Gluten?!

Can someone explain to me what gluten is? I thought I had the basic idea: proteins in certain grains and flour responsible for elasticity and chewiness. Some people are allergic. I understand the nature of gluten, how it is produced, why dough needs to relax after kneading, and that some people are allergic to it. What I DON'T understand is why EVERYTHING nowadays that does not have gluten is labeled gluten-free. For example, at the school cafeteria the other day the green beans were advertised as "gluten-free" and so was Tito's Vodka in last month's Saveur. Is this valuable information, in which case I'm missing something about the nature of gluten, or is it just American marketing gone amok? I understand that some people are allergic and want to avoid certain foods that may (or may not be) glutinous, but was there any real doubt about the green beans or vodka? I feel like I must be missing something here.

On Teaching Oneself to Cook

How does one teach oneself to cook? That is, assuming that one wasn't raised in the kitchen or isn't ready to commit to culinary school, how does one become a great cook?

"Authentic"

I'm wondering whether anyone knows what we mean by the word "authentic" when it applies to food. Here are a few of the occasions that have made me think about it:

1) The other day, my wife (who was born and raised in Mexico) was upset that Trader Joe's labels one of their cheese blends "Mexican." "This cheese isn't Mexican," she says. "Wait a second," I ask, "What is Mexican cheese? I mean, Mexico is a pretty big country and I'm sure Mexicans have a lot of types of cheese. Do they also have an authentic, representative cheese?"

Of course, Trader Joe's must mean something by "Mexican" and my wife was clearly disappointed. But what is Mexican cheese?

2) Not too long ago, a colleague of mine from German Studies (so, someone who knows German culture well) took me to the local German restaurant and introduced me to German cuisine. "This," he said, "is traditional, relatively authentic German fare." Of course, not knowing anything about German cuisine, I had to take him at his word. I enjoyed it and learned a little about German dishes. Then, a few weeks later, a German friend of mine was complaining about how bad the said restaurant is. "People do not eat this in Germany and it is really more of a caricature of Germany," she said. However, there is a sense in which schnitzel and bratwurst are traditional, authentic German dishes - they certainly aren't Japanese - even if people have stopped eating them regularly in Germany.

So, do people have to actually eat the dishes of a certain country regularly to count as authentically from that country? Mexicans don't eat burritos, or at least not what we gringos mean by "burrito" - unless, of course, they know they can make a buck selling them to us.

3) Last, for now, I've noticed that whenever people say how much they like a Mexican restaurant in Williamsburg - or anywhere for that matter - they always qualify it by saying, "It's the most authentic Mexican around." And there must be some competition I'm unaware of because most of the restaurants put "authentic" next to the type of cuisine they're selling. But I simply don't know what people mean. First of all, would anyone put "inauthentic" in front of the cuisine they're selling? If not, what does "authentic" add? Second, as with the cheese, I don't know what they're referring to when they say "Mexican." If you travel to the Yucatan, you will eat (or not eat) one thing; if you travel to Guadalajara, you will eat something different; if you travel to East LA, you will eat something else. Third, there's no way of holding a restaurant accountable. There's nothing that would count in favor of the following complaint to the manager: "This isn't authentic!"

I'm wondering whether by "authentic" people really only mean that they like it and when a restaurant says they're authentic whether they only mean that you will like it.

Whatever "authentic" means - and I'm hoping you can help me out with this one - one thing is for certain: it depends on where you are. My wife insisted that "Mexican food" in LA wasn't Mexican - that is, until she moved to Williamsburg. And, whatever we mean, we can't be referring to the place (as a whole), or a way of preparing the food, or what you will find in the country on a Tuesday night on a local street. So what do we mean, if we mean anything at all?

The Paradoxes of Cooking

Here is a short narrative that my friend and colleague Roy Chan sent me about his experience growing up with food. Besides being refreshingly honest and thoughtful - and worth reading on account of that alone - it is also ripe for philosophical discussion. Among the many things that struck me, and these are just a few, were:

• The comparison between food and language. Cooking is certainly a form of communication (also, compare to "community" and "communion").
• Is there a cooking gene? Roy seems to have it and some say that I inherited my desire to cook from my mother. 
• Is cooking a paradoxical form of labor and love, as Roy suggests, or do the two go hand-in-hand?
• Why is the word "foodie" nauseating?  

Again, these are just the first few topics of discussion that spring to my mind. I would love to hear what the rest of you think. I'm sure Roy would as well.

Introductions

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Robert Sanchez and I am 29 years old. I teach philosophy at The College of William and Mary and I am currently writing my dissertation (a really long essay on some obscure topic for a Ph.D.). This is my first blog and if you ask those who do know me, I am the last person under thirty you'd expect to start a blog. I don't think I've ever even read one before. But I decided to set aside my doubts about blogging for a couple of reasons. First, I've found it surprisingly difficult to find a group of people who are interested in continuing a discussion about food and cooking, and so I'm hoping that this will help. Second, I wanted a way to keep track of the process of learning how and why to cook, which I plan to do on this blog.