Food is more than Cooking
Mark Bittman is fast becoming my food hero. My last posted blog was about him and his food sensibilities are a match to mine. He recently wrote an article in the New York Times food special magazine that really had me going…you go there.
Here is an example of what he said that was so smart. “Many Americans began applying the word cooking to the act of defrosting and heating mass produced frozen food in the microwave oven.” You need to admit that you know someone who says that and they really think they are cooking.
But in this article he really is talking about the dangers of our food supply, which you know has become a big theme of mine. He thinks there is a renewed interest in food sustainability and human health. As I quote from his article I can tell you I agree with all his thoughts and they make me a bit nervous. “At the millennium, we knew that fish had disappeared from the seas, taste had disappeared from chickens, regulation has all but from government agencies and humanity had disappeared from the way we handle animals. Obesity and it associated lifestyle diseases became news, as did acute illnesses like salmonella and mad cow. It also became clear to everyone who took the time to think that our over consumption of meat was contributing to hunger of nearly one billion fellow earthlings.”
Later in the article he questions, “The real issues- how we grow and raise, distribute and sell, prepare and eat food? And how do our patterns of doing these things affect the rest of world and vice versa- are simply too big to ignore. And if we are obsessing about where our food is from and how it’s grown rather than whether our fries are cooked in beef fat or cholesterol free oil is this progress.”
Finally he states, “Simply put, many more Americans are seeing food as more than a necessary fuel whose only requirement is that it can be obtained and consumed with much difficulty or cost. Perhaps just in time, we’re saying ‘hold the shake’ and looking for something more wholesome.”
I am wondering how you feel about your food. Do you even give it much thought or are you starting to get nervous about what we are doing to our planet every time a cow belches. And why do we need so many cows?
Read the article your self....
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12wwln-lede-t.html?scp=1&sq=Why%20take%20food%20seriously&st=cse
Here is an example of what he said that was so smart. “Many Americans began applying the word cooking to the act of defrosting and heating mass produced frozen food in the microwave oven.” You need to admit that you know someone who says that and they really think they are cooking.
But in this article he really is talking about the dangers of our food supply, which you know has become a big theme of mine. He thinks there is a renewed interest in food sustainability and human health. As I quote from his article I can tell you I agree with all his thoughts and they make me a bit nervous. “At the millennium, we knew that fish had disappeared from the seas, taste had disappeared from chickens, regulation has all but from government agencies and humanity had disappeared from the way we handle animals. Obesity and it associated lifestyle diseases became news, as did acute illnesses like salmonella and mad cow. It also became clear to everyone who took the time to think that our over consumption of meat was contributing to hunger of nearly one billion fellow earthlings.”
Later in the article he questions, “The real issues- how we grow and raise, distribute and sell, prepare and eat food? And how do our patterns of doing these things affect the rest of world and vice versa- are simply too big to ignore. And if we are obsessing about where our food is from and how it’s grown rather than whether our fries are cooked in beef fat or cholesterol free oil is this progress.”
Finally he states, “Simply put, many more Americans are seeing food as more than a necessary fuel whose only requirement is that it can be obtained and consumed with much difficulty or cost. Perhaps just in time, we’re saying ‘hold the shake’ and looking for something more wholesome.”
I am wondering how you feel about your food. Do you even give it much thought or are you starting to get nervous about what we are doing to our planet every time a cow belches. And why do we need so many cows?
Read the article your self....
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/12/magazine/12wwln-lede-t.html?scp=1&sq=Why%20take%20food%20seriously&st=cse
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