Culinary Crime or is it!

Posted: 3/12/2009 8:49:40 a.m.

I’ve never liked cooked avocado and I never will. In the column I wondered if such a thing as a culinary crime existed because I’m really not entirely sure one way or the other. My subjective and opinionated self thinks that anyone who cooks avocado if evidence that culinary crime exists and that any dish they create with hot avocado is incriminating evidence.

The key part of this is the acknowledgement that this comes from my subjective self. Is anything combination of food, any peculiar application of technique just subjective variation, and it’s all perfectly acceptable or are some things fundamentally wrong? If you grate an unpeeled carrot it’ll discolour and make a salad look horrible, if you grill a one centimetre thick piece of steak for 15 minutes on each side it’ll be as tough as the sole of my shoe, but is it a culinary crime.

So at times I’m far happier to go with my outspoken self and say yes all those things are wrong, criminal culinary acts, but other times I’ll reflect that although I really do not like peas in my mince on toast, some people probably do because their mother always cooked it that way and there’s no accounting for tastes that have been nurtured over many years.  I’m interested to hear from any readers if how you feel on the subject. Is there such a thing as a culinary crime?  If you believe they do exist, what crimes displease you most? And perhaps most importantly of all are any of you twisted enough to like avocado cooked?

(I’ve struggled to keep the idea of writing this little blog close to the front of my mind, I’ve set myself the task of being more current and regular in my attention to it. Time will tell)