How the Homosexuals Saved Civilization - Cathy Crimmins [24]
On the night we read Macbeth, though, we were in for a veritable feast of gay-inspired food. The gay man preparing the meal had put hours of thought into the menu, which was totally inspired by the play. We had roast lamb marinated in mead (honey-wine) vinegar and stewed with turnips, a meal that could have been enjoyed by Macbeth and his lady. The side dish was Scottish oatmeal roasted with onions and nuts. It was the first time I’d had oatmeal served as a side dish. It was delicious, and totally appropriate for our reading. Our host had even gone so far as to put a dagger on the table as a centerpiece.
I think it’s one of the gayest meals I’ve ever had. It was perfect in content and tone, and planned down to the nth detail. It made our reading of Macbeth special, and I recall that it was the only time we’d gotten through a whole Shakespearean tragedy in one night.
What Makes a Meal Gay, and How Can I Tell If I Am in a Gay Restaurant?
Gay food features exotic ingredients and flamboyant presentations. Long before “fusion” became a popular food term, gays were fusing the dramatic and culinary arts. I first heard the term “napped,” used to describe a sauce, from one of my gay friends. (This means a sauce placed on the bottom of a plate.)
It’s hard to remember how gay men were pioneers of gourmet food, because upscale food items are now so accessible to middle America.
Many of the more exotic ingredients now available everywhere in supermarkets were long staples in gay kitchens and restaurants, including pesto, hummus, olive tapenade, bal samic vinegar, quinoa, grapeseed oil, mesclun, sushi, caviar, wild mushrooms, and arborio rice.
As always happens in the gay circle game, whenever something gets too popular or at least too familiar, gay chefs and diners turn to new places for culinary inspiration. Gay chefs were some of the first to notice the backlash against nouvelle cuisine and begin offering heartier fare. I first started seeing what I call Retro-Camp Cuisine at gay restaurants about ten years ago. Gay men were the first to revamp comfort food and add exciting dashes of flair. They took the home cooking of their youths and elevated it.
Many restaurants in gay neighborhoods now offer stuff that at first sounds very Leave It to Beaver-ish. They might have a meat loaf with mashed potatoes-type dish on the menu, yet often the meat loaf is made with veal and the potatoes are mashed with morels or wasabi. Fifties classics such as macaroni and cheese, french fries, pork chops, and hamburgers all take on new guises in a gay restaurant. I ordered Buffalo wings at a gay diner in Washington, D.C.—they came with fried leeks instead of celery. And I washed it all down with a great cosmopolitan.
I always used to recommend checking out gay travel sites in order to make sure that you can find civilized restaurants at your destination. In addition to being civilized, they’ll usually be more fun. Check out the comments about the gay quotient of a London café, from reviewer Adrian Gillin of the zine Out UK.
Lobster Pot is one of the gayest finds in town. You step in off a grimy Lambeth street to a marine experience and I mean “Hello sailor,” full-on Jean Paul Gaultier. With fish swimming around in port-holes and loos echoing to the sound of seagulls, you’ll be one of but a dozen guests served up fresh fish, in or out of shell, in this snug culinary cabin—a treat.
Or how about this entrée description in a menu from a gay resort, Turtle Cove, on the Australian coast: “Peppered kangaroo rump sliced over a roast capsicum risotto and topped with pureed roast eggplant.”
How a Homosexual Invented Straight Barbecue and Deviled Eggs
What could be straighter than the tradition of the outdoor barbecue? Male participation in cookouts became very popular after the Second World War. The growth of the suburbs created the lawns that