This is featured post 1/∞ of my ongoing “Food as Art” quest.
Located on the 7th Floor of Hatcher Graduate Library, the climb alone is an impressive feat. However, upon arrival I was treated to a small, yet easily digestible display of the life span of one of America’s many gourmet food magazines.
Although the magazine itself ran until 2009, its look and feel was distinctly 1950s suburbia. At the beginning we are introduced to Earle MacAusland and Samuel Chamberlain, two of the people that started the magazine (both males!). MacAusland started the magazine with the quote “Good food and good living have always been a great American tradition.” Ah yes, mom’s meatloaf does hearken back to the days of yore.
More importantly, Samuel Chamberlain did the dirty work of traveling all over the world and making the content exciting. These weren’t simply recipes, but artfully crafted adventures of a fictional Burgundian cook, and ways of thinking about how food can be prepared and enjoyed. One of the coolest things about this exhibit was the assortment of spin-off books by contributors.
Like any art from past generations, the covers of these books alone offer a window into mid-20th century society. We have since evolved our caricatures of Russian people, and I would be shocked if I saw a font like that on a book cover today. I even saw The South American Gentleman’s Companion, featuring essentials such as “Exotic Cooking Book” and “Exotic Drinking Book.” Thankfully we have moved past the mysticism of Latin American society and we no longer refer to it as “exotic.” My favorite quote: “By making cookery a game, no a chore…you approach the kitchen exactly like a modern Columbus approaching unknown shores.” While this is funny in its own right, we continue to be inundated with hordes of travel cooking shows and superfoods like quinoa have taken the world by storm.
At its core, Gourmet, like any magazine, is about presentation.
Dozens of people worked countless hours to generate a product appealing to the eye, and each magazine hanging from the wall made a unique attempt to catch the viewer’s eye. Unlike a film or even a concert, you are free to roam around the room at will, leaning in to get a better look at the covers of the magazines. The Gourmet exhibit isn’t explicitly about cooking (it’s more about origins and lifespan), it is easy to get a sense of how people create their own pieces, then bring these together into a larger whole.
Announcement:
There is a special lecture on the exhibit, Tuesday, November 18 at 4 pm in Room 100 of the Hatcher Graduate Library
