentage is.
The other thing is that by the time you get to dessert - well us anyway - you have had enough and have no more room. But then I guess the kind of restaurant that serves this kind of dessert probably hasn't stuffed you full with huge plates of pasta or steak.
I do admire the skill and imagination though.
