Book Review: "The Ten (Food) Commandments" by Jay Rayner

I'm back to reading a Jay Rayner book and again, I'm reading a book on my phone. Don't blame me, I have something else going on within the Kindle so I haven't got much of a choice. Hopefully, you got to read my review of Rayner's book My Dining Hell where I was initially cynical about his sarcastic tone but warmed to some of his opinions when it came to the disaster that is fine dining. I have to say that there are some opinions I agree with in this book as well, but there are also some I'm on the fence about. Let's take a look...

Rayner opens his manifesto with a sharp critique of modern diet culture, particularly the obsession with cutting out carbohydrates. In his view, vilifying bread, rice, or pasta is not only nutritionally misguided but culturally destructive. I wouldn't personally call it culturally destructive but that is definitely the avenue he is going down here. Carbohydrates have sustained humanity for ages, forming the backbone of countless cuisines. I think that in our more sedentery lifestyles though, there could be something said for working on our carbs. Maybe not eating as much as we did when we were riding horses and fighting with swords, back when making a simple meal took hours or perhaps we had to wash our clothes by hand is a better idea than continuously shoving bread into our mouths. I would agree that cutting them out entirely isn't a good idea, but we still don't need to make them the main aspect of the meal.

The commandment entitled 'Thou Shall Honour Thy Pig' explores the role of meat, particularly pork, in food culture, and confronts the ethical complexities of eating animals. Rayner avoids dismissing vegetarianism or veganism outright but critiques the hypocrisy of meat-eaters who are squeamish about certain cuts or preparations. For him, honouring the pig (and all meats) means using the entire creature, respecting the sacrifice by wasting nothing. To be honest, I have to agree on a personal level. If it is part of the animal and it has been cooked appropriately the likelihood that I am going to eat it gradually increases with seasoning levels. I'm not particularly squeamish about animal parts and have often eaten things that others have considered not to be particularly appetising.

Next, he insists that some foods are meant to be handled directly, not mediated through cutlery. Eating with our hands, he argues, fosters intimacy with food as we feel the textures, smell the aromas up close, and connect physically to the act of eating. He celebrates the primal joy of tearing apart bread, holding a burger, or devouring sticky ribs. He ridicules restaurants that attempt to “elevate” handheld foods by providing knives and forks, suggesting this strips them of their essence. I cannot possibly get on board with this - I find eating with my hands kind of disgusting not because my hands are dirty but because I can't stand my hands getting dirty.

Rayner also champions strong-smelling foods, which he calls rites of passage for the adventurous eater. From ripe blue cheeses to fermented fish sauces, he argues that what initially repels us often ends up being what we crave most intensely. He suggests that stinky foods reflect maturity of palate and a willingness to embrace complexity, ambiguity, and the mingling of pleasure with discomfort. I'm not going to lie, there are a lot of foods I like that are often not great when it comes to smell - but mine aren't these fancy foods Rayner is talking about - but rather things like anchovies. I'm not going to lie though, Rayner has a pretty sophisticated palate compared to me.

The last one I want to analyse regards how Rayner insults the various 'food fads'. He takes aim at the cult of “superfoods” like kale, quinoa, acai, showing how marketing preys on insecurity, packaging ordinary foods as miracle cures. He exposes the classism behind health trends, noting how such ingredients are often inaccessible to poorer communities. I am not going to lie, on my travels back and forth from various places I have often seen these horrifying 'fad foods' which taste just revolting but are packaged as the middle class millennial dream. The latest one is matcha. Matcha is gruesome and nobody can convince me otherwise.

All in all, I found this book intriguing but also, found there were surprising things I agreed with. I still can't eat with my hands though, I don't think I'll be doing that one any time soon.