This Week in Food News: State of the Foodnion Edition
Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans, this week, I bring you my State of the Foodnion Address. Because our country’s restaurants are suffering. Hard-working diners are strapped with unequal access to seafood and wine that we should all share. But let’s remember that within each of our troubles there are green shoots of hope; and if we rise and fall as one nation, under food, there’s nothing America’s gourmands can’t accomplish.
International Relations Between Japanese Sushi and the American Way
This week, the Washington Post featured sushi chef Kaz Okochi of Kaz Sushi Bistro. An immigrant to the United States, Okochi “worries about the state of genuine Japanese sushi, the kind that requires years of training, an almost obsessive attention to detail and a passion for fresh, clean flavors… He foresees an America full of casual sushi houses, where the fish might be frozen and the rice is not prepared in-house. A place, in short, where the designer maki rolls steal the spotlight from those elegant rectangles of seasoned rice and raw fish known as nigiri.”
A place, one might argue, like Sticky Rice, where the Post interview took place. Sticky Rice serves tater tots in a pail besides its sushi creations. Is this the kind of future we envision for our children?
Perhaps. Because I posit to you, fellow friends of the fork, that perhaps the sheer American-ness of our sushi is what makes it so audacious and special. A shining example: that same Sticky Rice launched the world’s first sushi roll into space. Soaring beyond the Earth’s atmosphere, the Godzirra Roll, made with crunchy shrimp, avocado, cream cheese, spicy sauce, cucumbers, tempura and tobiko, held up against the elements, as you can see in its flight video. And that’s a sushi roll built to last.
Not to be outdone by its solid counterparts, wine has also gotten into the space race. This week, a British winemaker announced Meteorito, a Cabernet Sauvignon infused with a 4.5 billion-year-old meteorite from the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The question now… How will America compete?
Think Outside the Cinnabon
Fast-food establishments are an iconically American institution. And this week, they’ve shown us the best of what is possible by forging breakthrough partnerships between the taco and breakfast pastry sectors.Taco Bell has begun selling breakfast, and among its offerings are Cinnabon Delights.
But that wasn’t the only marriage of two marvelously American paragons: Starbucks announced more of its locations would start selling booze. [hold for applause]
It’s just further evidence that when we all work together, and keep our sights set on our shared goals, we win. We all win.
Let’s Get More Done
I leave you tonight with this parting thought: our citizens are cynical. And in this age, can you really blame them? Sure, this nation can launch sushi into space and eat tacos before 10AM, but what next? When will the real action begin?
To those cynical Americans, I say look around the corner, to that bright light up ahead. It cries out just two simple words that beckon you to keep faith until next week. Those two words?
