- The 87-year-old Hagerty has reported on food, events, and local profiles at the Herald for more than 25 years, but she earned 15 minutes of national fame last year with a positive review of her local Olive Garden restaurant.
Thousands of people took to the Internet to ridicule Hagerty for her lowbrow tastes. But there followed a powerful backlash of people who came to her defense, tired of elitism among food and restaurant critics.
Now, Marilyn Hagerty has written a book, with a forward by Anthony Bourdain. It's called Grand Forks: A History of American Dining in 128 Reviews.
humanodon, given some of our conversations about food, I thought you might dig this.
I do dig this, thanks for sharing it. It's a nice little dose of reality, I think. Not everyone can make it to the high-end restaurants of the gastronomic capitals, which for most people are an occasional treat, if that. I really love food, but again, this whole "foodie" (man, I really hate that word) thing, while it has certainly done a lot to increase the overall expectations of what dining out in America should be like, has also made people lose their fucking minds, at least a little. I have a friend who's a chef and a pretty solid one too. No, he hasn't cooked at any place I would expect people to have heard of, but he has good technique, his food is tasty and he can sell you a $25 and leave you feeling happier for having paid for it. You know what he eats on his day off? Wonderbread grilled cheese (Kraft singles w/French's yellow mustard) and Campbell's tomato soup. Why? It's good. It's simple. He doesn't have to think about it. Plus, he's a real person and in America, those are the kinds of things ordinary Americans have eaten for years. There's a difference between enjoyment and hedonism and much as I love food, right now it looks like people are using it the way they use drugs or material possessions to display wealth and give the impression that they too, have good taste, are taste makers, are important. Unfortunately, a lot of little mom and pop restaurants where people would go to get a decent, cheap meal are suffering because of this. Just the other day, I went to a place I used to go to in high school. Basically, it was a coffee shop that also served full breakfasts and lunch. Now they have a dinner menu, everything comes with aioli and pesto and other "cheffy" touches. Just gimme a decent BLT for $4 and I'll come more often. Sometimes I don't want apple wood smoked, artisinal bacon on farm style whole white bread with house mayo, microgreens and heirloom tomatoes served with handcut potato chips and pickles from the guy that sells $15 jars of pickles. Twelve goddamn dollars. I just think we all need to chill out on the food thing. Not everything has to blow your mind every single time. It creates crazy high expectations and inevitable disappointment and boredom. Part of the broader food movement is sustainability and responsibility and how can that happen when people are mainlining $20 salads, hand tossed by Jesus H. Christ himself?
You are spot on here. I had a front row seat to the propagation and marketing of this to middle america. I worked for the largest distribution company in the US. When the "foodie" craze started picking up, I started selling tons of "truffle oil" and already reduced balsamic "glaze". -Nevermind that you can take 5 minutes and reduce it yourself for a fraction of the cost and with tastier results. People started buying "plate scapers" and suddenly every "Chocolate Lava Cake" on every menu came with an expertly designed spider webbing of mocha-chocolate-razberry drizzle on the plate. It's all ridiculously marketed to us as "high brow" when MUCH of it comes in a box. This said, there are some great restaurants even in "Middle America" where chefs are doing some kick ass scratch cooking. But this could be at a small family dining place with $10 meals just as easily as it could be at a fine dining place with $40 plates. I don't need a $40 plate to be happy... I mean imagine that it's the last meal you will ever eat and even if it's on Wonderbread, it'll be fantastic. All this said, I just had a boner-ific burnt caramel and sea salt gelato. -DAMN good.There's a difference between enjoyment and hedonism and much as I love food, right now it looks like people are using it the way they use drugs or material possessions to display wealth and give the impression that they too, have good taste, are taste makers, are important
Man, burnt caramel and sea salt is one of those combinations that will always be good, to me anyway. I used to be neighbors with a dude that used to cook on yachts. I'm not too familiar with the flavors of South Africa, but for the life of him, he couldn't understand "the American salty-sweet thing." Anyway, you're in sales, right? I met a guy a while back who was in sales for a long time. He told me that the basis of a lot of sales is fear. It makes sense. Get people to be afraid of being left out of the loop, in this example food, and suddenly they'll be busting nuts over how much they love marrow and paying $26 for marrow on toast. Never mind that 15 years ago, marrow bones were firmly in the province of "foods Americans don't eat." Back then, you could get marrow bones, like cow femurs for like, $5. Fear, perception and opportunity. It's almost like everything is make-believe, but it's real!
I didn't know that salty-sweet was an American thing? As for selling fear, I suppose that is one way of looking at it, but I don't actively do that. I do like to "challenge" assumptions and place some doubt in the mind of the person I'm selling to. I have a rule though and it has served me well. I never compromise my authentic self. I will not say or do something that isn't natural to me in order to win business. People pick up on that. When someone says "no" to me or that they aren't interested I get to the bottom of "why" and I challenge that. I then lead the conversation/situation in a way that makes them realize that my product/services are the solution to their obstacles, but I do it in a way that makes them feel like they came up with the idea, not me. It's an art form and when I'm doing it at the highest level, I feel like an athlete at their peak performance. I've worked very hard at getting to where I am from a communication standpoint. It doesn't just happen. But I would challenge the idea that effective selling is about fear, I'd say it's about solutions. Two sides of the same coin really. Solutions to what? -That which they fear.
Yeah, I don't know that it is an American thing, but hey, his words. That sounds like a pretty good rule. I'd imagine in a job where your "number" is key, that the temptation to compromise yourself would make itself available very easily, especially if things are not going as smoothly as they could. I think you're right; the guy I was talking to wasn't anyone I know particularly well and could very well have been exaggerating his view a bit. Most of the positions I'm applying for have a sales aspect, so I'm glad to hear that it's not all about fear. I like the idea of selling solutions much better. Though, I do often take a look at the way people react to things they are exposed to from news outfits and how advertising works and I can't help but be convinced that a lot of people selling things are at least using fear as part of their pitch. I mean, take a look at Nestle's disastrously successful campaign for selling baby formula:"The nurse began by saying ... breastfeeding was best. She then went on detail the supplementary foods that the breastfed baby would need ... The nurse was implying that it was possible to start with a proprietary baby milk from birth, which would avoid these unnecessary problems."
I take a three-step approach to calling on a new business. 1. I ask about their establishment -I want to learn as much as I can about them. 2. I ask about their goals and 3 I ask what the obstacles are to achieving those goals. Those three things are literally enough for me to sell anyone. Establishment
Goals
Obstacles I call it the EGO process. The "obstacles" part is what your acquaintance is referring to as "fear."
There everywhere, you are right. Usually I would kick my own ass for even suggesting such a thing as this. But... if it works, it works and I would be selfish to hide such pearls of wisdom. How goes the job hunt?
Well, just like real hunting, it's hard to hit anything when there are a lot of other hunters in the area. I get that hiring departments must be swamped with applications and that's part of why it takes so long to respond to applicants. That said, it seems like they need to hire more people so that it goes quicker. Trying not to get too down about it.