Posh Nosh

For class we read Anthony Lane's "Look Back In Hunger," an essay which ridicules cookbooks for their absurd directions and erroneous assumptions about the reader's culinary capabilities.

The Martha Stewart Cookbook is a magisterial compendium of nine previous books, and offers her fans another chance to sample Martha's wacky punch lines (Tie securely with a single chive") and her naughtiest promises ("This hearty soup is simple to assemble"). So cooly thrown off, that last line, and you read right through it without picking up the outrageous implication. Since when did you 'assemble' a soup?

Lane's essay reminded me of Posh Nosh, a mini-series from the BBC, which parodies the ostentatious banter and overall folly found in so many cooking shows.

Here are the first three episodes from YouTube, starring Richard E. Grant and Arabella Weir.

Enjoy!

Episode 1

Episode 2

Episode 3 (My favorite)

Bibliography:

Lane, Anthony. "Look Back In Hunger." Secret Ingredients: the New Yorker Book of Food and Drink. New York: Random House, 2007. Print.

Langham, Chris, dir. Posh Nosh. BBC. You Tube. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.