ToW #9 - Magazine Article from Esquire: "The Best Coast to Buy Oysters From"

        I feel like I've only been reading ToWs that agree with my personality recently, so I decided to go for something conflicting with me: Esquire Magazine's "Eat Like a Man" blog. At odds were a deep thinker versus a shallow subject, a lover of obscure culture versus the poppiest of pop-culture magazines, a vegan teen versus a carnivorous man. And yet, I still found it somewhat enjoyable. Let's see why.

        So, this particular (October 13th) installation of "Eat Like a Man" was a sort of Q&A correspondence between the "Man" himself, Josh Ozersky, and writers-in from all around the United States. Set up like an interrogation of Ozersky conducted by unassuming fans, the article flows pretty smoothly between questions on technical food terms to advice on what to make for "Thankakkuh" (of course, Thanksgiving and Hanukkah mix a bit this year). Ozersky does much to prove his credibility as an experienced chef and linguist throughout his answers, effortlessly naming various varieties of oysters, explaining the specifics of what makes a steak "rare" or "medium well", and using very impressive words like "milquetoast", "merroir", and "heterodoxy". Now, unless I've underestimated Esquire's key demographic, this article seems more than a bit advanced for the magazine. Some sprucing up could make it acceptable for some high-brow bi-quarterly food journal.

        The question-and-answer format of this article gives a good hint towards what the audience is like: people with nicknames akin to "Dr. BBQ" and locations within North America. It is quite clear that Ozersky's explicit purpose is to answer his audience's various questions effectively and act as a teacher of the food arts. In doing this, there are hardly any obvious rhetorical choices made; Ozersky writes very conversationally; one gets the feeling that he did not think through or revise his prose. Still, this creates a sort of uncluttered, simplistic feeling to the article, perhaps making it easier to glean facts from it. In this way, I'd have to say that this blog post was undeniably effective and even enjoyable; Ozersky's sheer knowledge of all things food is astounding and his conversational tone is engaging. But then, glancing at the sidebar titled "What to Read Next" and seeing oodles of banal, shallow articles, I still don't think that I'll stick around with Esquire Magazine.

Glidden Point oysters: "full of oomph and mineral zing".