Surreal Gourmet Bites: Showstoppers and Conversation Starters

John Abbott is a professor of history at Laurentian University’s Algoma University College. He is the co-author of The Border at Sault Ste Marie and The History of Fort St. Joseph.

Bob Blumer (featured in the Food Network series The Surreal Gourmet) has
here collected exquisitely contrived miniatures that surely occupy the
cutting edge of the itsy-bitsy-food movement. Take his Psychedelic
Caviar (photographed in full Day-Glo glory by the talented suzi varin).
We’re counselled to select our “12 most aesthetically pleasing lemon
slices,” lay them out and freeze them solid. These, taken from the
freezer a few moments before serving, are to be brushed with the juice
extracted from two tablespoons of fresh ginger and topped with a dollop
of green wasabi caviar, into which are set several opalescent globes of
salmon roe. And how is this jewel-like arrangement to be inhaled?
“Instruct your guests to suck the caviar off the lemon slices (or
better still, demonstrate for them).”

The creator presents 46 of these titillating tidbits, emphasizing fish,
meat, fowl, veggies, and sweets. There are Maple Salmon Suckers
(maple-glazed and pepper-crusted), Cocktail Dates (bacon-wrapped and
Parmesan-stuffed), Bang-Bang Drummettes (cinnamon-habanero chicken
drummettes), Cucumber Shooters (cucumber gazpacho in sculpted
cucumbers), and Nutcases (honey-drizzled spiced walnut and Gorgonzola
bites).

Who might find sufficient inspiration in this collection? First in line
are the hard-core members of the culinary shock-and-awe brigade. Then
there are those who cater for or give receptions where finger foods
provide both nourishment and conversations starters (in the language of
the subtitle). But beyond these are those who take pleasure in dinner
parties, whose meals might well begin with a tiny wedge of halibut,
marinaded in miso, sake, and mirin, nestled in a bed of cucumber
noodles, themselves enlivened with lime juice, soy sauce, and mint
leaves. Haiku Halibut. Perfect.