Hey guys! So I
touched on this during Edwin and Maddie’s discussion but I would like to take
the time to unpack the question of how American culture impacts the problems of
how we eat and produce food a bit more. I
also think it is important that we keep the themes brought up in Edwin and
Maddie’s discussion in the back of our minds; choosing to eat a certain way is
an issue of availability and much much more.
So when we discuss the issues of American culture we should be keeping
these ideas in mind. Before I rant too
much, please read this interview with the wonderful Michael Pollan to give us a
base of understanding:
So we have no cuisine.
I think this boils down to many different things: the fact that America
is a land of immigrants, bringing a variety of food traditions from
abroad. As the article discussed, I
think it is because of this misconception that the “best” food is the worst for
you. And there is of course the American
mentality-created by our capitalist system-that we need to constantly be doing
as much in as little time as possible (hence the reminder in the title of our
class “Slow Farming” that that is a system we need to push back against).
As I mentioned in class, this realization of our food
culture tying directly to our work culture dawned on me while studying abroad
in France. Every day my host mom would
walk to the boulangerie (the bakery) to buy fresh baguettes. She may stop at a fromagerie to find a cheese
to pair with it. As I walked to school
early in the morning I could see the bakers in the apartments over their stores
already busy at work making the fresh foods for the day. You didn’t go to the Kroger’s; you went to specialty
stores with local fresh foods.
This is a luxury of their culture. We don’t have bakeries on every corner in
America, and even if we did most of us wouldn’t feel we had the time to go to
five different stores for our food consumption.
We would rather go to one giant chain grocery store where we can find
all we need, even if that means buying processed foods made thousands of miles
away. In France, it is illegal to make
employees work more than 35 hours a week.
It is illegal to make workers work on Sundays. Their lunch breaks are long enough, both in
the office and for the children at school, that the family can walk home and
enjoy a nice long family meal before returning to work. If we contrast this to the American system,
there are people looking for any chance they can to work more than 40 hours so
they can make overtime. In American
cafeterias children have about 30 minutes to scarf down their meals as quickly
as possible before returning to class.
The importance of taking the time to create and eat wonderful and
healthy meals conflicts directly with the American system in which you must
work as hard as you can as quickly as you can just to get by. Tackling the many many ways this is so is far
much more than can be covered in the blog post BUT it is addressed very well in
the documentary Food Inc (which I am sure many of you are familiar with). If you haven’t seen it I thoroughly suggest
it. It is on Netflix. If you don’t have time or if you are like me
and have seen it but need a refresher, watch this trailer (and look out for
Michael Pollan’s brief appearance): http://michaelpollan.com/videos/food-inc/
Okay, so this blog is clearly biased. I am not trying to necessarily make a plea
for a socialist government like France but I do think we need to deeply
consider the ways our capitalist system encourages unhealthy food culture. Our money channeling into the hands of a
small few makes the working class have to struggle to get by and makes small
farmers fall victim to these corporations.
There is a reason America is the most obese country in the world. Our culture in terms of work ethic and
mentality around food has encouraged this.
Feel free to disagree and if you do I would love to hear your arguments
in class on Thursday! In the mean time I would love to hear your response to
one or more of the following questions.
If you choose not to address any of these questions still keep it in the
back of your mind as we will discuss these more on Thursday.
1)
Do you agree with the statement that American
culture has no cuisine? If you had to
describe American as a type of cuisine how would you describe it?
2)
For those who have studied abroad or have
experiences interacting with different cultures, did you have a similar
experience of questioning our food system in contrast to these cultures? What did your experience with different food
cultures reveal to you about our own?
3)
Do you agree with this argument that the problem
with eating in America stems from issues of our government/capitalist
structure? Or even if you do agree do
you think it is much more complicated than that? What is the opposing view to this argument (I
think our deepest understanding of an issue often comes from debate rather than
everyone in agreement so even if you don’t disagree, feel free to still play
devil’s advocate)?
4)
What are some arguments that can be made to the
claim that our societal structure is having an impact on the way we eat? Can you think of examples in your own
lives? How have you experienced American
culture impacting the way you eat in a negative way?
