I’ve always been a big fan of Mark Bittman, aka “The Minimalist” writer for the New York Times Dining Section, as well as the author of many cookbooks, including the seminal How to Cook Everything. (My own hardback copy of HTCE is so well used that the book has split into two separate parts!)
Last week Bittman stepped down from writing the Minimalist column and announced his move to theTimes Op-Ed page as a writer of food-related editorials. This career change seems to be the culmination of Bittman’s gradual evolution from mere recipe writer to food policy thinker, evidenced by his latest book, Food Matters.
As Bittman himself put it in his farewell column in the Dining section:
My growing conviction that the meat-heavy American diet and our increasing dependence on prepared and processed foods is detrimental not only to our personal health but to that of the planet has had an impact on my life and on that of the column. . . . In part, what I see as the continuing attack on good, sound eating and traditional farming in the United States is a political issue.
Today marked Bittman’s debut effort on the editorial page, and it’s just a straightforward summary of what’s terribly wrong about our food system and how we might go about fixing it. I encourage you to check it out, and I’m looking forward to more plainspoken but powerful editorials like this one from him.
Maggie says
All makes sense – but to echo some of the comments on the New York Times site – how do we put the genie back in the bottle, so to speak? We are pretty spoiled to have whatever food we want, whatever the season, at dirt cheap prices. Oh, and quick to cook or to buy ready made as well. I’m not sure I can see his ideas working with the current ways of living.
jenna Food w/ Kid Appeal says
for me the transition was gradual. we ate a lot of processed junk growing up and it’s the food i preferred. when i first started a “real” food diet i was 80/20 and that was good enough for me. as more and more of the junk goes out of our pantry, and i “cheat” far less often, when i do cheat i don’t feel good. my stomach cramps or bloats, i feel fatigued or get irritable. i used to sneak cheetos and cocoa puffs after my kids went to bed. i wouldn’t let them eat it, they didn’t even know it was in the house, yet I indulged in secret.
i’ve gotten hooked on feeling well, being energized, having focus to do everything i want, including my job, quality time with kids and husband, large amounts of time in the kitchen and two very time consuming hobbies. i spent a large part of my teen years and 20s feeling depressed. i had IBS in college. i’m certain that my diet doesn’t just make my body healthier, but my mind too. i rarely get overwhelmed, depressed, stressed. sure, i’ve got a lot of balls in the air and i don’t always catch them all, but it doesn’t drag me down the way it used to.
so, that’s how. if our nation can get hooked on feeling well, getting healed, we won’t want to eat the junk very often. that will not be easily done, and i’m not sure the average american is willing to move away from the “swallow a magic pill to feel better” mentality and slamming their schedules with tons of enrichment activities that make it hard to spend much time time the kitchen preparing real food. i’m not sure if doctors will ever switch from the rx treatment approach to the heal the body approach.
Maggie says
Jenna, my food history is kind of the opposite of yours! I grew up on a farm. I’m starting to realize that apparently, we were way ahead of our time when it came to food and trends. Milk from the cow in the barn, eggs and chickens purchased from the neighbor, we raised our own hogs – which ran around outside and were fed scraps and foraged in grass (along with grain based feed). We grew, froze and canned vegetables. Purchased fruit in bulk in season (which was not locally grown) and canned that as well.
The farm income didn’t come from the garden we raised for our family, but from corn, soybeans, flax, oats and the hogs.
To be honest, my memory is that it is a lot of work. My parents farmed. They didn’t work anywhere else. I’m not sure if my mom could have worked outside the home and still taken care of all the gardening, cooking, housework and preserving as well as helping with the other farm work.
I’ll be honest about another part of this. I’d really like to opt out of the need to eat “everything but the squeal”. I like being able to by just the parts I’m going to eat! (but, yes, I know I’m being selfish and if parts are being wasted I’m not respecting food!)
I know that those who read this blog are probably more than willing to pay the premium price for real food. I just wonder how it will ever get to the point that small, local farmers will be able to make a living. Will those who are not farming will be willing to pay the price (literally) for real food? I completely understand and agree that we – a society – are paying the price (figuratively) in the health crisis we face, and I do hope the changes will come about.