Jonathan Gold: “I mean, if you want to talk about American food…the comfort-food thing started in the eighties, when people were hungry for the food that their moms used to make. Except Mom wasn’t a very good cook. Mom made everything out of a box, so they were eating boxed cupcakes and canned frosting. So restaurants wanted to make frosting that tasted like that, and cakes that were exactly like Duncan Hines. “American cuisine” is about being nostalgic for food that doesn’t really exist. Nobody cares where the longing comes from, they just care that the longing exists.”
