Cooked - Fire

I'll be honest, I never connect the Last Supper, the Genesis story, or the Holy Eucharist with barbecue until reading this book over the summer. I guess that is just another example of my further disconnect from food?

Why cook?
1. Improve health and wellbeing.
2. Connect with significant others.
3. Help reform the industrial food system.
4. Achieve greater self-sufficiency.
5. Acquire deeper understanding of natural world and your role in it.

I'll be honest again, I've usually thought of cooking as a means to an end, not as a means unto itself. The lost art of cooking (microwaving not withstanding), as defined in our readings, has resulted in the loss of culture, or at least our ability to explain our culture, as evident by our last discussion. Cooking is a defining human activity - "the act with which culture begins" - and we have outsourced this defining act to "others," which, it seems, has resulted (in part) in our homogenized definition of American culture.

At its most basic form, the cook fire throws its long shadow over all other forms of culinary advances. Fire cooking is an "emotionally freighted and spiritually charged endeavor," involving the rituals of sacrifice, heroics, theater, and most often, masculinity (pg. 13).

How fascinating is it that we live in the epicenter (or at least, one of the epicenters) of what it means to cook with fire - western barbecue country. The history of whole hog barbecue is the history of gender politics, race relations, spirituality, and Southern living. Pollan works in references to Greek mythology, Freud, Cain & Abel, Noah, CAFOs, slave trade, cooking hypothesis, maillard reaction, caramelization, kosher rules, and of course, CRACKLING!

Why cook? Why fire? Why not?

In Defense of Food

Nutritionism myths:
1. What matters most is not the food but the "nutrient."
2. Because nutrients are invisible and incomprehensible to everyone but "experts," we need "expert" help in deciding what to eat.
3. The purpose of eating is to promote a narrow concept of physical health.

These myths, which are promoted as tenets of western nutrition science, fail to acknowledge food as pleasure, community, family, spirituality, culture, friendship, identity of self, identity of other, our connection to the natural world. This reductionist view of the western diet is destined to maintain the status quo, as scientist continue to tinker with this nutrient and that nutrient, looking for the silver bullet. Pollan talks about the dualism involved in food: good vs. bad nutrient, which is insulting in its simplicity to both food the the Creator of food.

Food is about more than maintaining or improving health. As we make greater strides to improve our health through focusing on the elimination of this nutrient or addition of that nutrient, we further confuse what was once a decision simplified through history, culture, religion, and family. The story of margarine, pg. 32-36 is a perfect example of food science's focus on improving health through food, which resulted in the introduction of hydrogenation (a.k.a., trans fat).

This reductionist science has not surprisingly resulted in the simplification of our food chain, via vast monocultures of corn, wheat and soy. Today corn contributes 554 calories a day to America's per capita food supply; wheat 768; soy 257. Keep in mind the average American adult is operating under the 2000 calories/day total consumption model (pg. 117).

What has led us to this point? Industrialization of food is far too simplistic an answer. Capitalistic American gives the consumer what it wants, and if we demanded more food and less foodstuffs, the monolithic food giants would provide. Americans spend less than 10% of their income on food; less than 30 minutes a day preparing meals; 65 minutes enjoying meals (pg. 145). Why?

Timely stories from WFAE

I think we may be on to something....

I'm posting links to two very timely stories. The first is a podcast from WFAE Charlotte Talks discussing the mystery of the disappearing honey bee.

Charlotte Talks - Loss of Pollinators

The second link, also from WFAE, discusses the important ways food brings people together. My family just spent part of the weekend in Charlotte at the annual Greek Festival marveling at the gathering of all things Greek" food, family, costume, culture, food, church, food, and lots of food. I'll bring some special Greek treats to class Monday night. In the meantime, reflect on the many ways food, and the sharing of food, has influenced and defined your family, neighborhood, church, culture.

WFAE - The Gathering Power of Food

Food Rules - Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants

84 food rules, not to "follow," but to practice. What were 5 of your favorites? What were 5 you totally disagree with? What are 5 of your own food rules, not found in Pollan's book?

1. Everything tastes better with bacon.
2. Ethnic food is better when cooked by someone of that ethnicity.
3. Everyday is a good day for pizza. Every meal is a good meal for pizza.
4. There is no such thing as evil food or good food.
5. Food is so much more than calories and nutrients.

Michael Pollan's Food Rules

Plight of Honeybee

Bees are the glue that holds our agricultural system together, adding more than $15 billion in value to farming each year, yet managed bee hives are disappearing at an alarming rate:

1. Pesticides - Neonicotinoids
2. Pests - varroa destructor
3. Bacterial (american foulbrood) and viral diseases (Nosema ceranae)
4. Crop monocultures (corn, wheat, soybean)

Bees may end up managed like cattle, pigs, and chicken - feedlot beekeeping.

Yet globally, up to 100,000 animal species die off each year. What are some reasons that we should care any more about the bee, vs. the other 99,999?