Alle sombere berichten ten spijt, de wereld is ook in 2008 niet vergaan. Ditmaal naar verluid vanwege elektronische problemen. (BigPicture)

Gespeeld en genoten in 2008:

Toneel

De Theatercompagnie maakte met De Eenzame Weg (tekst Arthur Schnitzler, regie Theu Boermans) de beste voorstelling van het jaar. En ja, de Theatercompagnie moet blijven.

Toneelgroep Amsterdam was ook in 2008 het beste ensemble, heeft meer dan ooit de beste verzameling acteurs en heeft met Jacob Derwig bovendien de allerallerbeste acteur van het land in huis.

Muziek

Van een eerder jaar, maar Anders Trentemøllers The Chronicles (Amazon) was zeer te genieten, evenals de herontdekte knappe lichtvoetigheid van Moby. Een uiterst trage uitvoering van Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem (Amazon) uit 1947, door de Wiener Philharmoniker met Elisabeth Schwarzkopf o.l.v. Von Karajan, zorgde voor de stemmige en opgewekte noot in het afgelopen jaar. De uitvoering is bovendien bijzonder geschikt om fijn mee te zingen. NRK was tot slot volgens de teller van iTunes het meest beluisterde radiostation van 2008.

Film

Batman: The Dark Knight en Milk waren prima films uit 2008, maar de oudjes Casablanca, Ikiru, Ladri di biciclette en Persona waren ook dit jaar weer favoriet. Natuurlijk was Il Conformista ook in 2008 de beste film ooit.

Opera

Leoš Janáček, Kát’a Kabanová door De Nederlandse Opera.

Podcast

This American Life maakte in samenwerking met Planet Money tot tweemaal toe een podcast zoals radio ooit was bedoeld. Informatief, zeer onderhoudend en spannend: The Giant Pool of Money en Another Frightening Show About the Economy.

Boeken

Charlotte Mutsaers schreef met Koetsier Herfst de beste nederlandstalige roman van het jaar. Steven Nadlers Spinoza (Amazon) was goed en ook bij de zoveelste herlezing had ik plezier van Amsterdam ten tijde van Spinoza. Geld en vrijheid van Henry Méchoulan. Spinoza kreeg dit jaar overigens een enorm lelijk Wilhelmina-look-alike beeld aan de monding van de Amstel.

Kranten en Tijdschriften

Het Financieele Dagblad was prima op dreef en The Economist was heel prima op dreef, maar de NRC werd helaas steeds slechter. Kranten bevatten in 2008 voornamelijk oud nieuws op oud papier, en zijn dan ook nog eens voorzien van een overdaad aan trivia en columns. – Analyse is zeldzaam en opinie goedkoop. Anekdotes spreken niet voor zichzelf en verklaren niets en vooral: sinds wanneer is polemiek het allerhoogste goed?

Amsterdamse Middenstand

Marqt is dagelijkse kost, maar na de feestdagen a.u.b. geen muzak meer. Ook in 2008 prima middenstanders: Meeuwig, Caulis, ‘t Vlaams Broodhuys, Ton Overmars en de Boerenmarkt op zaterdag.

Restaurant

Bordewijk van Wil Demandt is in 2008 al 25 jaar het beste restaurant van de stad.

TV

Ascent of Money. Niall Ferguson vertelde ook op tv de geschiedenis van het geld. Meer aardige economen op tv: de optredens van Paul Krugman, Nouriel Roubini (foto) en Willem Buiter.

Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives (YouTube) was een mooi verslag van E, van de band Eels, op zoek naar sporen van zijn geniale vader, de quantum mechanicus Hugh Everett. (bonus).

Rick Stein’s Mediterranean Escapes was het smakelijkste programma op tv. Van de Nederlandse tv was geloof ik niks de moeite van het onthouden waard. UKNova was overigens ook in 2008 de plaats om UK-televisie te downloaden.

Rood Jurkje

Victor en Rolf: “No”. Collectie Fall/Winter 2008/2009.

Kunst

De Kunstvlaai heeft sowieso een voorsprong vanwege de toplocatie, zoals Rijksacademie Open vanwege het talent.

Dooddoener in 2008 in alle kunsten: alle schedels.

Eerdere versies: 2005, 2006, 2007.

“Sardinian sheepherders, Japanese grandmothers and Seventh-Day Adventists in Los Angeles don’t seem to have that much in common. But within these groups there are some of the longest-lived people in the world.”

(…)

“Although the aging process isn’t fully understood, scientists do know that there’s a complex interplay of genetics and the environment that factors into health and longevity. And Buettner says he was able to identify shared patterns among people who live in Blue Zones.

“They didn’t take any supplements or pills or wine extracts,” he says. “They tended to live in houses and environments that nudged them into bursts of physical activity in kind of an effortless way.

“Okinawans sat on the floor; Sardinians lived in vertical houses; the Costa Ricans had gardens. So they were doing little things all day long that added up significantly over the years and the decades,” Buettner says.”

Excerpt: Dan Buettner, The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from the People Who’ve Lived the Longest.

