$600 pop-up meal was a joke, right?
Re At $600 each, meal was worth every cent, May 17 I’d like to compliment Jacob Richler on his wonderful satirical piece. It’s clear he inherited his sharp wit and literary gifts from his late father and beloved Canadian icon Mordechai Richler.
For many in these difficult days of U.S. President Donald Trump and a sputtering economy, a chuckle or outright laugh is welcome comic relief. The image of a couple spending $1.200, plus 16-percent tax and fixed gratuity, plus airfare to Yucatan, hotel, car rental, etc., for one meal is truly hilarious.
The meal was supposedly “curated” in a pop-up restaurant in Mexico by Noma, which, if you aren’t in the know, was named Best Restaurant in the World in four of the past seven years. Richler brought tears of laughter to my eyes as he described the scene in the jungle twilight. I imagined the plaintive cry of the cockatoo in the distance as course after course was brought by “deeply informed waiters . . . with enthusiasm and communal pride.”
I think Richler erred a bit in not making his imaginary meal a little less extreme. The sublime meal included salt-dough baked octopus with pumpkin seed miso and a split coconut “its natural innards replaced with foamed cream and a mound of Imperial caviar.”
Although we do live in a world where foodies wax rhapsodic on Wagyu beef and swoon at the thought of White Alba Truffles, the menu was a bit over the top.
He did avoid the temptation to garner cheap emotional points by referencing the many unfortunates who missed out on this exquisite taste experience.
Many millions in the world would bring hunger, the ultimate sauce, to a noma table. Oops, so it wasn’t satire after all? Sorry, my bad. Jim Kempkes, Toronto