Besieged by Choice

Madagascar Vanilla extract, Mexican, Tahitian, Sri Lankan, fair trade, with no alcohol, real vanilla beans…

One thing I know for sure — real cooks don’t buy artificial vanilla, even though it costs five times less.

Next to the vanilla was the salt.

Kosher, table salt, Himalayan rock salt, truffled, sea salt, smoked, black salt, red Hawaiian salt, fleur de sel…

I am besieged by choice.

Tuscan olive oil, light olive oil, Kalamata olive oil, Spanish, Greek, wrapped in golden foil…

I am tempted to blame the food network, but that would be an easy way out. Part of me must like having this vocabulary at my disposal.

French Roast, Viennese Roast, Colombian, Mocha Java, Arabica, Robusta, Kenyan, Blue Mountain…

As I stood at whole foods contemplating my vanilla choices and whether they would make a difference once I added one of ten available salts, I started thinking about graduate school and how it is flooding my brain with vocabulary.

Functionalism, Structural Functionalism, Structuralism, post-structuralism, post-modernism, semiotics…

I am tempted to blame my teachers, but that would be an easy way out. Part of me must like having this vocabulary at my disposal.

Moiety, hegemonic blocs, commodity fetishism, deconstruction…

As I read through my books and try to decide which words from the endless list of academic jargon I find most useful, I am mentally transported back to whole foods and the vanilla counter.

Only that, at the end of most days, all I want is a simple slice of bread and butter.