I loved this post Emma. Your descriptions of your time in France made me think quite a bit about my experience in Costa Rica and how I ate healthier there then I probably ever have in my life. I think a huge part of this had to do with a shift in how I came to view food in general while abroad and my relationship to the ritual of eating. Aside from the occasional (aka weekly...) fried empanada, I ate very well in Costa Rica. Even in the urban center of San José, there were tons of markets and "green fairs" where vendors sold fresh cuts of meat, fish, eggs, and heaps of gorgeous produce. The produce, particularly the fruit, was varied, inexpensive, local, and found on nearly every corner. I think this contributed to fresh produce being an easy, dependable snack for many Costa Ricans. Every day after school, my host mom and I would sit down and have coffee or tea together (a common afternoon ritual for Costa Rican families) and she would usually serve a small snack as well. This ritual of taking the time to sit together and talk and not think about whatever needed to get done next is a huge part of the slowing down mentality of Costa Rican food culture. I also found taking the time to sit and eat a proper breakfast each morning to be a far more pleasant start to the day than rushing out the door with a piece of toast in my mouth. I came to really appreciate the contrast of these acts of eating to what I was accustomed to in the states. All this being said, there is still a large influence of U.S. fast food chains in Costa Rica and places like Popeyes and McDonalds are certainly not rare in San José. However, I would argue that "sodas" or little roadside eateries, are far more prevalent and popular as they serve traditional Costa Rican dishes (casado, gallo pinto) and are often much cheaper and tastier than fast food chains. Josie, feel free to jump in here :)
ReplyDeleteI very much agree and that our food culture and capitalist system go hand in hand but I think this relationship is multifaceted. I believe far more people would take the time to cook for their families if their economic realities were not so restricting and demanding. I also think the act of slowing down can be viewed as a form of resistance to this culture which begs the question of whether the ability to resist is a form of privilege. My family sat down together for dinner every night when I was growing up and my parents made this a priority no matter how busy we all were. We ate later than most families however due to my dad's work schedule. During my first few years of college, I feel like I lost a lot of this mentality and study abroad is what caused me to view cooking and eating differently. I am now making an intentional effort to cook dinner most nights despite how busy or stressed I feel. When at K, I have noticed a definite relationship to what I am putting in my body and the ebb and flow of my stress levels. What I have come to realize is that while cooking takes time, I feel more present and grounded when I force myself to slow down and make something fresh. For me, cooking is relaxing and instead of feeling like a chore, I find a lot of joy in preparing food. I feel very connected to my body when cooking and sharing the food I make with those I love is just as satisfying as actually eating it. While I would still like to be more consistent with my efforts, I am grateful to have been exposed to a culture that made me reevaluate my relationship to cooking and food.
I loved reading Abby’s response to this because I was in Costa Rica as well and lived right across the street from Abby and her host family! (Oh, the memories).
ReplyDeleteWhile my experience was similar to Abby’s and I noticed a lot of the same things I was shocked to see all of the U.S. food brands that had made their way into San Jose city life. In fact, during my first week in San Jose my host mother took us to Pizza Hut to share a slice of pizza and claimed that it was her favorite. We never returned to any food chain store in the following 6 months and I am still unsure why we even went there. Maybe it was her way of making us feel at home, or like most things, it was convenient.
All throughout San Jose you can find stores like Denny’s and Applebee’s, already mentioned by Abby, and it makes me wonder, is this “American” cuisine?
Your question really made me think, Emma and there is one word that comes to mind when I think of American cuisine: BREAKFAST.
I do not have a vast knowledge on all of the different breakfast traditions around the world, but I can say that ours is distinct. My cousin’s in Argentina can barely stomach the idea of having scrambled eggs and bacon for breakfast and when I explain French toast (Ironic, I know) and eggs benedict they look at me like I am crazy. Families in Argentina sit down for lunch and dinner everyday but breakfast for them is inconvenient. My stomach growls when I sit at breakfast with my grandmother and have ONE piece of toast and a cup of tea. Once, when a couple of cousins were visiting us in Michigan we took them to a brunch restaurant, after our meal they refused to eat all day. They couldn’t believe that was just one meal and that people ate pancakes for breakfast. I know this does not apply to all cultures (Costa Rican’s have large and full breakfasts) and certain breakfast dishes are influenced by different cultures, I find that the breakfast tradition is one way that people living in the United States do slow down.
I realize that access to a “slow breakfast” is not accessible to a large percentage of the United States and up scale brunch places cater to a specific population. Not everyone can slow down on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and might even be skipping breakfast and waiting until midday to have their first bite of food. Do people think U.S. breakfast places/restaurants could be considered part of our cuisine?
