Friday, January 29, 2010

Love Don’t Cost a Thing



It is getting to around that time of year when you can’t go anywhere without being overwhelmed by red, white, lace, hearts and chocolate. I have always thought that Valentine’s Day was about spending some time with the one you love; doing something a little special to celebrate your love. Well apparently I had the idea all wrong. It is actually about stuff and how much you spend on your special Valentine. I mean isn’t that how you show someone you love them?

The food industry is no exception. They wait for couples to come into grocery stores (or as we call them in New York gourmet specialty food stores) for a regular nights dinner and overwhelm them with heart cookies and heart shaped candy. It has made me completely adverse to the whole Valentine’s Day thing. But Dean a Deluca has taken it to a whole new level. For those of you who don’t know, Dean and DeLuca is a very special and very expensive gourmet food store. It is even worse than Whole Paycheck. I was flipping though their catalog and was astonished with the amount of Valentine’s Day food products were offered and for the prices! Cupcake Chocolates, set of 9 for $45. What about some aphrodisiac oysters , only 3.5 dozen for $95? What a perfect end to a meal with a beautiful pink heart jewelry box cake for $115.

I guess one could argue that I should not be surprised and Dean and Deluca is known for these specialty items. It was even a joke in the Devil Wears Prada when Anne Hathway’s boyfriend stops by Dean and DeLuca on the way home from work and then scoffs at the $5 per strawberry price. There is just something about it that puts me off. Everything just seems so cookie cutter and pretty. I don’t want my cookies covered in perfect icing hearts. I don’t want a Valentine heart cake. I want my food to be comfortable and inviting. Not pretentious and off putting. I wanted to be excited about eating not worrying about breaking it or ruining the “pretty” design. I think we should be more concerned about making food and cooking more accessible to everyone, not separating people who can pay $115 for a cake and those who have to go out a buy a Dunkin Hines cake mix. I think this might be why I dislike the whole commercial Valentine’s Day thing. Love is difficult, frustrating, beautiful and wonderful all at the same time. Nothing will ever be all wrapped up in a bow with pink icing on top. We should celebrate the imperfections because that is what real love is all about. And of course cook imperfect food because buying all put together it is just no fun.






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