Golden Globe Celebrities Will Dine On Gold As 50 Million Americans Face 'Food Insecurity'

[malaise]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/14/golden-globe-celebrities-dine-on-gold-as-americans-face-hunger_n_1206531.html
<snip>
Only the finest ingredients will used for the trio of chocolate delice almond crunch terrine with acacia honey, caramel, and fresh berries, executive pastry chef Thomas Henzi told Reuters -- the chocolate will be flown in from Switzerland, the acacia honey caramel will arrive from France, the Tarragon hazelnuts come from Italy, while Valencia almond paste from Spain.

"It's a rich dessert," said Henzi of his dish that will be sprinkled with 23-carat edible gold flakes and a white chocolate ball sprayed with gold dust.

[Schema Thing]

1. "there's gold in them thar porta-potties!"

[Logical]

2. There are millions of people eating out tonight at fancy places....

spending $100s on a meal.

Not sure what you want. Stop eating out and cause more unemployment?

[da_decider]

3. So you can not understand what's wrong with eating Gold?

To those of us who work for a living, eating gold is very disrespectful to the needy who struggle to make ends meet.

[Codeine]

5. I work for a living, and I don't feel disrespected.

I think it's goofy and ostentatious, but not really an issue of respect.

[AverageJoe90]

12. I can agree with that. nt

[rfranklin]

15. It is "in your face" over the top ostentatiousness...

the gold does nothing to enhance the dish other than to underline that these people are "special" and privileged.

[oldhippie]

19. It's a visual enhancement. nt

[Crankie Avalon]

28. Sprinkling a little powdered sugar could have accomplished that, too...

...but this more likely looks like it had to be about proving just how special and overprivileged they are that they get to eat gold, unlike the 99 percenters.

[Synicus Maximus]

7. I work for a living andI can't understand what's wrong with eating gold. I do it about once a month.

There is a pastry shop in my neighborhood that makes a pastry called an opera, its an almond cake layered with mocha butter cream and ganache, then topped with smooth chocolate and on top of teh chocolate is a small bit of gold. I buy about one a month it cost all of $3.

[Logical]

9. People eat all sorts of stuff I cannot afford......

they buy $250 champagne, etc. They just piss it out later.

People buy $3000 dresses for the GG tonight also.

[Zalatix]

11. Well, if they eat in, they're still employing someone

to sell them food. And probably to cook it, too.

[frazzled]

4. Um, kind of misleading: that kind of gold is not expensive

This stuff goes a long way (It's on some of the chocolate pastries at a bakery that is near my house):

Edible gold leaf for cakes and chocolates: 25 leaves, 23kt: $64.95



Edible Gold Leaf Flakes in Clear Acrylic Cube Shaker. 100mg.

[JI7]

6. they aren't facing food insecurity because wealthy are eating this dessert

what this shows is the wealthy can afford to contribute more to the country by paying their fair share.

[Crankie Avalon]

8. I don't suppose they could have just donated the value of the gold to a homeless shelter...

...and forgone all the extra flavor and nutritional value that GOLD adds to a meal.

[Codeine]

13. The value of the gold is probably far, far less than you assume. nt

[Capitalocracy]

17. A couple hundred bucks would go a long way for a homeless shelter

But yes, it's not that expensive... ostentatious, silly, perhaps even so far as stupid and kind of ridiculous, but it's probably one of the cheapest ingredients

[Crankie Avalon]

20. The article in the link says it added up to $1,800

$1,800 for something that, again, isn't there to add flavor or nutrition (to just a dessert, no less). It's just there for tacky ostentation. It doesn't seem right.

[muriel_volestrangler]

27. A lot of the Golden Globes ceremony is there for tacky ostentation

The 'red carpet' fashion gawp, for instance.

[bdamomma]

10. you wonder

how many of those celebs won't eat dessert even the main dinner, those women celebs can't add any poundage.

[marlakay]

14. Your right, most of the woman would look at dessert

Like it's poison...gold and spending money on fancy food is nothing to them. Just another days meal.

[Politicub]

16. The carbon footprint of the dessert is obscene

The gold leaf is a red herring.

[dana_b]

21. that's a great point

if they just made food from local ingredients it would seem a lot less indulgent and better for the environment.

[Codeine]

25. Now THAT is an issue.

It's like those idiotic bottles of water imported from Fiji, only ten times worse.

[Capitalocracy]

18. Looks like a glorified Twinkie. nt

[Hippo_Tron]

22. The price of this dessert is far greater than its cost

So while I agree it's atrocious that 50 million Americans face food insecurity, it's not because celebrities are using up society's resources to dine on desserts sprinkled with gold flakes. This is merely a transfer of wealth from one already wealthy person to another already wealthy person that results from the fact that human beings place a high value on the aesthetic (and apparently culinary) value of gold. Relatively few resources are used in this transaction.

Bottom line, there needs to be less wealth concentrated at the top. Doing so may possibly eliminate the market for gold-flake topped desserts, or it may just lower the price. I'm fine with either.

[jberryhill]

23. Airline Bottle of Goldschlager Schnapps - $2.50

Next?

?1179648547

[Codeine]

24. Described to me as tasting "like cinnamon-flavored ass." nt

[jberryhill]

26. I've never tried the cinnnamon flavored kind

[derby378]

29. The Incas once asked the Spanish conquistadors if they ate gold

Strange that such a nonsensical idea such as consuming heavy metals "because we can" should suddenly become all the rage.

I'm a sucker for delicious desserts, but honestly, this is beyond ludicrous.

[customerserviceguy]

30. Does gold have any nutritive value?

Even though it's described as "edible" does it actually get digested in any way? Or does it just make shiny poop?