While in Thailand I, too, had the experience of witnessing a very different type of food consumption, mainly, in the quality and type of food. What was mostly served was some sort of steamed vegetables, rice, sometimes meat or eggs, accompanied with a sauce. These meals were often prepared via stir-fry and were therefore pretty easy to prepare. These meals were also very natural, filling, and mostly organic. There was also often fruit served with the meal and dessert, although easily found, was not a stable of the meal. Also, each meal consisted of generally the same thing. There wasn’t really a differentiation between breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and my host family would often use leftovers from dinner for breakfast. In this regard I totally agree with Josie that American cuisine is breakfast. I think the American consumption of breakfast is unique in that its inception was to maximize carb intake after hard morning labor (the pioneer’s relying on cornmeal). Of course morning labor is no longer an average part of American’s mornings and yet breakfast stays the same, and has gotten bigger and badder.
ReplyDeletePersonally I am not a big breakfast fan, especially, so early in the morning. I think this connects to a “fast” food movement, because in high school I always overslept so I didn’t have time to eat breakfast. I would therefore eat fruit or something on the train to school. Although, this is a more rushed way to do it, it was also my own fault! Also during high school, because my mom worked four jobs, I often at alone (therefore in front of the t.v.). I’m not sure if this connects to the slow or fast movement because, although my mom was working a lot, she had to work at night because of her field. Also, I was eating sometimes healthy, sometimes not. I think it is important to acknowledge the luxury of sitting down from a family meal, but also to not look down on those who don’t have the time and align that with fast food.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn order to describe a truly ‘American’ cuisine, we are required to define American culture. This quickly becomes a beautifully sloppy conglomeration of mixed ancestries and experiences, both in the US and abroad. I think the claim that there is no American cuisine places excessive value on the idea that a culture, in order to be ‘authentic’, must be passed through countless generations. Cultural sharing, debatably to the point of appropriation, has defined the attitudes and behaviors of the residents of the US—both of Native Americans and the descendants of immigrants. Food has been prepared in the way we’ve been taught, either by our parents or other teachers. By synthesizing different lessons and using the chef’s own creative palette, they can create fusion food.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that comments discussing Thai cuisine will dominate this post, but here’s my take on it: it wasn’t always fresh; it wasn’t always healthy; it wasn’t always local. (It was, however, consistently delicious!) While I lived with my host family in the city of Chiang Mai, my host father (a former chef) was solely responsible for cooking for the family. Most ingredients were sourced from the market in our neighborhood. After we moved into apartments, we relied on street vendors for most of our meals. Many of the ‘restaurants’ we ate in were tables set up under tents, where you could get a fast plate of oily and delicious basil-fried pork with rice. The entire experience of ordering and eating could be completed in less than twenty minutes. My diet was regularly supplemented by regular trips to 7/11 for a cup of Ramen noodles or a cup of heavily sweetened yogurt. It would be inauthentic to represent eating in Thailand as a romanticized vision of all citizens eating healthful and heirloom foods. In this way, the food eaten in Thailand today may be seen as a separate entity from ‘Thai Cuisine’ as we imagine it.
I think the structure of our food distribution and production systems is inherently flawed, though I’m not completely sure how. The counterargument I often hear to this claim, though I don’t agree with it, is that perhaps food deserts and swamps exist because the areas have the highest demand for processed food. If businesses know they won’t sell a product, then why stock it? I believe that there are other factors that affect the purchasing behaviors in these food deserts; the healthy, less processed food is often much more expensive than the pre-packaged snacks. We also enter into our discussion of the time economy, where faster food is easier for working families. Even if we have fresh fruit available in food deserts, that doesn’t necessarily make it accessible.
The question of how (and if it is even possible!) to define American cuisine is an interesting one. What makes food "authentically" from somewhere? Does food culture conform to rigid national borders or does it lie in some interstitial space, in the between? When I think of my own personal/familial "American" food culture, or- when I think about what food(s) I feel emotionally connected to, what foods I could tell stories about, I think of Jewish holidays, that each have their own distinct food traditions and guidelines about what to eat and when during the period of celebration/observance. Passover (Pesach) especially, has the best comfort food: bowls of hot matzah ball soup, chilled gefilte fish, and charoset (apples, walnuts, and spices ground together) to spread on matzah... Each of the traditional foods has its own specific meaning, its own connection to the story of Passover, which has brought my extended family together year after year. Passed down and shared now through 3-4 generations of Jewish Americans, is this/our food tradition itself "American"? Strangely, this makes me think of our discussion of heirloom seeds, whose definition seems to be pretty arbitrary and unclear: once a seed has been around for a certain number of generations, it gets called an heirloom...??? Of course it's more complicated with people (and cultural practices). Ultimately, I think the question of what constitutes "American" food should keep being discussed, and should remain open. It raises many other questions with it. What makes a person an American, or a part of American culture? How does political/historical discourse around indigeneity and immigration impact what food we might consider American or not? On another note, writing about Passover- even just describing the food a bit- I can really feel the connections between food, story, and family/community– the nostalgic weight of them. But this sort of feeling doesn't happen with most of the food I eat (or, more accurately, consume, between classes and homework). Pollen makes a good point about this. The value of food can't be measured in just one way; it carries (or should carry) many meanings beyond a nutritional label. I do feel that disconnect personally, and agree that an intention to forge those connections and slow down our interactions with food, can help to support our relationships with the food itself as well as with each other, in communities.
