The Coming Artisinal Apocalypse

Craig Ruggless of Winnetka Farms tipped me off to one of the four signs of the coming artisinal apocalypse: the opening of a store in Brooklyn entirely devoted to 4 oz jars of mayonnaise at $8 a pop. I thought at first this might be some kind of post-modern, post-structuralist, Duchampian ruse but, in fact, it turns out to be the work of chef Sam Mason and Elizabeth Valleau. Gothamist has the full coverage. As it turns out, the idea isn’t as ridiculous as it sounds at first–the site is more of a manufacturing facility than a retail store.

Still those artisinal apocalypse signs keep coming in. In our own neighborhood, sort of the Los Angeles equivalent of Brooklyn, we await the opening of a high-end grilled cheese sandwich shop.

Of course, here at Root Simple, we’re not the ones to point the finger as we’re somewhat of a living, walking Portlandia sketch!

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7 Comments

  1. One more apocalypse to worry about, along with the Mayan Apocalypse later this year, the impending Zombie Apocalypse (dates TBD – those zombies are notoriously hard to schedule), and the others I’m not even aware of yet. That better be some darn good mayo…

  2. the market will become flooded with artisans and it will become affordable to regular consumers, the american artisinal renaissance will occur and then disappear because it’s no longer cost effective for the amount of competition then there will be a few artisans remaining, and we’ll become Japan.

  3. 4 oz. jars of mayonnaise seem entirely appropriate for cuatro de mayo. Nicely scheduled!

  4. I think William Sonoma chicken coops are more of a sign of Marie Antoinette style faux artisanship.

  5. Amazingly, the Midwest (Cleveland specifically) beat LA to an idea. I was there on business a few years ago and ate at a great small grilled cheese rest/bar called Melt (http://meltbarandgrilled.com/)! I remember all the records they had stapled on the ceiling, menus printed on old record covers and stained glass window art made out of trash glass. Sadly, a few months ago (again in Cleveland) I visited another location. Yep, they too have become a local chain and are losing that artisan feel.

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