You Are What You Eat

"Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are." So spoke Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, legendary French gastronome. On the surface, it sounds like some sort of cheap parlor game, or maybe a fortune teller’s scam at a traveling circus, but the man had a point. What we eat is an everyday testament to our personal, cultural, and, some would say, political, experience. ~ Orangette

What do I eat, and what does it say about me? It changes from day to day, but here is an ordered list of my top ten foods I can't live without as of this very moment. Ask me again tomorrow and the answer will be different.

10Dark Chocolate - To badly misquote Airplane, "I like my chocolate black, like my women." Raised on Hershey's, I lived most of my life in ignorance that chocolate could and should be more. My favorite chocolates are very dark, very pure, with a bitter edge and no Hershey's waxiness.

9Blueberries ~ The best way to taste blueberries, bar none, is straight from the bush, slightly warm from the sun and juicy ripe. "U-pick" farms allow normal joes like myself to traipse up and down their orchards, picking as many blueberries as we want. Pricing is done by the pound, and always works out to a fraction of store prices, especially when you account for all the berries consumed during picking. I think my blue-stained tongue gave me away...

8Olives ~ Those little black slices that make their way from cans to the top of your favorite Seven-Layer Bean Dip aren't what I'm talking about. The best olives comes in jars from central California or southern Europe. No need to discriminate between black or green, as long as they've been well brined or cured.

7Shellfish ~ Clams, mussels, scallops, crabs, crawdaddies, shrimp, `opihi, lobsters, oysters... Prepare them any way you want, and chances are good that I'll devour them. I like seafood in general, but shellfish is the cream of all seafood. As a bonus, many shellfish varieties are reported to have aphrodesiac qualities. What does that say about me?

6Laulau ~ I'm not sure I can adequately describe the appeal of laulau until you're tasted it for yourself. To list the ingredients--luau leaves, pork and fish wrapped in ti leaves--doesn't begin to prepare you for the experience of a good laulau. You'll have to trust me on this one, but only until you can get to a Hawaiian restaurant and try one of your own.

5Fresh Bread - Munching fresh bread is fabulous, but perhaps even better than the eating are the associated aromas. It starts imperceptibly; flour, water, dry yeast and salt aren't odorous by themselves. Mixed as bread they come to life. As the bread begins to rise, the yeast blooms with fragrance, building the suspense. As the loaf cooks, the smell of hot bread becomes overwhelming, almost intoxicating. Hot out of the oven, slice and butter. The aroma of that butter melted across hot bread might be as close to heaven as we get.

4Pie ~ Pie has always been high on my list of favorite desserts, but it cemented its position there once I began to bake them myself. To cook a pie is to gain a deeper appreciation for it. My perfect pie contains fruit, is served warm, sweet but not too sweet, with a generous scoop of ice cream alongside.

3Poke ~ Was I the only grade school kid who begged his parents to take him to sushi bars? Poke is a lot like sushi but without all that rice in the way, replacing it island-style with limu, spices and a healthy dash of shoyu. Five years ago, I'd never heard of it, but already poke has become one of my favorite foods of all time.

2Fresh herbs ~ Nothing puts spring into the step of a limping meal better than liberal application of fresh herbs, preferably from my own yard. Favorites include basil (thai and italian), rosemary, sage and cilantro.

1Cheese - Cheese, glorious cheese. I could live on cheese and cheese alone. Hard, soft, demure, stinky, I like them all. To do: try fresh milk cheeses (unavailable in the United States). In the meanwhile, I'm the guy standing near the deli case trying not to drool on the glass as I choose my next cheese.

That's the list, my top ten foods of the moment and I'll defend my choices to the grave (or until I change my mind, whichever comes first). I'll leave it to you to draw you own conclusions about what that list says about me...

This post was written at the prompting of Messy Cucina as part of You Are What You Eat. Memes can be twisty buggers, but I traced this one to the origin. It started with Once Upon A Feast, then moved to Kalyn's Kitchen, Weekly Dish, Milk & Honey and Messy Cucina before arriving on my doorstep.

I'm tagging three people for the next round: Kirk from mmm-yoso!!!, Reid from Onokinegrindz and Gia-Gina from Gia-Gina in Italy.