I was reading Bourdain’s new book Medium Raw and it brought up something very interesting in food culture. In the dystopian world of SR how often do we hear that the ultra wealthy eat ‘real’ food while we get by on soy caf and krill burgers(do you really want to eat something from those toxic waters?) but Bourdain raises a very interesting point, that all too often the very rich are not eating any better than we mortals do, in fact they often eat worse but don’t know any better. At the very least they pay a heck of a lot more for the exact same thing we eat.

I won’t quote directly from Bourdain because I respect him but he hits this theme a couple of times. In the chapter meat he talks about the ubiquitous hamburger and the problems that it has gone through. What is a stable of cook out and greasy spoons became yuppified with such brand names as the Kobe-burger, probably made from meat that never went near Japan which would be an absolute waste of real Kobe beef, and now after many chefs have had their way the new concept brought out by the Minetta Tavern- the classic burger of just grilled beef on a bun with lettuce and a slice of tomato, for only $26. He says it is a very good burger (Just add lots of swear words for how good and you’ll know how Bourdain feels about it) but what burger is truly worth $26? It isn’t but the rich will pay for it.

Pushing the mark a little more in his chapter “The Rich eat differently than you and me” he writes about a place in the Caribbean where the rich and shameless get together to make catty comments, be seen and tell each other they are wonderful and the surgery makes them look days younger. Bourdain goes into detail about the crowd and no I didn’t steal any of his descriptions but I couldn’t help but think of SR fat cats .The top dog club got away with serving a poor quality lentil soup for $38. A peasant dish that cost the chef pennies to make but they’re told it’s wonderful. It’s in the place of the moment and they’re told it’s authentic and they don’t question. And like the emperor’s new clothes no one dares to think about questioning it. A fool and his money is soon parted. Probably with a nice tip added on.

So this raises the question in SR do the wealthy really eat better or is that a sign of people who really know what they’re doing as opposed to the posers and climbers and can runners actually have fun finding authentic food as a part of the role playing? Digging oysters in Puget sound yup saw those boats come in? A road side BBQ place in Tennessee-all the riggers stop here, A greasy spoon in Manhattan, I sear this Ed is better than the luxury burger I had in MSG last night and so on. Personally I’ve had gastronomic delights in one of Boston’s finest places and eaten well at a road side clam place in Plymouth and actually remember having more fun in Plymouth, even if they did have John Alden Burgers and Pilgrim fries on the menu.