Michael Pollan gets a lot of press from Serious Eats, a food blog I read regularly. Today there was a link to Pollan's 12 Commandments. I have to say, some of them are pretty tough for me.
1. "Don't eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food." Grandma, you read this blog - what sorts of things do you think this means? Blue yogurt from a squeeze tube? Saffron foam? Scorpions? I have eaten only the last of these, and I stand by that decision, but on the whole I expect my grandmothers would recognize what I eat as food even if they might not enjoy it.
2. "Avoid foods containing ingredients you can't pronounce." Yeah, I violate this one, in one particular way - I eat vegan margarine. I got into the habit when I was staying with my aunt and uncle in Northern California and I just like it. I know it's wrong. Feel free to shun me. I'm also not great at prononciation in general - nicoise olives are out, I'm afraid.
3. "Don't eat anything that won't eventually rot." Except for honey - the honey buried with the Pharaohs is still technically edible.
4. "Avoid food products that carry health claims." What about oatmeal? The Quaker Oats canister sings the praises of whole grains and heart disease. But in general I agree with this one - food is neither medicine nor poison.
5. "Shop the peripheries of the supermarket; stay out of the middle." The middle is where they keep peanut butter, jam, pasta, beans, and flour. I need those things.
6. "Better yet, buy food somewhere else: the farmers' market or CSA." This one I do.
7. "Pay more, eat less." Okay, so here's where it gets really tricky. Krista and I are, I am proud to say, on the USDA's Thrifty Food Plan (note: that link is to a PDF file). That means that this month I am supposed to spend $33.60 on my food. (It's based on age and sex.) This is the cheapest food plan the USDA has, and it's my goal to stay as close to it as possible.
8. "Eat a wide variety of species." I'm not sure what this means exactly but I don't think I'm doing it. There's not really all that much variety to be had out here. I did have bison the other day, on a pizza.
9. "Eat food from animals that eat grass." I don't buy beef, and chickens don't eat grass. Neither do lentils.
10. "Cook, and if you can, grow some of your own food." I do cook, but my apartment is too dark for even a windowsill basil plant. This makes me really sad.
11. "Eat meals and eat them only at tables." That I do.
12. "Eat deliberately, with other people whenever possible, and always with pleasure." This is the most important, and it can be hard - I tend to mindlessly graze, and there's never anyone to eat with, especially now that Krista's gone. But now I'm going to have a turkey burger and some baked yam fries (from a Serious Eats recipe!) and some local spinach, and I will eat it with pleasure.
3 comments:
I much prefer the shorthand version: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. Add "Eat local" and that about sums it up. We have been enjoying wild leeks from our friend the amazing yogurt guy and fiddlehead ferns! Manga!
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/28/magazine/28nutritionism.t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
I'm going to combine my comments for this and the immediate preceding post.
food that doesn't look like food...what is that awful almondy candy that gets made into food looking things like bacon or something...can't think of the name of it but had an aunt who used to bring us stuff like that and it was awful.
This week's issue of the NYer includes an article a bout a famous but very unfortunate chef in Chicago who specializes in making oddly combined foods into oddly shaped forms and charging fantastic prices for whatever these things turn into. I can't imagine being that bored with food or life that I would need this guy's creations.
It is my soveriegn rule to never eat standing up.
Get in touch with some actual German students (of any course of study) and ask if you might join with them for some meals, Dutch treat of course. An opportunity for you to speak the language and for them to relax in their own language.
Baseball gmes are better with beer than bourbon. Bourbon is for Kentucky Derby Day or deeply Southern people only. Necking part goes just as well but why "under the bleachers"?
My tomatoe plants re in the ground, surrounded by marigolds and some should be setting fruit this very week. there is NOTHING like home grown tomatoes. You should look inot planting a little garden somewhere if you're really going to be at IU the whole summer.
This was fun!
My tomato experience came to nought this past summer, but I may try again, although the garden I've got access to now seems likely too shady for success.
I think the stuff TCA references is marizpan. They used to make the bride and groom on wedding cakes out of it, I think.
Finally, the rule about eating creatures that eat grass should probably be amended in some fashion. I'd suggest it's really about not eating "grain-fed" animals, since that's really more like "cow chow" rather than actual grain. And we all know what "cow chow" is made from (see: Soylent Green) and why that's bad.
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