Too bad that Emma Beddington used her one-stop eating experience to denounce eating food by the bowl or, as it’s called here, “bowlification” (Food should be tasty, and it doesn’t have to come in a bowl. Could someone tell my lovely American hosts?, 12 February).
I grew up eating food by the bowl. Memories abound of my eight-year-old self eating breakfast congee mixed with salted duck egg, minced pickled cabbage, and freshly chopped aromatic herbs, or swallowing down gentle, slightly salted and ginger-flavoured congee when I was sick.
Or as a young college student out and about with my mates enjoying our late-night bowls of hearty curry, pho, or slurpy ramen topped with slow-cooked pork belly and tempura eggplant and prawns. More importantly to us, the food was affordable, delicious and filling.
As an American, I realise that I don’t have the highly refined taste of the British palate to judge from. I have no gastronomical training except learning how to cook by my parents’ and grandparents’ elbow. I doubt if I’ve eaten at a Michelin-star restaurant or can afford to.
One thing I can afford is a good bowl of great food. Whether enjoying a shimmering wine-reduced beef stew on cold nights or slaying my way through bowls of udon, congee, ramen, pho, peanut stew or poke with family and friends, I can say with some experience that food by the bowl is a treasure to savour. That for generations, billions of people around the world seemed to love “bowlification” is palate proof that we can’t be all wrong.
NC Doyle
Seattle, Washington, US
• What a superb commentary by Emma Beddington on the latest bowl food phenomenon. I especially loved the last line about leaving full, but also empty. This Gwyneth Paltrow, Marie Kondo, Gillian McKeith obsession with “cultifying” every aspect of our lives is so joyless and devoid of pleasure, I wonder why anyone follows it at all.
As my dear other half says: “I don’t want a bloody lecture, I just want me dinner!” I won’t even tell you how he describes Michelin joints and tasting menus. Suffice it to say, he’s banned us from going to a couple up here in Yorkshire.
Lizzie Rymer
Huddersfield, West Yorkshire
• Criticism of American bowls of nourishing but soulless food ignites a fire in my belly. The vast majority of Americans cannot afford the luxury of such complete nutrition. Indeed, our counterparts across the Atlantic seem to thrill at mockery of the fast food that has somehow become too luxurious for many here.
To frown on undoubtedly expensive, nutritious food is a very “let them eat cake” sentiment. I am confident that the article wasn’t meant to be punching down. Maybe if the critical fun was levelled at a specific genre of food in the title instead of “Americans”, it would strike a better chord.
Jesse Shepherd
Etowah, North Carolina, US
• The Boston food circle that Emma Beddington describes with such contempt has no bearing on the culinary delights of the Boston that I know and love. Countless wonderful restaurants would happily welcome you to try the tasty local fish, delight your palate with fresh oysters in abundance and serve you the best cod in beer batter ever tasted. My advice is don’t dine with frat boys, and if you must eat from a bowl, might I suggest you try clam chowder?
Sandra Hall
Chesterfield, Derbyshire
• I have lived in the US for a long time although I still have a British passport. I read Emma Beddington’s rather sarcastic review of her food experience with a mixture of amusement and puzzlement. She seems to confuse a new-age fast-food experience with typical American cuisine, which is a bit like saying that because a chippie served its fried fish and chips in a newspaper, all British food is served that way.
I know when I get food from a place like the one she mentioned that I am trading speed and convenience for ambience and pleasant dining. When I go to restaurants with linens, cutlery and plates, I typically experience the ambience and the pleasant experience she missed.
Robert L Moore
Atlanta, Georgia, US
• I’m Californian, but have lived in the UK for nearly 20 years. I always find it baffling when British folks go to one US city and then characterise it to apply to the entire US. It seems the same as an American eating haggis in Edinburgh and then suggesting that all British people eat it regularly. I was just visiting the US midwest last week – there was hardly a veggie in sight, let alone entire bowls of it.
April Ponton
Edinburgh
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