An interesting review / rant popped up on Le Fooding's website the other day, in conjunction, I guess, in
some way with the Cannes Film Festival, resulting from a meeting at the LA
Fooding event, the first in their new series, "Jus de Cervelle"
("Brain Juice"), a place for "criticism, praise ... to
report on the times..let's see if your mouth is big enough".
Self confessed
"MacDonald's addict", French actor Mathieu Kassowitz, discussed Table, indie food blogger Bruno Verjus'
new product driven place not far from the Gare de Lyon in Paris.
Kassowitz, a perhaps unlikely
candidate to discuss food, calls it a subject that is of no interest to him,
gourmet cuisine is "like fashion, where you give a kidney to wear
something unwearable, the price to pay per gram of protein makes me lose my
appetite even before I begin to eat, all that without even talking about these
hipsters, elected to a closed off world that only they can understand and
appreciate. (kudos for the hipster blast).
He goes on, describing his dinner,
drinking a champagne (which he generously shares with the entire staff, other
diners, then complains of the price (600€) , which makes him "want to
vomit". One wonders why he didn't check the menu before... He says the
idea behind Table is "to offer good food in the most convivial of
circumstances.. a simple idea that made me want to be generous as well..but
isn't Table just hype, the ambassador of cool popular food?" and goes on
"to make someone pay 600€ for a bottle bought 150€ is a lack of taste, a
lack of respect that needs explanation before a punch in the
face".....ending with the word of advice, "If you come here, bring
your own can of Coke".
While certainly not condoning
Monsieur Kassowitz' review, Le Fooding, which normally shies away from the
critical, seems to have found an interesting opportunity to tap into a rich
vein of iconoclastic foodie rage. And doing what they do best, helping to
democratize a culture that's become too niche and hipstery for many people's
taste. Or have they..?