One of Dana Goodyear’s most memorable descriptions is of eating
a dish of raw oyster, poached quail egg, and crab guts at a secret Los Angeles
sushi bar called Yamakase. There are two versions of it. The first is in her
“Beastly Appetites” (The New Yorker,
November 4, 2013):
We ate the beef, we ate the crab, we ate gumball-size baby
peaches, olive green and tasting like a nineteen-forties perfume. There was
slippery jellyfish in sesame-oil vinaigrette, and a dish of raw oyster, poached
quail egg, and crab guts, meant to be slurped together in one viscous spoonful.
That one—quiver on quiver on quiver—was almost impossible to swallow, but it
rewarded you with a briny, primal rush.
The second version is in her Anything
That Moves (2013):
We ate the beef, we ate the crab, we ate gumball-size baby
peaches, olive-green and tasting like a 1940s perfume. There was slippery
jellyfish in sesame-oil vinaigrette, and a raw oyster, poached quail egg, and
crab guts, meant to be slurped together in one viscous spoonful. That
dish—quiver on quiver on quiver—epitomized the convergence of the disgusting
and the sublime typical of so much foodie food. It was almost impossible to
swallow it, thinking ruined it, and submission to its alien texture rewarded
you with a bracing, briny, primal rush.
Comparing the two versions, I find three interesting
differences: (1) “dish” in the New Yorker
piece appears to refer to “raw oyster, poached quail egg, and crab guts,”
whereas in the book version it seems to include the jellyfish in sesame-oil
vinaigrette, as well; (2) the book version contains more detail of Goodyear’s
response (“That dish … epitomized the convergence of the disgusting and the
sublime typical of so much foodie food”; “thinking ruined it”; “alien
texture”); (3) the magazine version’s “briny, primal rush” becomes, in the
book, “bracing, briny, primal rush.”
Both versions contain the inspired “quiver on quiver on quiver,” so intensely evocative it almost makes me gag. This is meant as a compliment. Goodyear's phrase brilliantly enacts the sensation it describes.
Both versions contain the inspired “quiver on quiver on quiver,” so intensely evocative it almost makes me gag. This is meant as a compliment. Goodyear's phrase brilliantly enacts the sensation it describes.
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(1) “dish” in the New Yorker piece appears to refer to “raw oyster, poached quail egg, and crab guts,” whereas in the book version it seems to include the jellyfish in sesame-oil vinaigrette, as well"
ReplyDeleteNo it doesn't. Follow the punctuation.
I suppose "slippery jellyfish in sesame-oil vinaigrette" can be considered one dish, and “a raw oyster, poached quail egg, and crab guts, meant to be slurped together in one viscous spoonful” as another. But the commas don’t tell me that. The commas tell me that this line is a list of items. “That dish” in the next line appears to refer all four items in the list. The New Yorker version is much clearer.
ReplyDelete