Lets be honest; Morgantown has no culinary scene. Oh, there are plenty of good restaurants, don’t get me wrong. There are a dozen places in town to get a very good meal in an elegant~ casual~ hip~ family~ ( pick one of the above) atmosphere. There are a few dozen more offering a variety of ethnic~ regional~ historical era~ all-you-care-to-eat~ (pick one or more of the above) themes that are satisfying and acceptable in their genre. But if Morgantown wants to be taken seriously as a cosmopolitan city , we need a culinary scene that will pull us out of the Nineties and into the mainstream. Food, like fashion, is in a state of constant evolution. Admittedly, it will always be totally uncool to be ‘in’ fashion, but it’s even worse to be obviously out of fashion. There might be some baubles and a few gems on display, but our wardrobe is looking a bit worn. And underneath it all? Grandma panties. This past week, we had two culinary events that said a lot about our scene. First, the Best Chef Cookoff, a charity event that a lot of good people on both sides of the table worked very hard to make a success. I admit I didnt attend, but last year I was a presenter, and it was clear that the majority of the attendees had no concept of contemporary cuisine. Please understand, Im not being critical or condescending, only observant. The Chefs involved worked really hard and brought forth some incredibly thoughtful and creative dishes, but when your audience have no point of reference to the core ideaology behind them, the depth of the Chefs innovation is lost at best and at worst, wasted. Although modern and innovative cuisine can be found around town, when I go to those restaurants, they are mostly empty, as was my restaurant a lot of the time. Most citizens are unwilling to take a chance on something new ( or for that matter, something old and traditional), as I can attest by the number of people who declined to even try the items I was giving away, and this at an event that exists solely to highlight unique ingredients and presentations. The other event was The Mac&Cheese Cookoff, another charity event that a lot of good people put a lot of time and effort into. But I have to question the glorifying of a dish that is one of the primary culprits in Americas ongoing health problems and loss of real food culture. Mac&Cheese in not a traditional dish by any stretch; although loosely based on a French casserole, it is an entirely fabricated artificial product brought to you by the marketing and R&D branch of a corporation whose goal was to get you out of your kitchen and in front of the television where they can sell you more artificial products. Read the ingredient label of a box of Kraft Mac&Cheese and you will find that it has a lot more in common with car wax than casserole. The idea behind the competition is to transcend the dogma associated with the dish, but in reality it just makes it that much more acceptable to go home and eat mac&cheese instead of actual food. Again, please understand I am not criticizing anyone involved with either of these events, or for that matter anyone who eats mac&cheese, and am more than aware that a Great Burgoo or Great Elderberry Cookoff would not bring out a crowd to support the charities, which is the whole point. But as a West Virginian, I would love to see events that celebrate and elevate Appalachia and simultaneously bring a bit more of the global community into our sequestered hills. SO, anyway, back to the point before my train of thought jumped the tracks, as it tends to do early in the morning after too much coffee. Morgantown is growing by leaps and bounds. This is our time, the golden moment, and what we do now will make the difference in whether we become another faceless generic interstate stop or a nationally-renowned cultural treasure that could be the jewel of Central Appalachia. Our economy is booming, and development is occurring at an unprecedented pace. We have a vibrant nightlife, the art scene is thriving, our musical community has been recognized nationally and even internationally for nearly thirty years. Isnt it time we consciously began development of a modern culinary community? Morgantown has the potential to be a cultural center in league with other great small cities like Portland, Santa Fe, or Boulder. A quick look at Ashville is all you need to see what we could be, and what we are not. Ashville, with the same population and similar demographic, has more independent restaurants than Morgantown has combined small businesses. The great majority of them source locally, many of them entirely, and they have, count ‘em, nine independent breweries. Nine. Walk around Downtown Asheville on a Friday night and you will find a thriving scene of diverse eateries, hip and totally unhip-in-the-hippest-way bars and cocktail lounges, multiple live music venues, artisin shops featuring everything from local art to locally-made clothes, and most significantly, not a chain in site. And that new Olive Garden out by the interstate? Its parking lot is mostly empty. The Olive Garden here often has, Im told, a three hour waiting list for its nearly three hundred seats, while local independent restaurants struggle to pay their rent. Ashvilles’ culinary scene is a 100 million dollar a year boon to the local economy, and most of that money stays there. The great majority of the money spent on food in Morgantown leaves West Virginia, and once its gone it never comes back. Obviously, this kind of change requires more than chefs willing to take risks and restauranteurs ( and landlords) taking a financial gamble. This kind of movement needs customers, fans to support smaller establishments, regulars who dine on Tuesdays, and then bring friends in for a drink on Friday. A business climate, both governmental and grass-roots, that takes pride in being unique and presents a unified front against the assault of corporate mediocrity. Media that is friendly and favorable to small business is the best thing that can happen to a small scene. This page is great place to start; support you local scene, eat indie.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 12:58:34 +0000
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