ReplyDeleteWatching the trailer for Food Inc. I resonated with the farmers and people interviewed who said we need to concentrate on making food that is not making people sick. Food making people sick is something that catches my attention because it is something I deal with all the time. It has taken me years to discover which food makes me sick and which food does not. I am still on the journey to feel good. One issue I had in trying to understand what was making me sick is that everything seemed to be making me sick. As my understanding of the food system continues to grow corn seems to be something I keep coming back to. I am not able to digest corn well. A lot of people are not able to, yet it is in an immense amount of food products. It is one of the reason food that a lot of people eat does not make them feel good and is harmful to their bodies and digestive system. I am not arguing that corn is at the root of all peoples digestive and general health issues ( as Michael Pollen says in his interview we truly know little about nutrition and how we should eat), however what I am trying to say is food production companies do not seem to be invested in the long term or short term health issues that may or may not arise from consumption of their food.They are interested in whatever brings them money and thus I think our food system/ American Cuisine is defined by the capitalist system and it is making us sick. Cooking for myself, access to fresh vegetables, farmers markets, good cook books. All those things have saved my health, but as we have discussed they are not accessible to all. What I find frustrating is win I make myself too busy with school/life that I don’t give myself time to go to the grocery store or cook. It poorly affects my health because it makes me more likely to eat food that doesn’t make me feel good. I am someone who has the luxury to be able to slow down my life if I wanted to and thus I feel like I need to make an even greater effort to prioritize time in my life for taking care of my body through making good meals for myself...it can be one of my forms of resistance against the capitalist system.
ReplyDeleteI’m not sure that I agree with the statement that American culture has no cuisine. Early European immigrants came to America with some knowledge of European cuisine, and were able to adapt the cooking techniques and dishes to the new and varied plants, animals, and regions of what would become the United States, a country that has existed for over 200 years. Cooking techniques, and ingredients have changed in 200 years and new ones have been born out of America’s own history. Cheeseburgers came from the Progressive Era, and Coca-Cola wouldn’t have existed were it not for the Civl War, now, modern fusion cuisine is able to flourish in America. I would argue that American cuisine is a cuisine of fusion and change, reflective of the great diversity amongst its inhabitants that befits one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations. I can agree that there are many issues with the way that Americans and many people the world over have come to treat food. I do not think that the problems with the American food system and culture stem from our government and or capitalist structure alone. I can agree that both have had their role to play, I also believe that there are macro-biological forces at work. I think it is the height of hubris to believe humanity is beyond the forces that govern all life on earth. I believe our intelligence and pride has come at a great cost to our planet, in our vanity we have come to think of ourselves as better than the land we walk upon.
ReplyDeleteWow, so much great stuff here to respond to!! Where to begin . . . I'm really interested in how both your and Marie's post are interrogating the effects of capitalism on our health and lifestyles. John and I just had a lively disagreement about the relative evilness of capitalism (he thinks it's a bit more evil than I do), so I'll be really interested to hear what everyone has to say in class.
ReplyDeleteI think probably there are many cuisines within the U.S. I grew up in a predominantly Dutch, Methodist community where our cuisine was mostly milk & meat (from our cows), bread (from the Schwann truck), and vegetables from the garden. Lots of casseroles that could feed a crew of farmhands and be warmed in the oven in between milkings. Heavy on the cream of mushroom soup. Ice cream for bedtime snacks.
When I got older and out on my own, I found myself gravitating much more toward a vegetable-based diet. One thing I noticed eating vegetables from a grocery store was how bland they were compared to those my folks grew in their garden. It was hard for me to want to eat them, so I started growing my own.
