I've resisted sharing it here because there are so many cooking blogs out there, and I don't want to be a cooking blog. But then I realized that:
- This is my blog and I can put whatever I want on it.
- Real food requires just as much energy and creativity as some of my other projects.
- I've chosen to make this a priority in my daily life, and so my blog should reflect that.
- I find I am asked frequently for the same recipes, so documenting them here will be much easier.
So, some background. Like many people, I have had an awakening about the state of our food system in this country. I have strong opinions on this topic and the many ways it touches our everyday lives. There is so much to say about this, but (very) briefly:
- Too much of our food is produced in factories.
- Too many people don't know how to cook.
- So much of this factory food, while edible, is not actually food. (See Omnivore's Dilemma or anything else written by Michael Pollan). It is full of chemicals and things you wouldn't otherwise have any reason to put in your body.
- So much of our "food" is raised, grown and processed in ways that are dangerous to our health (and I don't mean that in an abstract way - see Fast Food Nation), economically short-sighted, and ecologically disastrous.
- Real food tastes better and is more satisfying.
- Real food is better for your body.
- Eating - and enjoying - real food can help us have a healthier relationship with food.
There's nothing quite like having kids to feed to make you rethink what is on your table. And how it got there.
The food we eat, where we get it, how we eat it - all of it is shaped by our culture. And frankly, this aspect of our culture is terrible.
- We have allowed corporations to dominate our food culture, choices and policies.
- Low-quality, highly processed food is by far the cheapest and most plentiful thing to eat.
- And we eat it everywhere - in our cars, at our desks, everywhere.
- We're losing the communal element of what it means to eat together.
- We have lost the notion that eating should be pleasurable and important.
- We are losing the creativity, innovation and satisfaction of cooking.
- We are not teaching our children how to eat - but later we will definitely teach them how to be on a diet.
In my mind our food culture is like a river. A river I am not happy with at all. There are so many other rivers I would rather be in - French, Italian, etc. - as I think our river is pretty messed up and does not flow to a happy place. Think about how hard it can be to "eat healthy" or be on a diet - it basically involves swimming upstream, fighting against so many aspects of our unhealthy food culture. You can give up any of these things and swim upstream for a while:
- carbs
- fat
- dairy
- gluten
- cooked foods
- solid foods
- pleasure
- eating out
- the list goes on...
And it will probably be great. For a while. But you can only swim upstream for so long before you get tired and the current overwhelms you and you are back where you started, or maybe even further downstream.
I don't want to go where this river leads. But I was born into it and this is my home. When I was a kid, my dad taught me how to cross a river in a kayak. You don't paddle straight across, or the current will just carry you off. Instead, you aim upstream for the other side, higher than where you actually want to end up, and angle your boat so that while the current is pushing you downstream, you are also letting it push you where you want to go. And of course you paddle.
That is my goal - I have to work within this river, and I need to figure out how to make it help me and my family. We all do, for so many good reasons.
We have to aim higher upstream.
We have to do the work and planning needed to navigate this river.
We have to forgive ourselves - we didn't create this river.
We need to explore this river - name the things that are in it and examine them.
We have to do what we can to improve this river. While we cannot control it, we should take every possible opportunity to make it better.
So... in summary, I'll be posting some things about food. :)
Jessica - this is Nicole, Kristian Jaime's wife. I very much love this post for several reasons.
ReplyDelete-I am a public health professional, and I am always preaching about living a healthy lifestyle (not going on diets). Eating healthy starts with a mental shift about what 'food' is...just like you highlighted in this post.
-Eating a meal is not just eating a meal. I think how a family eats dinner says so much about their priorities and their culture. If a family is content having everyone grab a plate and eat alone in their separate rooms, this to me means they do not value their shared time together as a family. On the other, when families not only eat together but cook the meal together, this means they value traditions (recipes passed down) and genuinely care about each other.
-Most of the diseases people suffer from can be prevented by adjusting their behavior. The problem is that the media has made 'diet drinks, low-fat butter, etc' seem like the healthier option, when, in fact, they are all just loaded with chemicals to make the items taste better. So, the public is being fed lie after lie about the healthier options, when the healthier option is just down the street at the farmers market (or produce section of grocery store). I am truly shocked to see what people feed their children. Yes, cost is a factor, and that will not change until. So we have to find ways to educate people on what to buy, how to cook, and how to value meal preparation in their house.
We buy full fat butter and do not have any diet or low-fat items in our house. I am a gourmand, and I do not like to deny myself food. I think moderation is the key to a happy, healthy lifestyle. Bring on the wine, ice cream and pasta, just bring it to me in a little cup :)