Spot-On: Think About It
You can read the entire article at Spot-On.
Technorati: Food | essay | spot-on | food column | food commentary
Labels: essay, food, food column, food commentary, spot-on
Monday, June 11, 2007
You can read the entire article at Spot-On.
Disclaimer: Most quantities in recipes are approximate. Adjust as needed according to your taste and experience. Unless otherwise specified, eggs are large and butter is unsalted.
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9 Comments:
Very nice example of how we could expand our everyday thinking concerning food.
For the last few years I've been making more of a concerned effort to think about the origins and hidden agendas behind the food I eat. When I first spoke to people about my concerns, I received a lot of things like "oh god, that would just stress me out thinking so much about something else in my life" as though what they ate was a trivial part of their existence and not the REASON for their existence. Having a while to ponder this I reflect and realize that now, I enjoy food more than I ever have and that the pursuit of eating more SOLE food (thanks Ethicurean) has enabled me to be in a much happier frame of mind during my meals. This alone has aided in me enjoying life more, as now, my meals for the most part leave me full. Full of health, full of culinary satisfaction, full of happiness that my purchases are going toward making the world/home a better place.
Thanks Kevin, for being one of the folks out there who helps me keep my focus on what matters in life.
Dylan,
I don't obessess about the origins of my food, or it's processing, or even about the way a dish turns out (unless I'm specifically trying to accomplish something) but I try to slow down when I eat and focus on what I'm eating. And that's, surprisingly, harder than it seems it should be.
I love the thought behind this. We do rush through and eat with little thought.
If we spent more time reflecting on feeding our souls and less stuffing our faces we would be healthier and happier!
I -love- your conclusion. I'm overweight, but at least I come by it honestly! :D
I allow myself to eat whatever I want, so long as it's not crap. My lunch of last-night's leftovers has amount of calories, perhaps, as the fast-food meal it replaces, but at least it's made with care and from ingredients I understand.
Anita,
Sounds like you're as far ahead of the game as I am.
It doesn't help that for the last 150 years or so the food industry and agri-business have been pounding away at the American psyche, convincing us that cooking from real ingredients is too much drudgery and that it's much easier to just zap some processed, factory-made "food product" in the microwave. And it doesn't help that our own government uses our own tax dollars to subsidize the industialized food complex to make packaged "food" that is absolutely bad for us--personally, and as a society--cheaper than what we can buy fresh at the farmer's market.
And if you look closely, you'll see that things are only getting worse. Our food production is consolidating into fewer and fewer corporate hands. Cheap ingredients made with cheap labor from all over the world--and sometimes of dubious quality--inceasingly comprise what we put in our mouths. And all of this consolidating and cheapening is only making it harder for the local farmers who do provide fresh, wholesome ingredients to compete and stay in business.
It is, indeed, a sad state of affairs. What we need is a complete attitude adjustment...
Ed,
Amen, brother.
Thank you, Kevin, for writing such an honest and contemplative post. Loved the slide show; sent it to many people.
For years and years I've made cakes from cake mixes, thinking that making such a thing from scratch was a tremendous culinary undertaking. Who told me that "from scratch" was too hard, too time-consuming? I'm not sure, but everything I made came from a box or a can. Then one day I got a funny notion. I dug out my Great Aunt's cookbook and made a cake. It wasn't as easy as a mix, but it really wasn't that difficult. So I made another, and another, and then some cookies, some biscuits, a couple pies. Suddenly, none of this was hard or daunting or difficult. So I made gravy from scratch--not a packet. And I made mac and cheese with actual cheese, not a packet from a blue box. And it was delicious. I made my own marinades, my own meatloaf, my own everything. And I began to see how ingredients work together, the chemistry of baking, the art of blending seasonings, the honest and bright flavor of fresh ingredients, the beauty of a subtlety that overly-salted processed foods can't begin to convey. I love food; I always have. But sometimes you can find so much more to love when you actually try to understand the thing you love.
And in all this I discovered something I had not expected: my food is more filling. I've always had a voracious appetite. It's a family trait. My brother once noted that you never really get full when eating fast food, you just feel sick and quit eating. Being truly satiated came once I began to eat real foods.
I watched a TV show the other night about a bulimic, and I'm still thinking about it. That poor child, eating grocery store sheet cakes and cheap ice cream and imitation Oreos and fast food of all sorts. And then making herself sick to purge the dirty food from her body. I think I glimpsed a metaphor for America, and I cried.
Elizabeth,
Your comment on the bulemic girl strikes me as right on.
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