Zie ook: How To Live Forever. Is the secret to be found among the centenarians in an isolated region of Sardinia?

“Radish, where is thy sting? At flavor-tripping parties, guests find that miracle fruit makes everything sweet.”

NY Times, The Miracle Fruit. A Tiny Fruit That Tricks the Tongue:

“You pop it in your mouth and scrape the pulp off the seed, swirl it around and hold it in your mouth for about a minute,” he said. “Then you’re ready to go.” He ushered his guests to a table piled with citrus wedges, cheeses, Brussels sprouts, mustard, vinegars, pickles, dark beers, strawberries and cheap tequila, which Mr. Aliquo promised would now taste like top-shelf Patrón.

The miracle fruit, Synsepalum dulcificum, is native to West Africa and has been known to Westerners since the 18th century. The cause of the reaction is a protein called miraculin, which binds with the taste buds and acts as a sweetness inducer when it comes in contact with acids, according to a scientist who has studied the fruit, Linda Bartoshuk at the University of Florida’s Center for Smell and Taste. Dr. Bartoshuk said she did not know of any dangers associated with eating miracle fruit.

During the 1970s, a ruling by the Food and Drug Administration dashed hopes that an extract of miraculin could be sold as a sugar substitute. In the absence of any plausible commercial application, the miracle fruit has acquired a bit of a cult following.”

Zie ook: The Wall Street Journal, To Make Lemons Into Lemonade, Try ‘Miracle Fruit’ en TheMiracleFruit Man.

‘Satomi Kobayashi and Mikako Ichikawa nosh down on fresh lobster in Naoko Ogigami’s new film, “Glasses.”‘

The Moment, The Post-Materialist | Japanese Food Porn:

“(…) eating and sleeping are their reason for living. If sex is curiously absent, it’s because the eating is sex.”

The Independent, YAWN: The new yuppies: They’re back – and this time they’re green. (more):

“They brag about their wind turbines rather than their wads, and they’re more likely to wear recycled trainers than red braces. But be in no doubt – they’re still loaded.”

IHT, Voluntary simplicity movement re-emerges:

“Modern “downshifters” are chasing a utopian vision of a self-sustaining life as partisans of a movement some call voluntary simplicity.”

Horecaprofiel stadsdelen in Amsterdam en het gemiddeld besteedbaar inkomen per inwoner per jaar. (Amsterdamse horeca: opmars restaurants – O+S)

‘Rabbit with Hot Apple Jelly’

View from the Wing, Off to Roses, and diner at El Bulli:

“We were greeted warmly, of course, and then offered a visit to the kitchen. The chef came over and took photos with us while he clearly managed to continue to oversee the kitchen staff while visiting and greeting us. Kitchen had several rooms and we noticed perhaps three dozen cooks.”

Meer over ‘s wereld beste restaurant elBulli en chef Ferran Adrià: Meet the world’s best chef.

Kona Kampachi. Zie ook: A ‘new’ fish from Hawaii is delighting chefs (Slideshow).

Fortune, The Wonder Fish:

“So just what is Kona Kampachi? Think of it as a more versatile cousin of hamachi. It’s not genetically engineered in any way, just well bred. It’s sashimi-grade and sustainably farmed without hormones or prophylactic antibiotics. It’s richer in omega-3 than just about anything else in the ocean and has no detectable mercury. It melts on your tongue, holds up on the grill, and is so rich in oils that it’ll fry in a pan without butter.

Pregnant women, nursing moms, young children: Eat as much as you want of what might just be the best-tasting fish you’ve ever had. Really. It’s that good.

Kona Blue calls its designer yellowtail the “fish of the future.” In truth, it’s more like a fish of the past. After all, sea life wasn’t always scarce or poisonous. But the cultivation does involve scientific and technological advancements. The most obvious example is the sea station. Sims helped modify submersible pens to make them flippable and therefore more easily cleaned. Every few weeks a net is raised, turned over, scrubbed, and dried in the Hawaiian sunshine. The company also regularly takes water and seabed samples beneath the pens and at various control sites, records the process with webcams, and posts the data and video online.”

Website: Kona Blue. Via Serious Eats, Kona Kampachi: The Wonder Fish.

Part 1: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

Serious Eats, Michael Pollan Interview and Lecture:

“From online food show Cooking Up a Story comes this four-part interview and lecture with Michael Pollan during which he talks about eating real food instead of their imitations, the ideology of understanding food solely through its nutrients, learning how to eat from culture instead of science, and “voting with your fork” to influence food producers to make better food.”

Part 2: Nutritionism and edible food-like substances.

part 3: “There is wisdom in cuisine.”

part 4: “Voting with your fork is a very politically powerful thing to do.”

In dit kader ook vermakelijk: Foodlog, Ben jij een ethische eter?

“Vandaag opent MarQt zijn deuren aan de Amsterdamse Overtoom. Dit ‘vernieuwende winkelconcept’ (een hippe biologische supermarkt, zeg maar) pakt het viraal aan, met een mailtje van oprichter Quirijn Bolle aan zijn netwerk, inclusief een link naar een winkelreportage op YouTube.”

