Alexander Valle

Prof Jacobson

English 110

12 Sep 2022

Dining In Style

           When I think of an experience, I think of something that will stay in my memory for years to come and that cannot be lived again after the first time. Well, such is the case in fine dining, as it transforms ingredients in a way most people would have never thought of and has evolved gastronomy to a new level. Over the years fine dining has gained a very big following with the exposure that it gets from media and the internet and this is how I, myself became interested in this multi-cultural art of dining. But, with more followers comes more opinions, and in the case of fine dining feedback and critiques are in surplus. Throughout this paper, rhetorical elements and relationships of various sources that all have to do with fine dining will be analyzed.

           To write this paper cohesively and describe the rhetorical elements and relationships of various articles I will work on each article separately. With each article, I will give a summary, describe the rhetorical terms such as author and audience, tone and purpose, genre and medium, and stance as well as supporting evidence to make the purpose stand out and solidify the subject. After the analysis, I will compare the relationships between all the sources and their rhetorical terms and most importantly what they have to do with fine dining. This format will be effective as it allows me to dissect the different thoughts of different authors when it comes to fine dining, as each one has their own opinion and with this, carry a purpose that they are trying to portray. These opinions can be for or against fine dining, a critique towards a restaurant establishment, or even a study of how fine dining has grown and progressed over the years, with this I will now introduce my first source.

           The website Toast published an article with the title What Is Fine Dining? (No author included). In this article, they talk about the nooks and crannies of fine dining. They go into every section and subsection possible to explain how these establishments work, from the customers to the owner they show what it really takes to be worthy of the title, fine dining. They also explain the differences between fast food and casual dining experiences in a noticeably short but to the point manner. This website is intended for an audience that wants to get into the restaurant business or learn more about the establishments in which they will eat at, the purpose very simply put, is to inform the reader of what is necessary to run and attend a restaurant of this caliber as not everyone may have the means to do so. What I mean by this is that fine dining is an “experience that is typically more sophisticated, unique, and expensive than one would find in the average restaurant” (Toast, no page number) and is not a business you can go into lightly. Their purpose is made even more explicit when they specify that “Opening a fine dining restaurant… can be a costly endeavor… start below with the free resources and reading materials” (Toast). Their second audience, the guests are also informed through this article because there are certain unspoken rules that must be met in order to attend one of these restaurants. Toast directly speaks to people who intend to eat at a fine dining restaurant by explaining that “Guests at a fine dining restaurant are expected to uphold a certain level of civility… some unspoken rules include, but are not limited to, the following…”. In this article Toast is profoundly serious about demonstrating the depth and importance of owning and attending an upscale restaurant, their audience and purpose are clear with the exigent difficulties that come with fine dining.        

           Fine dining comes with difficulties as I previously mentioned, especially for those who can’t afford it. The famous saying “Cash is king” is absolutely true when it comes to upscale dining, the more you pay the more likely you are to get a better experience at a fine dining restaurant. What if there was a way to counter this? Well, The New York Times published a magazine titled How To Enjoy Fine Dining On A Fast Food Budget, by Lizz Schumer. This magazine is specifically oriented to eating fancy at a cheaper price and to an audience that wants to save as much as they can while eating exquisite food that can’t be found in any regular restaurant. Schumer’s and The New York Times’ purpose is to inform their readers of events going on in the world, in this article they are specifically informing readers of new strategies to maximize their dining experience and get everything out of what they are paying for. Schumer intelligently “consulted financial and food experts alike for how they satisfy their budgets and their appetites” to have professional opinions and facts that will further inform her audience and allow them to believe what she is saying. Throughout the article she quotes many people to back up her stance, two specific quotes are “Food and budget experts alike also recommend staying away from alcohol. Partially to keep the bill lower…” and “Ms. Rowan also emphasized the value of looking beyond white tablecloths for good eats… ‘a happy hour special or weekly half-price burger night may be your ticket to trying new dishes,’ she said.”. To me, these are two important points of few throughout this magazine because they support her purpose, and stance and are direct to her audience who face the problem of fancy restaurant “pricing.” 

