Out and proud!

"Once I had a secret love that lived within the heart of me..."
Doris Day 1953


"I think of you and lick my lips, You've got the taste I can't resist
Can't resist - can't resist"

Fast Food Rockers 2004 

We felt more than a ripple of intense pleasure recently when we read an interview with none other than the ultimate Catalan foodie guru Ferran Adria. A deity in the culinary world if ever there was one. When asked about junk food in general and that ubiquitous Scottish named hamburger chain in particular far from condemning it he admitted that one of his guilty pleasures was an occasional visit to his local branch! He was honest, relaxed and secure in his position. Well if he can be so can we. Yes we admit it we enjoy the very same burgers... and there is more we also enjoy the meatballs on offer at that well known Swedish hyper store and more still.... we love licking our fingers after scoffing the Confederate Colonels secret recipe for spice coated chicken pieces. Oh yes.... there are times when nothing else will do! Junk is great!

There..... we've come out, that wasn't so difficult was it? and we feel absolutely terrific. We've blown the doors clean off the closet or should I say the larder or the pantry and we're liberated from the tyranny of foodieism!  Better to admit our guilty pleasures than to be outed or worse still blackmailed by the local foodie police, that is those tut tutting so called friends and associates!! We adore the full cuisine panoply all the way from junk to haut. One cannot be fully appreciated without the other. It's a cornucopia and all part of life's rich tapestry as they say. Life is too short for food snobbery and its associated insecurities. Don't forget some of the best dishes in the world originated from lowly street stalls and it is still where the most vibrant and innovative cooking can be found and where today's Michelin stars go to seek inspiration! Furthermore foodie fashion has proved to be as fickle as any other. Up market restaurant menus are strewn with good illustrations of this. Oysters, salmon, pork belly, black pudding, pilchards rebranded as sardines, pigs trotters, oxtails and not to mention tongue 'n' cheek (gettit?) were all the junk food of their day. Now look at them. They are just a few of the ingredients which have endured a roller coaster career and dramatic transformations in popular perception and acceptability. So what next...? Chicken nuggets, pizzas, hot dogs???