Saturday, 13 December 2008
by kinakoJam
If you're one of the few brave souls who've been following this blog for while you'll know that some Gut Feelings contributors spend quite a lot of time around musicians. Meanwhile others amongst us just really enjoy having the noodle-blues.
Even Gut Feelings muse Robert Sietsema started out his career making a food zine which he distributed to musicians and chefs, and he played in a band called, I think, Mofongu (a misspelled version of the Dominican dish).
Today I found a fun post by
Hugh Powell on the
Smithsonian Food & Think blog. Inspired by two somewhat similar books about indie bands and their favourite dishes, he posted a list of song-inspired dishes that he'd like to sample.
As you might be aware, no music lover can resist a themed top ten.. so below are six more.
The books Powell refers to include offerings from a few decent bands like Black Dice, They Might Be Giants and Animal Collective. And, as I would have totally guessed, many of the offerings are of the 'vegetarian while on tour' ilk. Being on the road seems to preclude fancy preparations. So what you end up with is much ado about a little bit of french fries, peanut butter, and if you're lucky, vege hotdogs.
Although vegetarian hotdogs and other fake meats are the international language of indie rock, most touring American hip hop artists will eat nothing but chicken (preferably with rice) or lamb, and if you go to an Italian restaurant they will take pizza or try to order
Pasta Alfredo, though in some rare cases they may be brave enough to try the penne alla salsiccia.
English musicians can be quite adventurous. Almost as a rule, though, when it's very late at night they are very happy if confronted with a plate of chips, a curry (korma or vindaloo) or a döner kebab. And of course endless cups of tea.
Italian electronic musicians are not impressed with Asian-style noodles, in fact they will become restless and perturbed if served soba. They are quite willing to try new things, and in a few cases even enjoy sushi, but after two days they will secretly be craving spaghetti carbonara or Sicilian pesto with almonds. If you serve soft ricciarelli marzipan cookies, they will intone 'bene' (good) a few times as they chew.
In other words, in my experience, musicians conform to national stereotypes just like everyone else.
So anyway, here are my additions to Hugh Powell's top ten: things we'd like bands to cook for us.
11. die Goldenen Zitronen's soup, even though they won't eat it ("Meine Suppe Ess Ich Nicht")
12: Cat Steven's doughnut (as long as it's not made of dog)
13. Fela Kuti's Palm Wine
14. Milton Nasicmento's spicy christmas cookies (with "cloves and cinnamon")
15. Any baked goods by the Stranglers (if they turn out "Golden Brown")
16. Bernard Wright's "Bread Sandwiches" (especially if he
spreads the love on them)
