Wednesday, January 24, 2007

Thinking through cupcakes


Having just received some new sprinkles -- palm trees -- I felt compelled to make cupcakes for the boys, and once I got started, my creativity was limited only by the amount of cream cheese frosting I had.
I was using a white cake mix, and felt somewhat inferior for not making the cupcakes from scratch, which made me think about the early days of cake mixes. When cake mixes were first brought to market, they required only the addition of water, and that did not go over big with women. The cake mix manufacturers discovered that women felt uncomfortable with such an instant mix. The mixes were adapted to require a couple more steps, the most important one being the addition of eggs -- and women felt better about themselves if they used a mix but cracked eggs into it.
So, I colored and sprinkled and thought about why people love making cupcakes in today's modern world, mix or no mix. I also wondered if Camille Paglia makes cupcakes for her toddler son, and if it's more of a feminist statement to make the cupcakes if you don't really have to, or to buy them at a cupcake shop. Scratch or mix?
I can't picture Susan Sontag eating cupcakes, let alone making them.
All this thinking about women made me wonder about the criticism I'd read during the week about Ina Garten on Nigella's website. I had difficulty grasping why people, mostly women, get so irritated by Ina, and thought about what a friend of mine noted about how women are so quick still to tear someone down with vitriol. So much for advancement and sisterhood -- when it comes right down to it, we can always expect a little catfight.
Ina elicits such strong reactions from those who don't like her. Is it because Ina is upper-middle-class? Is it because she's an accomplished, self-made woman? Oh no -- is it because she's fat? Or is it simply her laugh that people can't forgive, since I've heard people say it's a "fake laugh." Or maybe it's not a fake laugh, and Ina really is happy and people find that irritating. Better to think she's a phoney. But a phoney what? A phoney cook? Her recipes work really well for me time and time again.
Maybe Ina annoys people because she's successful. But what I don't understand, is why so many people who hate Ina adore Nigella. That's puzzling to me, because I see many similarities between the two women. The strong love-hate reactions would make more sense to me if Nigella were the polar opposite of Ina.
They both use fine and fresh ingredients and encourage buying the best products. Neither are about achieving perfection in the kitchen, like Martha.
Nigella is definitely upper, successful, and posh. She's self-made w/connections to boot. She's not fat, but she's not skinny, nor is her cooking style low-fat. She is a bit younger, and she may not have a laugh people find annoying, but she does make sexual noises while cooking, which might even the score on that front. Maybe Nigella is forgiven her gifts and absolved of envy b/c of her life's tragedies. She's successful, but she's known great despair. I wonder...if Ina were to lose her beloved husband, Jeffrey, then people might cast a sympathetic eye to her -- for a short while, at least. Probably until she released another hit cookbook. And what about Nigella's future? What if her waist thickens over the next five years? Will fans turn on her? Certainly not! That would be ridiculous.
Wouldn't it?
Despite their respective achievements in their field, they cannot escape competition between women -- it never ends. Why are we comparing these two women? Maybe it's just human nature to pit people against one another, no matter the heights reached.
Women have come so far -- hey, we got the vote, and can now choose to make cupcakes instead of being told we have to make cupcakes for our men. Cooking can be a profession, or a form of relaxation instead of a drudge-filled assignment. However, we may still have to fight some shallow inclinations before we can claim more truly lofty goals.
Now, let's look at the pretty cupcakes!
Here is the Lilly Pulitzer cupcake:

Here is the Sunny Gummi Bear cupcake:


Here is the Grateful Dead cupcake:


Here is the Camouflage Green Beret cupcake:

This cupcake refuses to be pigeon-holed with a label:

After a provocative session in the kitchen, I can't say I'm any closer to understanding the irony of baking as it relates to feminism, but I know that, ultimately, my men and I were very happy with these cupcakes.

7 comments:

Anna's kitchen table said...

