Hipsters, tourists, and "artisinal" devil crabs...

[MisterCairo]

Devil crabs are a local delicacy in Tampa and the Florida gulf coast. They are simply a spicy fried crab croquette. They are historically street food made from local leftovers sold to local factory workers. In recent years, they've become more and more expensive, which has caused much consternation. They also are the darlings of food trucks and the local "artisanal" foodie scene, much to the chagrin of the old timers who remember them as simply a cheap lunch snack sold from a street cart. It was a discussion of people complaining about the cost that spurred my general question.

Got it!

 

[MisterCairo]

Similarly, there was a time when fishmongers simply couldn't give monkfish away. Then some foodie chef came up with the idea of chopping it's head off, renaming it with a Latin title, as in, Lophius Americanus and charging over two hundred percent more.
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I bet that would be good on a cracker...

 

[tonyb]

Similarly, there was a time when fishmongers simply couldn't give monkfish away. Then some foodie chef came up with the idea of chopping it's head off, renaming it with a Latin title, as in, Lophius Americanus and charging over two hundred percent more.
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Marketing, man, marketing.

I used to be truly annoyed by the stilted property descriptions penned by real estate agents. Now I search them out for comic relief. Every home a castle, you know.

 

[LizzieMaine]

In Maine, every house, no matter how much of a soggy rat-infested beaverboard dump of a hovel it is, has "plenty of charm."

 

[tonyb]

In Maine, every house, no matter how much of a soggy rat-infested beaverboard dump of a hovel it is, has "plenty of charm."

The rats might think so.

 

[GHT]

The rats might think so.

Not if you tell them that they are on the menu. What else but ratatouille.

 

[Zombie_61]

Similarly, there was a time when fishmongers simply couldn't give monkfish away. Then some foodie chef came up with the idea of chopping it's head off, renaming it with a Latin title, as in, Lophius Americanus and charging over two hundred percent more.
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Damn, that is one ugly fish.

 

[F. J.]

Damn, that is one ugly fish.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[sheeplady]

There's ugly and ugly cute.

And a newly discovered category of ugly ugly.

 

[Paisley]

I spent much of today canning lemon-basil-eggplant caponata and pickled cabbage from main ingredients I grew from seed. I guess that makes me a maker of fussy artisanal food--fussy for me meaning it took a lot of work. Twenty minutes to stew/peel/chop/shred/mince/squeeze six different ingredients and cook them with eight other ingredients, my eye.

I can't say I enjoy canning as much as growing and eating food, but it does make me appreciate the work that goes into specialty products. I just wish I could enjoy fresh tomatoes out of the garden year-round.

 

[tonyb]

An old friend owns a specialty food company he started from scratch. He makes condiments. The flagship product and the one that made the company's reputation is pickled Hungarian goathorn peppers in spices and olive oil. It is based on a recipe his long-ago departed mother made when he was a kid. He attributes the success of his company in no small part to luck.

Yes, it's yuppie food. It's artisanal. It's pricy. You won't find it at Kroger. Your natural foods co-op might have it, though.

 

[Zombie_61]

There's ugly and ugly cute.

And a newly discovered category of ugly ugly.

I've heard "ugly", "butt ugly", "fugly", and "ugly to the bone", but until reading your post had not heard "ugly ugly" (defined by Urban Dictionary as "The worst kind of ugliness. Ugly beyond belief."). I'll have to add that to my vocabulary so I can use it when the moment is right.

 

[GHT]

Damn, that is one ugly fish.

That's why they never sold, but if you think that's ugly you should see it's cousin the angler fish.

 

[Zombie_61]

That's why they never sold, but if you think that's ugly you should see it's cousin the angler fish.
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Awww, isn't he cuuuuuute!

 

[scotrace]

Similarly, there was a time when fishmongers simply couldn't give monkfish away. Then some foodie chef came up with the idea of chopping it's head off, renaming it with a Latin title, as in, Lophius Americanus and charging over two hundred percent more.
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This probably began long ago, and the "foodie" was Julia Child, who featured monkfish in an episode of The French Chef that became a classic. And it is delicious. It was regarded as "the poor man's lobster" because it tasted kinda sorta similar if you didn't know any better. When I see it in the fish case here, it's priced not far from cod.

 

[GHT]

It's possible that it was Julia Child, I had only heard of her in passing. Wasn't she something of an authority on French cuisine? The rise in popularity of the monkfish in Europe probably stems from Spain. The Spanish Mediterranean coastline resorts are very popular with Europeans. No longer are we interested in sun, sand and sangria, nowadays popular recipes like paella are the order of the day and monkfish has become a staple ingredient of paella.

There was a time when paella was a poor person's food, a knock up meal of leftovers. Not so today, try making it at home using ingredients from any recipe and see how much it costs. Have to say though, if you can afford it, go for it.

 

[Paisley]

Julia Child's videos taught me how to make hollandaise sauce and scrambled eggs. She was large, not very good-looking, and had a strange voice, but she had a nice show that taught people how to cook. It would never get on the air today.

 

[Fading Fast]

Childs and "The Galloping Gourmet" were the two cooking shows I remember being on in the '70s when I was a kid.

What most fascinated me about them was I grew up in a home where very little cooking happened, so these shows were like cooking OZ to me - that world of food existed over some rainbow somewhere. Also, both hosts were a bit quirky.

Now it's all very slick - at least the stuff I see on the Cooking or Food Channel, but those shows had a unprofessional production quality that enhanced their charm.

 

[Angus Forbes]

Speaking of Julia Child:

 

[Frunobulax]

Childs and "The Galloping Gourmet" were the two cooking shows I remember being on in the '70s when I was a kid.

What most fascinated me about them was I grew up in a home where very little cooking happened, so these shows were like cooking OZ to me - that world of food existed over some rainbow somewhere. Also, both hosts were a bit quirky.

Now it's all very slick - at least the stuff I see on the Cooking or Food Channel, but those shows had a unprofessional production quality that enhanced their charm.

This was the guy that got me to watch cooking shows.