Eating Fat Doesn't Make You Fat

"...Eating too much makes you fat!" - Common sense from Michael Ruhlman in his TEDxCLE talk (below).

Ruhlman discusses the importance of cooking in this TED Talk organized independently in Cleveland. I liked that when he talked about it shaping division of labor between men/women, he added "for better or worse"-- mindfulness of possible problems with gender binaries is a plus.

"When you buy crappy food that's been cooked for you in a factory, you're asking for more of it. When you buy good food, food you need to cook, you're asking for more of it."


Voting with your dollars is not a new concept-- the old rule of supply and demand. More people want to buy hybrid cars? More companies start manufacturing hybrid cars. More people want to buy organic food? Wal*Mart, of all places, starts to sell organic groceries. (Though "organic" is a totally loaded term.) More people want to shop at farmers markets? More farmers markets are organized in our communities.


Prioritizing cooking is not easy. Being able to afford organic or locally-grown groceries is not easy. But in this time when we have to worry so much about health care, isn't eating well part and parcel for health? To ignore the link between health problems and the amount of fast food, sugary soft drinks, and salty snacks we consume is egregious negligence.

The old adage "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure" comes to mind. Would I rather spend time and money now on real, good food, or would I rather spend it later on hypertension meds or insulin shots? When I think of it that way, the extra time and money doesn't feel quite so inconvenient.

Buttered Toast Musing

Good bread with some chew to it, liberally spread with sweet, rich butter. It's a comfort food.

Few things give me as much simple pleasure.

The current fashion seems to be how many different flavors can be piled incongruously onto each other, and while I appreciate clever composition, sometimes--oftentimes--it just seems excessive. And USAmerican culture, at least, seems to be obsessed with it. Sites like This Is Why You're Fat are shining examples of our fixation with just how horrifyingly gluttonous we can be.

(Food pornography has a sort of class system, too-- from sites like Grocery Eats to Michael Ruhlman's blog. Each with a different voice and audience and perspective, different ideals and purposes. Which is hardcore and which is softcore probably depends on whom you ask.)

I've been chided at times for my use of butter and bacon. This is bizarre to me in a culture that gets excited by This Is Why You're Fat. I don't understand. Using butter to make a grilled cheese sandwich is indulgent while staring longingly at sausage wrapped in bacon dipped in batter and deep fried is completely acceptable?

I think we need a change in perspective here.

What's real food? What's good food? What's healthy? How has industry changed our definitions and understandings of it all?

Photo from jovike