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Mini: Amuse-Bouche · Why We Do What We Do

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to Why we Do what we Do. Welcome
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: to Why we Do what we Do Mini. I'm your
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: host Abraham and I'm Shane. We are a psychology podcast.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: We talk about all of the things that humans and
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: non human animals do. And this is a short form
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  Speaker 1: called a mini which is why I called it that,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: which is that we're going to do a quick dive
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  Speaker 1: into a topic and try and do our best to
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  Speaker 1: unpack it and then get out of there. We'll see
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  Speaker 1: if we can do this in today, probably less than
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  Speaker 1: ten minutes, but it's usually around ten to fifteen.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we'll be I think this will be
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  Speaker 2: a shorter one perfect. Today we are talking about amuse booge,
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  Speaker 2: which is really fun to say, but especially if you
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  Speaker 2: say it like that, amusebooe. I like to watch food
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  Speaker 2: shows a lot, and I learn a lot from foods,
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  Speaker 2: Like I learned like, oh, I can mess with this,
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  Speaker 2: I can play with this, and I like to just
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  Speaker 2: kind of learn stuff. And I keep hearing the phrase
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  Speaker 2: of mooz booche and I keep wondering what it is,
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  Speaker 2: and I kind of know what it is, but I
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  Speaker 2: kind of went, why do we do that? Because I'm
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  Speaker 2: somebody who likes to eat a normal sized meal, and
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  Speaker 2: so why would I have it a mooz booch. And
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  Speaker 2: we're gonna get into that a little bit today.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, before we continue on with our journey of the
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  Speaker 1: amuse bouche, I will quickly say that if you would
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  Speaker 1: like to support us, then you can join us on Patreon.
• 1:28
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• 1:30
  Speaker 1: leave us a rating and a review, like and subscribe
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: or tell a friends and I'll talk more about those
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  Speaker 1: things once we have gone through this discussion. Yeah, so
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  Speaker 1: amos bouche also known as amuse, guiel or guilla. Maybe
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  Speaker 1: this is food as we as you sort of maybe
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  Speaker 1: gathered from that, and we do hear people often talk
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  Speaker 1: about the amuse bousch, and they often are using it
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  Speaker 1: metaphorically or they might even be referring to it in
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  Speaker 1: the context of an actual meal. So what is it?
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  Speaker 1: It is a single bite size or derv Yes, that's
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  Speaker 1: all it is.
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  Speaker 2: But it's a little bit more than that, and that's
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  Speaker 2: gonna be what's fun about this. The term is French
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  Speaker 2: a mouse booche. The term is French for mouth amuser,
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  Speaker 2: which is just you know, sometimes I don't know if
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  Speaker 2: you ever have this experience, But sometimes I don't think
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  Speaker 2: that we need to translate words like I think it's
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  Speaker 2: okay to just say a moose booze that is, that's fine.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know. I like, I don't know.
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  Speaker 2: I'm not gonna go into a restaurant and be like,
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  Speaker 2: what can you can you send me your list of
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  Speaker 2: mouth amusers like, I'm not gonna do that, right, so
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  Speaker 2: amuse boose is uh, maybe I'm gonna try that next
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  Speaker 2: time I go to a fancy restaurant.
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  Speaker 1: So this type of practice, this including of these bite
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  Speaker 1: sized or d'us, it emerged during the nouvelle cuisine movement,
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  Speaker 1: which would emphasize lighter, delicate dishes that were more focused
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  Speaker 1: on the experience of the dish, the presentation. If you've
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  Speaker 1: seen the movie The Menu, then the culture of elaborate
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  Speaker 1: present like evolved from practices such as the emuz boosh.
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  Speaker 3: Love that movie, by the way, so it's so great
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  Speaker 3: and brutal and brutal.
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  Speaker 2: Now it's important to sing wishness for more dirves. And
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  Speaker 2: you might be going, well, what makes this different than
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  Speaker 2: an or derve? And I'll tell you exactly what it
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  Speaker 2: is it's small. This is still a small, bite sized item,
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  Speaker 2: but it's pre selected by the chef. This is not
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  Speaker 2: something that is and we'll talk about this kind of
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  Speaker 2: a little bit more. This is not something that is
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  Speaker 2: like just on the menu as like an option. This
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  Speaker 2: is you are here for a dining experience.
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  Speaker 3: I am the chef.
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  Speaker 2: I chose this for you and for a reason, and
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  Speaker 2: we'll talk about like what that might look like and
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  Speaker 2: how that might emerge. But that's the difference between this
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  Speaker 2: and an or a dirve. An or a dirve might
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  Speaker 2: be something that it's pre selected by a guest or
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  Speaker 2: something like that.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, you like order the chips and guac for
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  Speaker 1: the table, if you will, right, But this one the
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  Speaker 1: chef's like, here's food. You're going to eat it by
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  Speaker 1: coming to my restaurant. You agreed to let me tell
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  Speaker 1: you what you're going to have, Yes, and this is
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  Speaker 1: what you're going.
