Rockin' Food

Music is central to the culture of every country. Historians believe the first musicians go back to Africa in the B.C. centuries. Other early contributions were played by Aboriginals in Australia, Ancient Greeks, Medieval minstrels, and of course the classical artists such as Beethoven and Mozart. Food shares a commonality with music in that it has been around forever and varies from country to country and century to century. Today, most songs are written to express love and romance, rebelliousness or disdain, and joy or sadness. Did you know there are hundreds of songs that use food to help describe the writer's emotions? Here is a look at 5 of my modern day favorites:

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1. Raspberry Beret tells the story about a teenage romance. Written by Prince and released in 1985, the psychedelic driven song was inspired from Prince’s movie Purple Rain, a carryover from his infatuation with Apollonia. “She wore a Raspberry Beret. The kind you find in a secondhand store. Raspberry beret, I think I love her.” Raspberry is referring to the color of her floppy, berry-shaped hat. Raspberries make a delightful tart, bright sauce known as a coulis. Combine 2 ½ cups of frozen berries, ¾ cup of sugar, ½ cup of water, and ½ teaspoon of vanilla. Bring the ingredients to a boil and simmer until smooth. Strain, chill and serve over chocolate ice cream or cheesecake. These are two of my favorites.

2. Cherry Bomb was written by Joan Jett and performed by The Runaways in 1976. This hard rock meets punk song of rebellion is on MTV's all-time top 100 songs that rock list. The song has been featured on many TV shows and movies. Making its television debut in 1976 in a movie titled, Dawn Portrait of a Teenage Runaway, and was most recently featured on the smash hit, Guardians of the Galaxy. The chant, ch-ch-ch-cherry bomb is shouted out often by a seething teen exploding with rage against her parents. To make your own Cherry Bombe you combine 3 pints of softened cherry ice cream with walnuts. Add the ice cream to a plastic wrap-lined bowl creating a dome. Fill it with 1 pint of softened chocolate ice cream and freeze. Remove from the bowl and top with melted chocolate. De-de-de-delicious!

3. Junk Food Junkie is an all-time classic one-hit wonder. Written by Larry Groce in 1975, like Cherry Bomb, it was released in 1976. The Bicentennial certainly was a great year for music. This silly novelty song spent 15 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 peaking at #9. The song is about a man’s double life food infatuation. By day he’s Mr. Natural eating as healthy as can be. By night he’s hiding in his closet feasting on Hostess Twinkies. Other food indulgences include Fritos, Dr. Pepper, Moon Pies, Pringles, Big Macs, and Ding Dongs. When you're ready to break the natural food routine try a deep-fried Twinkie. For your batter, combine 1 cup of flour and ½ cup of corn flour. Add a pinch of baking soda and whisk in milk until smooth. Coat the Twinkie, fry until golden, and top with raspberry coulis.

4. Sugar Sugar has to be the sweetest song ever recorded. “Sugar, ah honey honey. You are my candy girl." Written by Jeff Barry and Andy Kim, it was released in 1969. It was originally recorded by a virtual band known as the Archies. All you cartoon-aholics know exactly who I’m talking about: Betty, Veronica, Reggie, and of course Archie. Was Jughead in their too? This bubble gum pop hit was #1 in both Europe and the U.S. for several weeks. Our sugar dish is Gravlax (cured salmon). Not what you thought huh? Combine equal amounts of sugar and salt, 8 ounces each for a 2 lb.filet. Line a baking dish with plastic wrap and coat the flesh evenly. Sprinkle with chopped dill and cover with a cutting board and weigh it down with three 14 ounce cans. Cure the fish for 36 hours, slice thin, and enjoy on a bagel with a smear.

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5. Cheeseburger in Paradise is the epitome of songs about food. Written by Jimmy Buffet and released in 1978. Reaching #32 on Billboard's Hot 100, this country meets Gulf rock tune was inspired by a real-life experience at sea on the Caribbean. A boating mishap forced all aboard to eat only canned foods and peanut butter. Once they made landfall, Mr. Buffet’s first meal? You guessed it the song's title. Jimmy even describes it in the song. “I like mine with lettuce and tomato, Heinz 57, and french fried potatoes. Big kosher pickle and cold draft beer. Good God almighty which way do I steer?” Sounds great to me Jimmy. Buffalo burgers are awesome too. They are leaner and loaded with flavor. Try one with bleu cheese, caramelized onions and bacon served on a Kaiser Roll.

When I was researching for this blog I was surprised and pleased to find a plethora of songs that were about food. Like a buffet ... not Buffet, it is always better to have a lot of choices. Other selections included Brown Sugar (Rolling Stones), A Taste of Honey (Herb Alpert) and The Banana Boat Song (Harry Belafonte), and plenty of others. There is evidence that proves sound can influence taste(food), and these songs demonstrate taste(food) can have an influence on sound. I guess that's why I like to take in the atmosphere at the Hard Rock Cafe. The fusion of food and music makes everything taste better. In the future, I will be blogging on fast food restaurant chains, and I already have the title ... Life In the Fast Food Lane. Okay, at least enjoy some of the recipes from this post.