Akascribe A personal blog covering all manner of subjects

I knew when I started this blog that there would be entries about food.  You see, I love food.  Now that remark immediately strikes me as nonsensical.  Of course I love food – I need to eat and I am a pleasure-loving creature.  But it never ceases to amaze – and dismay – me when I see people who don’t truly love food.  Now they may think they like food, as they gorge their faces on what they would describe as food.  But even though the current McDonald’s advertising slogan is:  “I’m Lovin’ It,” that does not come anywhere close to what I’m talking about.

I don’t wish to sound like a food snob.  Lord knows I’ve had a meal or two at Mickey D’s.  And it’s certainly easy, as a Bay Area resident in the epicenter of the American real food movement, to come across with a superiority attitude when it comes to things culinary.  But much as it might seem that we Californians are ahead of the curve (as, let’s face it, we often are), we’re actually just getting around to shopping and cooking and eating the way other cultures have been for ages.

To be a lover of food, it certainly helps to have been brought up in a home where good food was prepared with love.  I can thank my parents for that, especially my mother, who cooked untold thousands of nutritious, tasty meals.  Someone is our family might have been upset at another or might have had a rotten day, but I know it soothed the soul to sit down to a set table and a hot meal.  Maybe it was homemade spaghetti Bolognese with a green salad.  Nothing fancy, really, but honest and delicious.

I won’t get into a diatribe about what’s wrong with the food industry or modern dietary habits.  Michael Pollan and others have covered these bases superbly.  If To Kill a Mockingbird is still required reading in school – and I hope it is – then The Omnivore’s Dilemma should be as well.

It will take time, but I’m essentially an optimist.  The cost of sustainable food (e.g. organic, local produce) is coming down and is more widely available.  People will realize how much better they feel when the put quality above quantity.  Meanwhile, I’ll continue my love affair with food.  Shopping for it, cooking it, serving it to others.  And yes, especially eating it.