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  Speaker 3: To have, yes, exactly.
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  Speaker 1: Now, generally orders are selected by the planning person or
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  Speaker 1: the event coordinator, and they often will match a if
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  Speaker 1: there's an event at which this is taking place, which
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  Speaker 1: might be because we're talking about these highly structured meals
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  Speaker 1: that are going on. But then that might have a theme,
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  Speaker 1: and therefore the orderv would match the theme or the
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  Speaker 1: event or the preferences of the attendees who are at
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  Speaker 1: the event.
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  Speaker 3: Right.
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  Speaker 2: And then the amuse boos is specifically and explicitly selected
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  Speaker 2: by the chef for a few reasons, the first reason
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  Speaker 2: being that the amuse booche is designed to introduce the
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  Speaker 2: person to the chef and their style. So this might
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  Speaker 2: be a like they're almost like their business card, like hey,
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  Speaker 2: here's who I am, Here's what I do, here's my resume,
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  Speaker 2: And a small introductory bido food can showcase the type
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  Speaker 2: of chef that is preparing your meal, so you're not
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  Speaker 2: only just kind of getting an introduction to the chef,
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  Speaker 2: but an introduction to the meal and kind of getting
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  Speaker 2: to know like, oh, this is what I'm in for.
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  Speaker 1: If I were a chef presenting an amuse booch, shi
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  Speaker 1: probably be like a single peanut or a possibly like
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  Speaker 1: the cap of a mushroom or something like that.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think if I if I were a chef,
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  Speaker 2: it'd probably be like a piece of chocolate, or it
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  Speaker 2: would be like, I don't know, like maybe a small
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  Speaker 2: little rice ball because I like to make rice and stuff.
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  Speaker 1: Oh, that's good.
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  Speaker 3: You know what, it wouldn't be though it certainly wouldn't
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  Speaker 3: be ads.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, we interrupted our list. We were listing the the
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  Speaker 1: reasons that a that a chef may select the things
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  Speaker 1: that they select for for this moose boosh.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and that add whatever whoever that ad was that
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  Speaker 2: was more like in a moose douche. You know what
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  Speaker 2: I'm saying.
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  Speaker 1: That was such an American joke to me.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, yes, pretty good? All right?
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  Speaker 1: So yeah, the first one to introduce the person to
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  Speaker 1: the chef and their style. Another reason, the second reason
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  Speaker 1: for if we're doing this in any particular order, But
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  Speaker 1: another reason here is that the specifically selected a mouse
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  Speaker 1: bouche would align with a specific meal theme, as we
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  Speaker 1: had sort of described before, So a single bite may
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  Speaker 1: give hints toward what the next course of the meal
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  Speaker 1: is going to be.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: And the third reason that you might have this in
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  Speaker 2: place is the amuse boosche might allow for some unique
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  Speaker 2: creativity beyond what is being eaten. Now, I think this
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  Speaker 2: is a really fascinating aspect of food culture. I personally
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  Speaker 2: don't really like food culture. Like if I hear somebody
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  Speaker 2: describe food as bright, it drives me nuts.
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  Speaker 1: Like I'm like like sunshine though, oh.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, if I'm eating sunshine then like that's a
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  Speaker 2: different conversation, I guess. But it is one of those
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  Speaker 2: things where like when I watch sometimes when I watch
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  Speaker 2: like food critics describe food like if I hear mouthfeel
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  Speaker 2: one more time, I'm gonna, I'm just gonna.
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  Speaker 3: I can't. I can't.
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  Speaker 2: It drains my soul. Like it's like if I were
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  Speaker 2: smoking cigarettes. It takes years off my life when I
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  Speaker 2: hear people say mouthfeel. But here's the thing that I
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  Speaker 2: think is really cool. Like I don't really care about
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  Speaker 2: the culture of it, but I do think that creativity
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  Speaker 2: around food is really fascinating.
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  Speaker 3: Sure, yeah, that's fair. And the ammuz boosh.
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  Speaker 2: Does allow like a unique creativity because you can take
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  Speaker 2: some type of like maybe a larger like maybe widely
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  Speaker 2: accepted meal and turn it into a small bite and
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  Speaker 2: figure out how to get that same impact, that same flavor,
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  Speaker 2: that same intensity from a main course into a single bite.
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  Speaker 2: And I think that's really fascinating. And so they also
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  Speaker 2: play around with how how the bite is plated, it
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  Speaker 2: might be consumed, like it might be in a dematask
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  Speaker 2: cup or a mug, which is like usually the small
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  Speaker 2: mug that you use for espresso or a large soup spoon,
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  Speaker 2: you might do something like that. There's lots of different
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  Speaker 2: ways they can do this, but how the bite is
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  Speaker 2: plated or consumed might be just as unique as the
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  Speaker 2: flavors themselves. So they might have put together a really
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  Speaker 2: wonderful bite, or they might have done something really cool
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  Speaker 2: with its presentation or how they deconstructed.
