I used to watch a lot of the Bravo cooking show Top Chef. The show was, and presumably still
is, filled with ambitious chefs looking to push the culinary limit. One of the
ways they did this was by deconstructing food. Season 6 chef-testant Michael
Voltaggio was a deconstructing master, and his victory in the competition may
have pushed the trend into the mainstream.
Essentially, deconstructed foods are traditional,
recognizable dishes rearranged in an interesting way on the plate. The aforementioned
Voltaggio once redid the Caesar salad by baking a large herbed crouton, placing
it on the middle of the plate, shaving a single piece of parmesan cheese over
the top of it and surrounding it with dueling smears of a Caesar salad dressing
and a puree of romaine lettuce. The point was to take a bit of each component
and assemble them in the mouth whilst chewing.
I’ve never had the pleasure of reconstructing a deconstructed
meal. But I imagine it would be similar to listening to a live-looped song, of
which Reggie Watts provides many excellent examples. Each of the musical
elements, from the tsking cymbal noises to the thumping baseline are introduced
in isolation and are a bit confusing. It doesn’t really make sense. It doesn’t
really sound like anything but a collection of noises. But, as the song goes
on, they come together and transform into something recognizable, something
enjoyable. What’s this bread? What’s this
cheese? What’s this white goop? And then suddenly: Oh shit, Caesar salad!
Admittedly, Reggie Watts takes a few liberties in his cover
of the original Van Halen song. However, he uses his artistic license to
provide the listener with a more accurate depiction of the country Panama than
the 80s rockers ever could.
Shipping canals.
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