Curious

The year I chose to change my major I re-read Jane Austen’s Emma for R.H.’s Literary Criticism course. Every English major is required to take Literary Criticism and every time he teaches the course R.H. assigns a short “little gem” of an essay on his favorite Austen novel. I spent at least a week scouring that well-worn novel in search of an original essay theme. There is nothing new under his sun, I kept bemoaning. The guy’s seen everything there is to say about the novel.

Fortunately, that semester simultaneously marked the launch of my culinary blog obsession (and subsequent subscriptions to Gourmet and Bon Appetit). In that crucial moment of scholarly angst, my love for literature and food aligned and I discovered my illusive essay theme for the Emma “gem.” Austen’s novel frames Emma Woodhouse’s coming-of-age tale in the famine-stricken English countryside of the Late Georgian period. Consequently, within the novel food proves indicative of Highbury’s political and economic stability. A mouth-watering (or less than) list of economic indicators flowered:

• strawberries
• tea & quadrille
• broth
• thin gruel
• small egg(s)
• tart
• fish
• scalloped oysters
• minced chicken
• routcakes
• a hind-quarter (of pork)
• walnuts
• the finest goose
• best baked apple
• arrowroot
• bread and butter
• currants

The correlation between a dry gullet/stomach and economic instability extends beyond England’s Georgian period. With a bowl of FitActive popcorn in my lap, I watched Wall Street’s 8-day plunge crescendo in a single day to a 1000-point stock swing. I recalled Highbury when NPR noted a nostalgic, gut reaction to the crisis and asked the question: just which stocks didn’t plummet? Campbell’s stocks, not unlike their hearty soup products, have reclaimed a little r-e-s-p-e-c-t this autumn. Just in time too, since Campbell’s sentimental branding strategy gave way to a more aggressive approach in September.

If the new MSG-free advertising strategy works, Campbell’s plan would further suggest America’s (a) unfathomable wealth and (b) general gullibility. This perspective may be cynical one but it offers this skeptic some relief: the danger of malnutrition only applies to the Georgian period, thank you. If we’ve enough coins in our pocket to care about the grossly-exaggerated dangers of MSG, we can certainly avoid An Ghorta Mhór.