A couple of points in the Pollan article that I found especially interesting--where he says that the healthiest and most delicious food choice for yourself is probably the choice that's best for your ecosystem and community as well. That really resonates with me--I think sometimes we get stuck in a paradigm that says we have to choose selfishly or unselfishly, that it's a "me" vs "others" or "us" vs "them" world. But on a fundamental level, I don't buy that. I think often the choices that are truly in our own long-term best interests are the choices that are best for the rest of the world too. Because our fates are inextricably intertwined!
I think that the scarcity mentality we have in our culture (ironic, in a land of so much abundance) and the basic insecurity so many of us feel because we don't feel a strong community support system around us leads to lifestyles that are stressed, over-busy, and within which slowing down and taking pleasure often feels like an indulgence we can't afford. Which is why I think that growing and cooking delicious food and sharing it with others can be a radical and revolutionary act, one that nourishes us while making the world better for others too.
The other place in the Pollan interview that really struck me was his comment about consumers reconceiving of themselves as citizens. That's where I think capitalism could really be transformed--the system is set up for us to play the role of blind consumer. But what if we refuse to be blind? What if we open our eyes to the effects of our consumption and refuse to participate in that way? It might take a radical shift in lifestyle to be sure, but could we have the courage to envision what a different sort of economic system might look like?
I had a very similar experience to Emma's while I was in France. In fact, one of the reasons that I decided to take French as a freshman was to go to France specifically for the food culture - I remain in deep adoration of the éclair and the entire suite of simple or elaborate French pastries and traditional cuisine. I have been an avid cook for years now, and went hoping desperately to learn from my host mother in her micro-sized kitchen. I was elated to learn that she was almost exclusively organic, and that she supported biodynamic farming through the farmers market and always created nutritionally balanced meals.
ReplyDeleteHere in the US, there is a budding cuisine, be it one that is borrowed form many cultures, but I find it accurate when Pollen notes that this is made inaccessible to the everyman by its presentation on cooking shows and the like that have become competition based rather than education-based. While I appreciate some such shows and the emphasis they put on freshness - it is true that they can make things seem like a more trying task than need be. I think blogs do the opposite, however.
A second problem is that of price. Being a self-identifying food snob, I am willing to spend the vast majority of my meager wages on organic and local food through the co-op, through stores like Whole Foods, and so on, but I would be lying if I said that I wasn't often appalled by the prices. the system we are working within, including the many steps to get fresh food across distances and onto our table, leads to inefficient allocations of funds and ultimately makes cuisine even less accessible.
In France, my revelation was not in the variety or the time spent in the creation and enjoyment of meals - these were known to me and key aspects of the country's draw. What was revelatory was the simple accessibility of it all. Here I could purchase fresh, local, in-season produce, meat, eggs and dairy at the farmer's markets on Tuesday and Saturday mornings, grab breakfast as well and spend under twenty euro. A stop by one of the three bakeries between my home and my university, and I could have a baguette for that lunch and the next at one euro. There, opting for local is a great way to save money, even as more chain-style groceries pop up in cities. There is a deep pride in agriculture and a support of it across the culture which I hope to see rejuvenated in the US, and with it a more authentic home cuisine and an accessibility that is still lacking in our latest food movement.
I'm not sure if I agree with the definition of cuisine being based on the conversation. It is an interesting idea and if it is the working definition of it then I can change the way that I view it. American culture is so young that it may be impossible for an the united States to have a culture at all. We are after all a conglomeration of cultures from around the world. We have to define culture and then we can start to discuss American cuisine. As for the abroad question, I did study abroad in Thailand. There is a much longer history of people in Thailand, this means that the people there have had a long amount of time to change and adapt their taste and culture. The food there was different from what I have had before and I have been told that this means it is more authentic. Though I'm sure the same spices could be used in another part of the world by someone who is not ethnically Thai and it would be the same. So what is cuisine then? It seems like race should not come into if food is authentic it not.
