I don't get Foodyism. For the past several years I have been reading restaurant reviews where the menus include items I have never heard of nor feel inclined to sample. Is this because I'm getting old? I can't even remember the terminology for a lot of these things. It isn't that my diet is that traditional. I have been vegetarian for twenty years and eat a lot of tofu, legumes, cheese, peanut butter, nuts, whole grains, eggs and of course tonnes of fruit and vegetables. I try to be reasonably inventive with my cooking but I draw the line at ingredients so exotic I cannot even pronounce them correctly. Sometimes I will get a little adventurous and daring, but generally my cooking is governed by nutrition, flavour, and economy. If I can't afford it I don't eat it. I also try to be as creative as possible in my cooking and could even write a cook book one of these days though there are so many cramming bookshelves that I don't think I would have a lot to contribute. Enjoying food is fine, if it is good food, well made and prepared with a little imagination, but to make it into a secular religion? Shouldn't we eat to live and not vice-versa? It isn't just the fuss about ingredients: fleur de sel, truffle oil, balsamic vinegar, arugula, not to mention the ethically questionable such as veal and foie gras. One is expected to have an exquisitely equipped kitchen carrying thousands of dollars worth of professional grade equipment with the expectation that a two hundred dollar knife is going to magically make your onion taste better than with the chopping instrument I paid less than ten bucks for in Safeway. The net worth of my kitchen equipment is so low I would be embarrassed to try to calculate it, yet my ability to cook well (my dinner guests have never been displeased with my culinary abilities) remains unaffected. How did so many people become so ego-driven to impress with food? Perhaps it isn't all done simply to impress, and I am sure that some invest thousands in materials and ingredients solely out of the most selfless love for others. ( Look Honey, a flying pig!)
Today I listened to a segment on the CBC radio program the Current about adventurous eating. Anna Maria Tramante, whom I generally greatly respect and appreciate, must have had one of her rare brain farts when she had this guest on who rhapsodized ad nauseum about the gastronomic ecstasy she experienced while eating a live octopus. Much was said about the ick factor; not a word about the fact that octopuses are highly intelligent and sensitive animals and why would this kind of cruel behaviour be endorsed by our public broadcaster. I might also add that our treatment of animals in many ways reflects and predicates our treatment of other humans. The guest on this program stated that people are getting increasingly adventurous in their eating and that this could be because our increasing fear of food insecurity. I have another suggestion: It is likely due to the incurable stupid stubborn venality of human beings, especially when they are younger than forty and especially especially when they are younger than thirty, though older but not necessarily wiser exemplars of ageing flatulence such as your humble scribe here are also not exempt.
I think that it goes without saying that we are obsessed with food and with eating and when you consider the obesity "epidemic", we are also obsessed with not eating. We have never had in our lives such a plethora of choice of food and food products almost breaking the shelves under their weight in our food markets and I often suspect that people's lack of gratitude for this embarrassment of riches merely fuels the obsession with charting new horizons in eating and cookery. The ungrateful heart is a heart that is never satisfied. It always has to be more, better, or at least unique and more unusual than ever because we are not thankful for the glorious miracle that we are alive and that we have existence on this incredibly beautiful earth that we live on.
I think this is also where I see the fear, the cold terror of losing everything that matters to our lives that seems to be gripping so many people. On one hand we have the foodies and the culinary adventurers for whom no boundary can be breached, no horizon crossed in their quest for grastronimc excellence or in thrill seeking extreme eating. The other face I see is this new purism towards food and fear of anything that could possibly harm us no matter how illusory the risk. There is of course this current fear and loathing of wheat and of gluten. I understand that many people in rising numbers are being diagnosed with gluten intolerance. There are others who swear that eating wheat and its products is the cause of many of our bodily and emotional woes and this is all the fault of course of Frankenfood or Monsanto. Two out of three ain't bad. Yes there is a legitimate condition known as gluten intolerance. I have heard that it is not necessarily on the rise but simply that there now exists the medical know-how of making a diagnosis that has plagued thousands for years and perhaps for centuries or millennia. However I will remain skeptical about the actual danger of wheat itself until all the data is in and from reputable sources and this has not happened yet. I eat wheat almost every day, not a huge abundance, perhaps one or two slices of bread and on some days less than a handful of already cooked whole wheat pasta. Since the odd day I don't have it I never miss it I don't think one could say I am "addicted" to wheat. I have no known bodily ailments because of wheat or anything else. I did have slightly elevated cholesterol but it is much better now since I have given up butter and have cut back on other sources of dairy fat. I still eat too much sugar but this I have also cut back and have lost weight from doing so. There are of course legitimate concerns about the safety of GMO wheat and I also feel squeamish about this development but I am still waiting for all the research to be in before I feel I can decide. As for Monsanto, I have nothing good to say about a corporation that monopolizes farming and food production and blackmails farmers into becoming completely reliant upon them for their seed supply. As well as endangering the global food supply this is simply immoral and unethical.
On the other hand I am reluctant to introduce any more changes into my diet until I know that there is good reason to. I am in my late fifties and apart from knees that do not bend as well as they used to I have never felt this well in my entire life. But I can only provide anecdotal evidence and I would never think of telling others what food choices they ought or ought not to make, not even as a vegetarian. I would tend to agree that if everyone on earth adopted a simple vegetarian diet that we would make tremendous gains in saving the planet (if it is indeed in our capacity to save our dear mother earth, or if indeed she needs saving), however I also think that common sense, courtesy and a grateful heart will bring us a lot closer to this ideal than telling each other what or what not to eat. Even though I abhor cruelty to animals (and to me, killing them for food is cruel) I would never tell someone to not eat meat just because I do not like this. I really don't have to say anything at all because all too often when someone learns I am vegetarian they become all squeamish with guilt or defensive about their carnivorous proclivities which tells me that simply by stating what I am I have already done my part.
To the rest of you I say this, as long as we are basing your choices on fear we are living in fear and when we live in fear we are not really alive.
And now, my latest recipe:
Cabbage unrolled
green cabbage coarsely chopped,
one onion chopped
6 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
one slab of extra firm tofu (try not to sweat if it's GMO. Not ideal but it won't kill you)
one big fat eggplant thinly sliced and coarsely chopped
3 to 4 medium to large tomatoes chopped
about one quarter cup soy sauce
ditto red wine vinegar
ditto olive oil
3 tablespoons chili powder
1-2 tablespoons dried basil
a couple of sprinkles of allspice
about 100 grams extra old cheddar, chopped.
in a skillet or enamelware cook eggplant in olive oil, add garlic, onion, tofu and soy sauce, spices and half the wine vinegar. Cover and let simmer till onion is transparent and eggplant almost fully cooked. Add tomatoes and the rest of the wine vinegar, stir, then add cabbage, cheese and stir again until everything is evenly mixed. Preheat oven to 350 F and bake for thirty minutes.
Delicious.
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