“Possessing an excessive carbon footprint is rapidly becoming the modern equivalent of wearing a scarlet letter. Because neither the goals nor acceptable emissions limits are clear, however, morality is often mistaken for science. A recent article in New Scientist suggested that the biggest problem arising from the epidemic of obesity is the additional carbon burden that fat people—who tend to eat a lot of meat and travel mostly in cars—place on the environment. Australia briefly debated imposing a carbon tax on families with more than two children; the environmental benefits of abortion have been discussed widely (and simplistically). Bishops of the Church of England have just launched a “carbon fast,” suggesting that during Lent parishioners, rather than giving up chocolate, forgo carbon. (Britons generate an average of a little less than ten tons of carbon per person each year; in the United States, the number is about twice that.)”

““I went out with one guy who said I seemed really great but he liked bread too much to date me,” said Ms. James, 41, a writer in Seattle who cannot eat gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley and rye.

Sharing meals has always been an important courtship ritual and a metaphor for love. But in an age when many people define themselves by what they will eat and what they won’t, dietary differences can put a strain on a romantic relationship. The culinary camps have become so balkanized that some factions consider interdietary dating taboo.”

Tegenlicht uitzending: De toekomst van ons voedsel: landbouw of laboratorium? (maandag 28 januari 2008, 21:00 Ned 2)

Extract 1/2: Consuming passion:

“That eating should be first and foremost about bodily health is a relatively new and destructive idea – destructive not just of the pleasure of eating, which would be bad enough, but paradoxically of our health as well. The scientists haven’t tested the hypothesis yet, but I’m willing to bet that when they do they’ll find an inverse correlation between the amount of time people spend worrying about nutrition and their health and happiness. This is, after all, the implicit lesson of the French paradox, so called not by the French (Quel paradoxe?) but by Anglo-Saxon nutritionists, who can’t fathom how a people who enjoy their food as much as the French do, and eat so many nutrients deemed toxic by nutritionists, could have substantially lower rates of heart disease than others on elaborately engineered low-fat diets. No people on earth, by contrast, worry more about the health consequences of their food choices than Americans – and no people suffer from as many diet-related health problems.”

Extract 2/2: How to get back to real food

“The first time I heard the advice to “just eat food” was in a speech by the nutritionist and author Joan Gussow, and it baffled me. Of course you should eat food – what else is there to eat? But Gussow, who grows much of her own food on a flood-prone finger of land jutting into the Hudson River, refuses to dignify most of the products for sale in the supermarket with that title. “In the 34 years I’ve been in the field of nutrition,” she said, “I have watched real food disappear from large areas of the supermarket and from much of the rest of the eating world.” Taking its place has been an unending stream of food-like substitutes – “products constructed largely around commerce and hope, supported by frighteningly little actual knowledge”.

Real food is still out there, however, still being grown and even occasionally sold in the supermarket. Here are a few rules of thumb to help you recognise it – and then make the most of it.”

In Defense of Food. An Eater’s Manifesto, Michael Pollan.

Morning Edition, ‘In Defense of Food’ Author Offers Advice for Health (interview):

“”Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”

(…)

The implication of Pollan’s advice, however, is that what we’re eating now isn’t food.”

Slate, The Holy Church of Food:

“There’s always been a streak of the willfully impractical in Pollan’s worldview. Like the other great, radical writers whose subject is the death grip of the food industry—Joan Gussow, Marion Nestle, Eric Schlosser—he’s eloquent and persuasive; but come the revolution, he probably doesn’t belong on the tactics-and-logistics committee. What he likes best is spinning long, mesmerizing tales from his immense research, as he did in The Omnivore’s Dilemma, the book that made him a star. It’s a beautifully handled polemic against modern agribusiness until you get to the last chapter, the one that’s supposed to bring it all home.”

LA Times, ‘In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto’ by Michael Pollan

“The third section offers rules (rather, gentle suggestions) for how to “escape the Western diet.” Many are familiar, if you’ve spent any time paying attention to what you eat — for example, don’t eat packaged foods with lots of chemical ingredients. Some involve behavioral changes: Eat mostly plants, avoid supermarkets whenever possible, buy a freezer, “don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food,” pay more to eat less and don’t buy food where you buy gas. Some are more about how we eat than what we eat — for example, do all your eating at a table, don’t eat alone, eat slowly.”

“Bilal omschrijft zijn keuken als een wereldkeuken. Naast Hollandse gehaktballen kun je hier terecht voor een groenteschotel met lamsvlees of een pasta . Knoflook en uien zijn de basis voor een goed gerecht. “Dat is gezond. En ik gebruik veel Turkse kruiden”, vertelt Bilal. Typisch Tante Til is bijvoorbeeld een Italiaanse lasagne met totaal andere ingrediënten en kruiden. “Zo kwam er hier eens een Italiaan die het bestelde. De volgende dag kwam hij terug en zei: dit is absoluut geen lasagne, maar dit is wel veel lekkerder dan lasagne.””