Hmmmmm, very interesting Ms.Lisa!
I'm afraid I find Ina slightly irritating too......The main difference between the two women, in my opinion, is that Ina portrays a perfect life (which maybe we are envious of?) Whilst Nigella definitely portrays completely the opposite, a kind of higgledy-piggledy family life, which even WE know we can manage to achieve!
Your cupcakes rock, I am especially in awe of that beautiful, last one, aaaah, I think I'm in looooove!

julie said...

Lisa, how meaningful cupcake baking just turned! I wonder what Amy S. would have to say about this!

I agree with you, sisterhood means schmisterhood for most women, very sad indeed. I can't decide btw Ina and Nige as I have never seen Ina on TV.

But your cupcakes are definitely cool and cute.

Me, I have never baked cupcakes in my entire life somehow.

Lisa said...

Julie, I think Amy S. would tell me I need some of the five-fingered plant to go with my cupcakes!
Anna, I see Nigella's life as cooler than Ina's -- more perfect. Troy wants to know if people think Ina's life is perfect b/c her hubby is gone all week, hehe. (No, no, no!)

Lady M said...

Wow, if I knew you felt so strongly about the Ina vs. Nigella debate I would have shut up ages ago. LOL. Like Anna, Ina doesn't seem real to me. Yeah, and maybe I do despise her because she is uppity. I don't have people coming to make flower arrangements for me, and I don't associate with people that have flower arrangement made for them.
I think Nigella and Ina are leagues apart. I don't think Ina would make a pot of pasta meant for 4 and call it a solitary dinner. I don't think Ina would ever go to an ethnic store (in the Hamptons?) for real ingredients like Nigella did in Forever Summer, as an example. I don't give a hoot about Ina's weight or money or laugh; she just weirds me out, and she is a low talker.

Nuff said.

Oh, wanted to mention, since you did, Susan Sontag may surprise you re the cupcake front. Annie L. portrayed a completely different, vulnerable side to her in her pictures, which I ended up seeing after all. You could really tell that she loved her and vice versa. And maybe they made cupcakes for each other, but of course then, Annie L. would have to stop referring to Susan as her 'friend' in her picture captions.

xoxo
Ilana

p.s. Fab cupcakess!

Lisa said...

I don't think the Hamptons are any more uppity than Belgravia, but I could be wrong. Nigella and Ina have more in common with each other than you or I do with Nigella.
Glad you got to see the exhibition. I got the Liebovitz book and love it!

Lady M said...

Haha, but I don't think you understand my point. :) There is a difference between being rich and being uppity. Nigella is rich, I'm not denying that. But Ina, IMHO, is uppity.
I may just see them that way from their shows and it may be not the full truth. I could just see Nigella doing things that Ina would gawk at, like putting all the cutlery in one tray for guests to take themselves, and to serve dinner with paper napkins. How would those fit in with Ina's flower arrangements?

And everyone is entitled to be as rich and/or uppity as they like, but they aren't in my opinion as watchable as others may be. :)

Also, my disdain for poshness isn't limited to women. I feel the same way about Michael Chiarello. He shoves down everybody's throat that he lives in Napa and we don't. I guess neither are my cup 'o tea.

Exhibit was fantastic! Apart from being herded like sheep, I actually got to see quite a bit. Serves me right for waiting until the last day! ha!

Ilana

Lisa said...

I understand your point, I just disagree with you.

posh (psh) adj. posh·er, posh·est
Smart and fashionable.

up·pi·ty (p-t) adj. Informal
Taking liberties or assuming airs beyond one's station; presumptuous

I don't think having nice flowers provided by a florist/friend when you're entertaining (um, especially for a television show) is posh, uppity, presumptuous, or beyond anyone's station.
And you can't complain about Ina's portion sizes while simultaneously speculating that she wouldn't make a pot of pasta for four and call it a solitary dinner -- those two ideas work to cancel out each other. Ina supports her local farmers and fisherman and other food suppliers, which is no different from buying spices in some London ethnic shop. I mean, anyway, there's no inherent superiority in buying cardamom from Al's Corner Grocery rather than Dean & Deluca. In fact, that is a form of reverse-snobbery and could be considered chauvanism. And the ingredients are still "real." Sometimes better.