           Fine dining doesn’t always have to be so lavish and sporadic, there are upscale restaurants where the prices are just right so that you can go in more frequent intervals and with no special rules or dress codes, as is usually the case with upscale dining. The goal for these types of fine dining restaurants is to feel at home while being served delicious food that not just anyone can make. In the February 2022 issue of the Texas Monthly magazine, an article by the title Are You Ready For Fine Casual Dining? By Patricia Sharpe was published with a very set stance and purpose. Sharpe wants to convince readers that fine dining could be found in much more relaxed restaurants with better pricing, specifically in a restaurant called Birdie. She goes into depth about Birdie throughout her article, praising the restaurant and all they have achieved while staying modest and welcoming to everyone. Sharpe states “In the chatty line with me were a couple dozen adults, a napping toddler, and a hyperactive terrier. (Dogs are welcome at the two dozen or so tables in the restaurant’s backyard.)” (43) signifying how welcoming it is to anyone human or otherwise. She explicitly reviews the food as any food critic would, except she doesn’t have much to critique as she mentions that “The cooking was spot-on, and, given the side of pan-crisped red potatoes, the plate was a bargain at $32.” (44) as well as the setting which was a “restaurant, just a few steps above fast food, but it felt far nicer than the norm.” (44). While it is true that anyone can go to Birdie, the magazine and Sharpe’s article in specific are focused on the residents of Austin and since the location of this restaurant is in East Austin, Sharpe does not fail to mention its location several times throughout. Once, in the cover page with the restaurants number, again in the first paragraph: “mostly residential East Austin neighborhood” (44), and again with a picture she added of the owners and restaurant setting. She further tries to convince Austin residentials that Birdies is a perfect choice by stating that one of the owners said “I didn’t want to cook expensive food that people would eat only once or twice a year… I wanted a place where they could hang out every week” (44) and then supporting this by casually mentioning her “second visit” and “third visit” within the same month. Sharpe makes Birdie an obvious choice for someone in the Austin area who wants the authenticity, creativity, and flavor of a fine dining restaurant while not having to spend as much and think about how they must behave.

           Everything in the world has a beginning, fine dining is no exception. The first sit-in restaurant can be traced back to 1100 A.D. but it was not until the end of the French Revolution that fine dining became popular as unemployed chefs started to make private dinner a la carte for the people that could afford it. From there French Cuisine became the basis of almost all fine dining restaurants in the world as chefs were French trained and with that opened French oriented restaurants. This can be seen as a problem as there was a sense of repetition in the types of foods and techniques even if a restaurant was nowhere near France. But with time things evolve and recently there has been an increase in fine dining restaurants that don’t have French backgrounds. An analysis published by Christel Lane by the title of Culinary culture and globalization. An analysis of British and German Michelin-starred restaurants speaks to trend analyzers and culinary historians as this lengthy and detailed paper analyze how French cuisine has faired over the years, specifically in German and British fine dining restaurants. The purpose is to determine how many of today’s Michelin-starred restaurants in Germany and France have a French background and if the “French cultural dominance” has been weakened. Lane states “This paper investigates whether processes of globalization in fine-dining restaurants and their culinary culture have weakened or even undermined this French cultural dominance” (2). Lane goes on to explain multiple studies and data that were gathered to put a number on how many of the best restaurants are French. The following was concluded: 548 restaurants in France have at least one Michelin star and Italy comes closest with 272 restaurants with at least one Michelin star. This means that France’s closest culinary rival does not even have half the number of best restaurants. In the end, the conclusion was made that “the influence of an elite French culinary culture has weakened, it is primarily its significant enduring influence which has shielded the culture of fine dining…” (19). This paper will be very useful to culinary historians and analysts as Lane concludes that French culture has an impact on fine dining.

           Four may seem like a small number, but a lot of information was gathered in my rhetorical analysis of different views, opinions, and purposes for the same topic. Separately, they might seem different but there are some trends to be analyzed. What Is fine dining? by Toast and How to enjoy fine dining on a fast food budget by Lizz Schumer have the same purpose and audience. They both speak to people who are interested in joining or learning more about the fine dining world and do this by informing the audience of strategies, facts, and opinions that will maximize their experience. Now, Patricia Sharpe’s Are you ready for fine casual dining? and Christel Lane’s Culinary culture and globalization. An analysis of British and German Michelin-starred restaurants has a different purpose and audience. Sharpe’s audience can be anyone but throughout the article, she specifies the residents of Austin and as this was published in a Texas based magazine it is clear that Austin residents are the focal point, and the purpose is to convince the readers to go to one specific restaurant. Lane’s audience is an analyst and culinary historians as the purpose is to analyze the cultural dominance of French cuisine in fine dining.

           Ultimately, fine dining has a huge following and many exigencies. Throughout the years countless people have published sources that face these exigencies and allow their sources to become a rhetorical situation. They target specific audiences, with a specific stance and purpose to achieve a goal that they set. It can be from informative to persuasive to argumentative but in this case, they all have to do with the experience that is fine dining. 

Works Cited

Christel Lane. “Culinary culture and globalization. An analysis of British and German Michelin-starred restaurants.”

Patricia Sharpe. “Are you ready for fine-casual dining?”

Lizz Schumer. “How to enjoy fine dining on a fast food budget.”

Toast. “What is fine dining.”

pos.toasttab.com/resources/fine-dining. Accessed 11 Sep. 2022