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  Speaker 3: It's like that.
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  Speaker 2: So there is something really fascinating about the creativity of
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  Speaker 2: this exact thing, all right.
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  Speaker 1: So I often hear people talk about the amuse boosh,
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  Speaker 1: and it sounds like they're talking about the thing on
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  Speaker 1: top that makes it all worth it, and instead what
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  Speaker 1: it really is referring to is the the highly stylized,
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  Speaker 1: pre selected presentation that helps curate an experience for the meal.
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  Speaker 1: But why do we even care about chasing such a thing? Well,
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  Speaker 1: food and food culture provide these really interesting opportunities to
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  Speaker 1: display certain cultural practices, and in particular, French cuisine generally
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  Speaker 1: seems to highlight these like fine, delicate, light flavors, fresh
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  Speaker 1: and locally sourced ingredients, with just this really strong emphasis
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  Speaker 1: on the quality of the ingredients themselves. And so by
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  Speaker 1: introducing these light bites, a chef can continue to foster
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  Speaker 1: French cultural food practices while also introducing the patron to
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  Speaker 1: something new and creative with how the food is actually
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  Speaker 1: presented and brought out to them. So I think there
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  Speaker 1: is this, there's this element of embracing the privilege of
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  Speaker 1: a culture that enables us to be so focused on
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  Speaker 1: food aside from its nutritional and sustenance qualities and embrace
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  Speaker 1: something an artistic aspect of our food because we live
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  Speaker 1: in a place and a time where we're afforded that luxury.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely.
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  Speaker 2: I think another thing too, why people do this is
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  Speaker 2: people love good storytelling. They love telling a story, they
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  Speaker 2: love writing theme, they love doing this type of this
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  Speaker 2: type of stuff, And in a moose boosh provides a
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  Speaker 2: chef and opportunity to write an introductory paragraph to their
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  Speaker 2: food novel. Right like, this is kind of like the hook.
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  Speaker 2: This is this is the the man in black fled
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  Speaker 2: across the desert and the gunslinger followed of meals, Right like, dude,
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  Speaker 2: that's what that's what this does. It gets you in
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  Speaker 2: and it like hooks you and you're like, oh, I
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  Speaker 2: can't wait to see what's next. That was just a
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  Speaker 2: sample of what's to come. And sometimes the storytelling. Like
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  Speaker 2: we mentioned in the menu that there is a story there.
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  Speaker 2: It's grim, it's dark, it's satire, but it is one
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  Speaker 2: of those things where there is It starts with these
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  Speaker 2: small bites that are a story, and that's what the
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  Speaker 2: chef is aiming to do, although not nicely.
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  Speaker 1: In the menu. Yeah, some of you may have heard
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  Speaker 1: Shane talk about Gunslinger. This is in case you are unfamiliar.
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  Speaker 1: We are fans of Stephen King. What he said was
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: the opening line of the first book of the Dark
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: Tower series, and it was just it was so beautifully
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  Speaker 1: crafted and emblematic of the epic nature of that story. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: that it works beautifully as a metaphor for setting up
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  Speaker 1: that story. Now, I think, to be fair really quick,
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  Speaker 1: I will say I am one of those people who
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  Speaker 1: mostly just cares that I don't feel hungry. I am
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  Speaker 1: not particularly thrilled by paying one hundred dollars for a
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: leaf of basil on a plate. Sure, I know some
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  Speaker 1: people they do go that particular route, and good on
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  Speaker 1: them if that's how they like to enjoy their food.
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  Speaker 1: And to be fair, like, I am impressed by really
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  Speaker 1: high quality and brilliant like food presentations. I just feel
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  Speaker 1: like I can admire that from Afar. That does not
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  Speaker 1: need to be a part of sort of my routine
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  Speaker 1: around food, But I think it's acceptable to celebrate that
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  Speaker 1: these can be culturally meaningful things to people, and that
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  Speaker 1: people find enjoyment in having this like very ostentatious presentation
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  Speaker 1: of their food and more power to them. Like that's
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  Speaker 1: maybe not my bag, but if people enjoy their food
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  Speaker 1: that way, then good for them.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I also subscribe to that beautiful Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: All right, well this was a mini, so that means
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: that we can probably close it out there. As I mentioned,
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  Speaker 1: that was a really good recommend thanks for sending me
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• 12:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: Anyway, If you're joining us for the first time, thank
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: you for sending through this. If you're a returning listener,
• 12:31
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• 12:41
  Speaker 1: platform Shane, Am I missing anything or is there anything
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: you would like to add before we say goodbyes?
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: Nope, I think we're good.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: Thank you all for listening. Thank you to my team
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: of people for helping this podcast be a thing. Thank
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: you for recording with me today Shane, Why We Do
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: What We Do Mini is out.
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: Bye. You've been listening to Why We Do What We Do.
• 13:00
  Speaker 2: You can learn more about this and other episodes by
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: going to WWDWWD podcast dot com. Thanks for listening, and
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: we hope you have an awesome day