ReplyDeleteWhat interesting thoughts, Emma. I was perplexed by your questions concerning “American cuisine.” Tom Philpott wrote in his interview with Michael Pollan that Sidney Mintz determined the United States to be cuisine-less precisely because its residents do not converse passionately about food. I beg to differ on two accounts. First, though it certainly doesn’t appear that a nationwide “conversation” about authenticity is occurring, I would argue that regional “conflicts” concerning “the best” or “the right” way to prepare a food are always ongoing. Any of us familiar with the Detroit Coney Dog debate have already pledged their allegiance to either Lafayette or American Coney Island. If we accept Mintz’s frame for understanding what constitutes “having a cuisine,” these plural and regional conversations seem to qualify. Perhaps he’d deem a “passionate” Metropolitan Detroit “conversation” not wholly “American,” but wasn’t the counterexample offered by Mintz southwest France’s “obsession” with cassoulet? And what/who is “American” anyway? (That question will be left rhetorical). Secondly, couldn’t we also point to impassioned debates of US politicians (maybe we’d call these people representative of “America(ns)?”) about the food pyramid (now organized as a “plate”) as an example of a conversation about food? I’m assuming that Mintz meant for this “cuisine conversation” to occur between many nationals of a given country, but what might this elite, centralized debate in a US context also say about power in our food culture/system? Maybe, then, “American cuisine” is simultaneously many things regionally and a single, national thing decided by (and representing) a small group of elites.
ReplyDeleteOn the surface, nothing is American about American cuisine. The only clear distinction I can think of is the visible saturated presence of the fast food industry in our diet. The reality of our world today is that fast food restaurants can be found anywhere, yet not everybody consumes it at the same rate we do. When I studied abroad in Japan, there were plenty of fast food restaurants scattered throughout major cities and towns, but I noticed two key differences: ingredients and mutual trust. My view might be a bit biased since my program was actually located in the countryside, where life is a bit slower and the variety limited. Yet I never felt limited to healthy and organic foods. There is a big emphasis on eating healthy in Japan and though it is never explicitly stated so, all the cooking shows, commercials and restaurants surely bring it to your attention. Food is synonymous with the culture, thus fresh ingredients and overall convenience is given the greatest regard in matters of the kitchen. I never doubted the quality of the food I ate while in Japan, even when I would buy my dinners at the convenience store. Though it may sound strange to buy one’s meal at a liquor store and live the next day, convenience stores in Japan are like mini grocery stores. Usually stocked with anything your appetite could ask for, there was this feeling of mutual trust when eating at restaurants or convenience stores. You felt like you could go anywhere and eat anything because every eatery took food to heart.
ReplyDeleteAs an immigrant from Japan to the United States, I experienced the opposite of what Emma experienced during her study abroad in France. The region where I am from, Tokyo, is an extremely busy city: people are always rushing, workers are kept busy all the time, and working overtime is considered normal. In such a busy place, many young people don’t have time to cook their own food. To this end, Japanese convenience stores offer a variety of microwave food/convenient food, including healthy ones.
ReplyDeleteThe conversation shifts a little bit, but I forgot to mention one of my ideas in class today: Religion and food culture are very closely related with each other. It was truly interesting when Amy brought up about “sacred” being of food, and how Maddie discussed about Jewish traditional holiday celebration. I don’t consider myself a religious person, but I feel that the basis of Japanese culture is largely religious. In other words, religious practices are integrated with people’s everyday life. One good example is that we consider non-human things also have spirits. For this reason, we “greet” when we eat something (by saying “itadakimasu,” we show appreciation to food as well as the people who prepared it) and we also say “gochiso-sama” (again, for showing appreciation) after consuming food.
I’m happy to look back at this post in light of a lot of what we discussed yesterday under Josie and Olivia’s guidance, because I know that a lot of what characterizes America’s food culture is disconnect, convenience, and finance: three aspects that are doing nothing for the food issue(s) we face as a society today. I don’t know if I agree that America has no cuisine, but I am no food expert; I think this country has its specific foods or versions of foods that have been so far removed from their original contexts that they have become new, but I don’t know if that makes what we have a “cuisine”. During my time in Thailand, I certainly understood that much of what we were eating was “Thai food”, and that understanding came about comparatively. I learned so much more about the system I existed under for the first twenty years of my life while in another country than I did from within the system itself – and I was mad. I was mad at the greed of humanity, the arrogance, the selfishness, the lack of foresight – all of it. Worse was the thought that I had so little influence to stop it, especially on the other side of the world. I still feel like that back on American soil, and I am still frustrated. I am frustrated because, like Pollan, I believe that these encompassing and immobile issues do stem from the powers that be, and the way our political system has shifted and is shifting is away from the power of the people and into the hands of a few with blatant disregard for the needs of the many. On the most basic level, though, we do still have control, like Pollan mentions when he says we have made cooking more complicated than it is. Interviews like his, full of matter-of-fact statements like, “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants” really work to inspire me, and that’s where the small changes start.
ReplyDelete