Granted, I’m not religious, but I’ve got no issues with the chocolate Jesus sculpture that’s apparently touching off all the controversy this week, and from this photo (thanks for posting, Chuck) it seems like we’re missing out: it looks pretty beautiful, especially the way the cocoa butter seems to now be separating out under temperature differences (what chocolatiers call “bloom“), which is reminiscent of the oxidation of a copper or iron sculpture (here’s a shot of how it originally looked).

Chocolate’s a noble medium, as foods go, and well-suited for the theme of resurrection, as it can be so easily broken down and reformed. Not to mention, the concept of transubstantiation for many of us raised Catholic could be pretty confusing: we were taught to conflate Jesus with food, but not necessarily enjoyment. The artist’s title for the installation, “My Sweet Lord,” sounds like an attempt to reconcile some of that.

It’s starting to feel like the people of New York just like to have a big flareup over art and religious iconography every year or two, to pretend there’s still a line left to cross. Meanwhile, someone’s buying all those chocolate bunnies at Rite Aid every Easter, and tuning in to a special Christmas episode of that depressing E! show about Hugh Hefner and his houseful of girlfriends (saw a few minutes of this the other day: and you thought cable couldn’t get any more venal, banal, dull, dull, dull). Modern U.S. culture cheapens and appropriates its religions every day. So it’s hard to understand why an artist can provoke such outrage, unless it’s just that he’s an easy target.

(side note: is this site turning into some kind of odd food blog? –ts)

I really miss the days sharing an office with the Serious Eats crew when they do a thing like full-team coverage of National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day. The picture below says everything… until you see the diagram.