The rich/poor gap - always and forever there

"Welcome to the rarefied world of couture cuisine, where price is irrelevant to customers desiring a dining experience available only to a select few."

Necia Wilden, AFR Life and Leisure

It's Sunday so I get to scan the rubbish papers - at one extreme the AFR's luxury pullout and at the other - the local papers. In one was the above article about extremely expensive food and in the other was an article about the rise in the number of people who are not getting enough food - and apparently not just the homeless, though it didn't actually specify who these people were. I even saw that in one town in Florida it is now illegal to give food to the homeless!

That steak in the picture above - it is huge - around a kilo. Will cost you $600 to eat and you will have to book months in advance - or actually, put your name on a waiting list. It's Blackmore wagyu beef of course. The Blackmore comes from the name of the producer - David Blackmore "who supplies 40 animals a month. That compares with up to 3000 a day from the big producers." Exclusive anyway. And yes I know the marbling is supposed to be what makes it so delicious but what about those big chunks of fat on the outside. I'm guessing you get those too. It just isn't right is it?

The article gave several examples of 'exclusive' foods - meaningless to most of us - even the moderately wealthy like us - for when are we ever going to spend that much on a steak?

It's yet another example of the huge gap between the rich and the poor which they say is widening here in Australia. And I have no reason to disbelieve this. But it was ever thus, and I am beginning to think that it ever will be - it seems to be hardwired into human nature to emphasise the gap between the top and the bottom with material things such as food, clothes, housing, leisure activities and transport.

With respect to food I imagine you can go right back to the cave man. I'm betting that the strongman of the clan got the best food. And I suppose there are practical reasons for this. You have to keep him strong so that you will all survive - he is the one who gets the food and keeps you safe after all. And so it went on - through kings, emperors and dictators of varying kinds on to company bosses and political leaders.

I'm not sure where the entertainers fit in though - the sportsmen and the film stars who are paid millions to entertain us. And this has also often been the case. Gladiators were actually well-looked after comparatively speaking. And whereas I can almost see the justification of the political leaders, and the company bosses - they keep us safe, employed and fed, I really cannot quite see where the entertainment factor comes in. There must be a deep-seated need for it.

Extravagant food and methods of cooking and serving it, down to the elaborate rituals of feasting has always been a feature of the ruling classes.

And often it seems, that we point to the extremeness of the banquets as a foretelling of the fall of a civilisation - like the Romans. Although actually such tales usually refer to the likes of Nero who was really in the middle of the Roman domination of the world. it was a long and slow time before Rome fell. Name a civilisation, no not even what you could call a civilisation, a society, and you will find examples of lavish and extreme eating by the elite, most likely from the beginning. For food is a way of celebrating is it not? You've won power, so celebrate - with lavish food and drink.

"What makes a dish fit for a queen? If past royal delicacies are anything to go by then pretty much anything, including seagull, marigolds or peacock - with the skin and feathers put back on after cooking of course." Denise Winterman BBC

Meanwhile the slaves, the peasants, the industrial poor were eating bread and water - if they were lucky. Most likely they were starving. History also shows us that eventually the gap becomes too big and the poor revolt. Sometimes successfully, sometimes not, and eventually even their revolution collapses into decadence and despotism.

When I was young I was quite taken with the theory of communism, and christianity too. They both seemed to be aiming for equality and tolerance. Communism particularly which was a political system seemed fair. But of course it wasn't. Actually everyone seemed to end up worse off than they were before - no food in the shops, failure of crops and the economy. Not to mention the thousands - or was it millions who were deported into slave working camps. And yet those in power mostly likely were eating the modern day equivalent of swan pie. They still are. And I am not just talking about Russia. China, the most notable modern communist state, has indeed lifted the poverty level of its people and all power to them, but poverty still exists, and the rich are very, very rich.

Indeed I cannot think of a single country in the world which does not have a rich/poor gap. Not that I know enough about every single country in the world - there are too many and besides I try not to learn too much, I confess. I find it all too distressing to read of man's inhumanity to man. Maybe somewhere there is a little community or country who has got it right. But I fear not. And I fear it will always be so. There is always a top dog, and he (or she) does not always the interests of all at heart.

So if you became a top dog - or even just wealthy enough to afford a $600 steak. Would you put your name on the waiting list? Would it make you feel special? And is that what we all strive for deep down? To feel special? And what would feeling special mean to you (or me)? How would it manifest itself.