The tall food trend
I got a phone call after dinner Thursday from The Sun's copy desk. The copy editor was reading the Q & A I had done with Damon Hersh, the new executive chef of Kali's Court and Mezze, which is scheduled to appear in tomorrow's Ideas section.
The copy editor wanted to know if Hersh had really said "tall food."
I was startled. And then I remembered that this wasn't the features copy desk, which reads the food section and my reviews, and therefore has heard about every food trend known to man.
If this copy editor didn't know about tall food, maybe not everyone does. He may have stuck a definition in the Q & A, but if not, here's my quick explanation: ...
Flat food fanned out on the plate was very '80s; food built up into towering shapes hit big in the '90s. Now conspicuously tall food looks, well, so last decade.
Tall food has been around long enough that there's even a cookbook telling you how to do it: Deborah Fabricant's Stacks: The Art of Vertical Food.
I'll link to my Q & A here when it's online so you can read Hersh's take on Baltimore's dining trends and how they've changed in the last decade.
(Photo of Damon Hersh by Jed Kirschbaum/Sun photographer)
Comments
Your title scared me...I was afraid tall food was coming back. I hate tall food.
Posted by: Hal Laurent, VoR | March 22, 2008 7:28 PM
I agree. What's good about food that you have to knock down before eating?
Posted by: kitpollard | March 22, 2008 10:53 PM
I'd be willing to bet that OMG LIKES knocking down things before he eats them.
Posted by: Dahlink | March 23, 2008 8:10 AM
Just how is one supposed to eat tall food? Do I just stab it in the heart and spread it out, or is it proper to treat it like jango, eating one element at a time while trying to keep the height?
Posted by: Lissa | March 23, 2008 10:37 AM
I LOVE to knock down my tall food. I make big sounds. KaBOOOOM! And I like baby corn because I can pretend I am a giant robot or Godzilla. And I love the industrial band name Einstürzende Neubauten (Collapsing new buildings).
Posted by: Owl Meat Gravity | March 23, 2008 1:00 PM
I'm like Hal--I was afraid that I missed something and that was a returning trend. I'm glad we were wrong. I always thought that was silly.
Posted by: Desiree | March 23, 2008 1:56 PM
Whilst on trends, week-end breakfasts have come and gone. Let's here about Batter Blasters. Or maybe the report is all who tried are dead and there will be no reports? (And now back to my basket of Peeps.)
Posted by: Robert (the Single One) | March 23, 2008 2:42 PM
Einstürzende Neubauten rocks!
To bring it back on topic, didn't the saintly Bourdain say that kitchens should play punk and such? I wonder if he approves of Industrial. One would think he would.
Posted by: Lissa | March 23, 2008 4:56 PM
RtSO,
Put yourself at rest, my wife and I survived the batter blaster breakfast that we had on Saturday. We even had bacon, real butter and maple syrup to try to make an accurate comparison to scratch pancakes.
When we get a couple of the pics downloaded, I’ll send EL my feelings on the product.
Yes! I can't wait! EL
Posted by: LEC | March 23, 2008 5:10 PM
Einstürzende Neubauten is an acquired taste and in small doses. Go Lissa. I didn't think anyone would like that. Bourdain is a big old school punk fan: Ramones, the Clash, Buzzcocks, etc. Play industrial in a kitchen and you're asking for trouble.
Posted by: Owl Meat Goth | March 23, 2008 5:41 PM
Depends on the kitchen, OMG. It'd be excellent, I'd think, in Fergus Henderson's kitchen.
Trouble would be Barry Manilow or Arlo Guthrie in the kitchen.
Posted by: Lissa | March 23, 2008 6:19 PM
Well that's the last we will hear of LEC. Batter Blastered!
Posted by: OMG | March 23, 2008 6:26 PM
Tall food is difficult and silly and..*sigh* occasionally somewhat perverse looking.
I was eating with my best friend at Los Portales (Mexican, Aviation Boulevard, Linthicum). She commented on a dessert being served at the next table. It did looked rather phallic with it's construction. I did not get a look at the dessert menu to get the name but it consists of a banana encased in a deep fried sweet tortilla.
So please, no tall food!
Posted by: Misha the Meatless Maven | March 23, 2008 7:19 PM
This is the last place I expected to find other Einstürzende Neubauten fans. Excellent.
But tall food is stupid.
Posted by: Jon Parker | March 24, 2008 7:51 AM
This is the last place I expected to find other Einstürzende Neubauten fans. Excellent.
That's one of the best things about this blog. Food unites us all.
Posted by: Rosebud | March 24, 2008 8:17 AM
Let's bring this back onto food. Blixa Bargeld, the leader/singer/guitarist of ESNB is a vegan, as are most of the band members. Check out the video to see him in all his healthy German vegan glory. Is heroin a vegatable? I do like that they created an improvised construction site to perform in. My favorite instrument is hammer-on-beer keg.
Posted by: OMG | March 24, 2008 10:00 AM
Damon is not the authority on Baltimore diners,or the rest of the country.
Posted by: Patrick | April 8, 2008 1:16 PM
I thought we decided that tall food was passé.
Posted by: Rosebud | April 11, 2008 7:14 AM