Seasonal Menus Do-Over
As seen on a St. Louis menu:
Seasonal Cuisine at its finest, California figs and Parma ham with a drizzle of aged Balsamic of Modena
Somewhere along the way it seems the word seasonal was stripped of its meaning.
More than anyone, I seem to have lost my Mom with that one. “Why the picture of the toilet?” she asked. Because that’s precisely where these seasonal menus need to go.
Seasonal has become just another trendy term to include on menus like organic or free range, and it’s another in the long list of words that have all but lost their meaning do to advertising. Just because a piece of meat is organic doesn’t make it free range, just because it’s free range doesn’t make it organic, and as others have said long before me, just because “everything is in season somewhere” doesn’t mean it’s in season for St. Louis.
That dish above has something from California and two things from Italy. How that makes it “seasonal cuisine at its finest” in St. Louis I am unsure.
Is it unfair of me to assume that a restaurant referencing seasonality might be referring to what’s in season where they’re actually doing business? I wouldn’t think so. In fact, I think that’s what most of us probably think of when we see the word seasonal.
But apparently, because right now it’s Spring in Australia, and they’re right in the heart of their asparagus season which runs until about December from what I gather, we can get some Australian asparagus and call it “seasonal cuisine.”
Whatever.
4 Responses to “Seasonal Menus Do-Over”
Aren’t you trying to make one word mean two things? If so, then yes, it’s unfair. ‘Seasonal’ and ‘local’ mean entirely different things, just like your examples of free-range and organic, etc.
We don’t grow cranberries here but they are in season. We don’t raise wild rice here but yes, it’s in season too. And so for me, the in-season figs are completely perfect for fall, especially when presented in a ‘fall’ way, with ham and balsamic.
By Alanna on Nov 12, 2007
I guess I don’t agree with that application of the word seasonal, because to me seasonal means what’s in season for me. You make an excellent point though — I didn’t look at it from that angle.
By bb on Nov 12, 2007
I see what each of you mean, I guess I’d have to see the rest of the menu to know whether I think that restaurant is bs’ing or not. If that’s representative of the rest of their menu, they probably aren’t paying serious attention to the seasonality mantra. But that one dish doesn’t necessarily make me think they’re full of it.
By Dan D. on Nov 13, 2007