What Is Your Relationship With Food?

First, a few administrative notes for you, my devoted readers.

(1) A quick Halloween follow up:  did I tell you no one showed?  Not one little kid.  Not one too-cool-for-school teenager.  Just me, camped out in the front room with all the lights on, shades open, and door cracked…working my way through the latest Anne Lamott book.

(2) Our house is trashed and they still aren't done with the library work.  They are *supposed* to finish up tomorrow morning.

(3) I applied to be a TA today.  Lord have mercy.  They make all decisions in March, and teaching begins in the fall 2014 semester, and if I do say so myself, I think I have a pretty good chance here.  Cross your fingers for me.

You know the saying 'my goose is cooked'?  We have amended that to say, 'our luce is cooked.'  Luce (pronounced Loose) is yet another nickname for Lucy, as is 'Fast and Luce.'  It never ends around here.

That's my segue into our latest Literary Society read:

Cooked by Michael Pollan

You have most likely heard of Pollan's work; he writes quite a bit about food and how our relationship with it has been affected by cultural evolution such as industrialization and capitalism/consumerism.  In Cooked, he evaluates food in light of the four common elements: fire, water, earth, air.  He examines BBQ (roasting meats), baking bread (the entire yeast/dough process), and fermentation (a study of microbes) of all kinds (vegetables, fruits, alcohol, cheese).  He tries his hand at each of these techniques and shares amusing stories, insights, and scientific information along the way.

Like his other books, notably Omnivore's Dilemma, he examines our relationship with food.  How do our decisions affect our bodies?  Our mood?  What has modern convenience caused us to sacrifice in our daily diet, and in our family life?  What are some steps (big and small) we can take to reclaim healthy and whole eating?  And why does that matter in the long term?

He offers much food for thought (HA!) but the book is long and sometimes gets dragged down by the scientific information.  I read it ravenously (HA HA!) in the beginning, through the middle, and onto the beginning of the end.  The last 100 pages just about did me in; I was over it by then and couldn't take much more talk about making cheese or air interacting with bacteria over time.

But I do have some valuable takeaways regarding paying special attention to my food (particularly breads), taking more care in the process of cooking and interacting with my food, and a renewed realization of where my food comes from, all the hands and machines that touch it, and how much of that I'm willing to accept or must now change.

Pollan is an excellent and amusing writer.  But this is the kind of book you'll get the most out of by reading when you're 100% "in the mood" to tackle a weighty (HAAAAA!) and personal topic.  Everyone has to eat.  It's important to know how to eat better - how that plays out in your own unique life.

Enjoy!