Gold and other precious things
"Flavourless and biologically inert, gold does nothing to impress our tastebuds. Its appeal is all in its bling. For a brief instant, we might feel a thrill of profligate extravagance, a sense of transgression from ingesting something that is resolutely non-food." Barbara Santich of Adelaide University - SBS
The AFR this weekend had an article on one of the latest food trends - if you are very rich that is and have nothing else to spend your money on - the trend being the use of gold in food - even in common things like donuts and the stuff you buy at MacDonalds.
Historically speaking, from the Ancients to now, gold has gone in and out of fashion and was mostly used to demonstrate how rich your are.
"Although these dishes were presumably meant to be eaten, the lavish use of gold was primarily a blatant display of the wealth and power of the host, at the same time paying tribute to the status of the guest." Barbara Santich of Adelaide University - SBS
And I guess nothing has changed really - it's still a showing off kind of thing, which can almost be understood in the case of a wedding cake like the one at the top - though whether one needs to spend all that money on a wedding might be a topic for another post.
The use of gold was particularly prevalent in Medieval and Tudor times apparently - in the west anyway. Of course in the east it has always been used in the courts and palaces of the very rich and at celebrations such as weddings. I tried very hard to find a picture of a biriyani with gold leaf on top as I know this is relatively common even now. I think I have a recipe somewhere but try as I may I cannot find a picture. In the case of the biriyani I think it wasn't all that artistic - just bits of silver or gold leaf dobbed here and there on the top.
Nowadays though it's almost a matter of art.
“History shows us that wealth has always lifted the mere sustenance of food into an art form. Roman nobles threw spectacular banquets with artistic displays and processions of food that were feasts for all the senses, particularly that of sight. ... It has always been the case that the basic is elevated to the extraordinary by those who possess the means.” South China Morning Post
A bit like haute couture really or any kind of designer object for the über rich. We do tend to take up a very critical stance about 'fussy' food like the exquisite dish on the right, but an enormous amount of thought, experimentation, practise and sheer skill have gone into its production.
"Imagine gilding a walnut as the medieval text directed, first fixing it on the tip of a pin, delicately enveloping it in gold leaf then gently blowing so that the gold covered all the nooks and crannies of the walnut’s surface. Such patience is far more worthy of reward than superficial flamboyance." Barbara Santich of Adelaide University - SBS
And why do the chefs do it? Well they too are after glory and money too. If they go viral on Instagram (I really should do something on Instagram), then their restaurants will be famous and attract customers, and the food critics will give them Michelin stars - another way of getting customers.
“Many chefs now attempt to make their dishes (appear like) works of visual art. Not only because the arena of fine cuisine is highly competitive and continually advancing, but because it is judged on that element by those awarding restaurants with coveted accolades.” South China Morning Post
I guess most people take up the critical stance on all of this because there is no way that we are ever going to be able to afford such things, and so we express our hatred of the über rich by emphasising greed, inequality and injustice. And quite right too. But there is a huge amount of jealousy in there too. Really, maybe deep down in our heart of hearts we too would like those things. We like to see it - we read all about it - look how many people (including, me alas - I am a tiny bit ashamed) watched the royal wedding. But yes, gold in food is an expression of wealth, indeed a parading of wealth that says, 'look at me I can do these things, you can't'. And so we criticise the consumers and the makers too.
“Scarcity is the ultimate, defining quality of true luxury. Consumable scarcity is therefore the apogee of indulgence – consuming something which is rare, prized and valuable – and likely to increase in value still – is an expression of luxury and wealth,” Winston Chesterfield, research director at Wealth-X, told CNBC. South China Morning Post
Of course if you eat the gold it won't increase in value as it just goes through the system and comes out the other end mixed up with everything else you have consumed. Which is perhaps the point. You have thrown away in an ostentatious way something of value. Which emphasises your wealth.
Is it actually safe to eat gold, silver, precious stones? Well - gold and silver yes, as long as it is relatively pure.
"According to [official] recent opinion, gold leaf must be 90 percent pure gold, with the other 10 percent typically consisting of another safe metal, like pure silver"
There are rules about this - in Europe anyway, but not apparently in America. Gold is even used in some medicines and if you have gold fillings, tiny particles of gold are always breaking off. I don't think anyone is recommending you eat gold, or silver, every day though. Or precious stones at all. Mind you in medieval times they thought they had power.
"In medieval times, gold, silver and precious stones such as diamonds, rubies, sapphires and emeralds, were attributed with various virtues and mysterious powers. These qualities were magically transferred to a food during cooking, and subsequently to anyone who consumed it (just as magically, the precious metals and jewels were in no way diminished by the cooking and could be used again)." Barbara Santich of Adelaide University - SBS
There was no danger of you eating the precious stones though. They were wrapped in linen and removed at the end of cooking. I'm pretty sure that nobody is recommending eating diamonds.
And one final reason why gold was used in the past:
"It's been used an awful lot in the past because it's reflective, and ... tables tended to be lit with candlelight and also firelight, so anything you could use that reflected the light was a good thing." Dr. Annie Grey
I think you may be able to buy gold leaf in the supermarket, though I'm not sure. Specialist cake shops anyway. Yes it's expensive but not so expensive that you couldn't splurge in some way at a special party. A gold wedding anniversary perhaps. But if you go on the newspaper articles and Instagram it seems to have become quite a thing with those that can afford a few thousand dollars for a hamburger. Honestly - why?
The poor of course might make do with silver or gold coins in their Christmas pudding. We did - they were sixpences I seem to remember and they were wrapped in greaseproof paper so that, I assume, you wouldn't accidentally swallow them. It was lucky to be the one with the piece that contained the coin. So in this case you actually got to keep the silver.
Incidentally the two articles that I have mostly referenced for this article are really quite interesting. The SBS article by Barbara Santich and the one from the South China Morning Post of all places.
