(no subject)

[figment]

Inspired by Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food, I stopped at the grocery store last night and then cooked up a variety of things as soon as I got home. I was probably also influenced by the fact that I just came back from Germany where I was, of course, not cooking, and was eating in unusual-for-me ways; it's nice to get back to the kitchen after something like that.

In the grocery store, I followed some of Pollan's advice, and looked for foods that were local, organic, and genuinely whole - I came out with organic green onions, beets, parsley, and apples from Pennsylvania (it was the closest I could find), an orange, tofu, and tempeh (the most suspect item I purchased). When I got home I hauled out the eggplant and green beans that needed using up too. I made 4.5 dishes: beet salad, oven fried/baked eggplant, baked BBQ tofu, a concoction of fried onions, green beans, garlic, and beet greens, and (the .5) most of tabouleh, without the tomatoes for now. We had all of the completed items for dinner: yum.

The book isn't much of a surprise to anyone who pays attention to food or who's read The Omnivore's Dilemma, but it's a good quick read and has some interesting support in it. I especially like this piece of advice: Avoid food products containing ingredients that are (a) unfamiliar, (b) unpronounceable, (c) more than five in number, or that include (d) high-fructose corn syrup. I won't necessarily never eat those things, mind you, but it was an interesting exercise to really think about that as I went to the store. Not much of a change from how I already shop, mind you, but an interesting exercise none the less.

Comments

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

[jgs42.livejournal.com]

I haven't read IDoF yet, but of course I've heard about it from many sources and it's on my list. I do like the pithy summary: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." It rings very true, and is one of those deceptively simple slogans -- the kind that makes you say, I knew that... but I doubt I could actually have distilled it to seven words.

I'm currently reading The Secret History of the War on Cancer (http://www.devradavis.com/) which has more than you would think in common with this subject and is another good quick (but scary) read.

[birdfigment.livejournal.com]

That pithy little slogan is a good one, and you're right about it. It's also one of those things that gets more complicated (in some ways) as you look at it - like coming to terms with the idea that not everything edible is really "food".

The book you're reading sounds interesting - I just ordered that from the AU library.