Eat With Your Eyes

I just watched the newest in a long line of food-system related films, Food, Inc. and while it might not bring a lot of new information to the table, it certainly does a good job of illustrating several key issues and continuing to bring our inherently flawed agricultural system into public discourse.

Interviews with Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser and Joel Salatin highlight a well-produced trip through various aspects of the food production process, touching on everything from CAFO's to childhood obesity and industrial organic. While there have been myriad books published in recent memory on these subjects with more detailed information, Food, Inc. brings a different touch to the discussion by visualizing several things that are more poignant when seen and not just read.

A well executed film with a high production value and some very important information, I highly recommend giving Food, Inc. a place in your movie queue.

Full Circle

When I first started this blog a little over a year ago, my first post was regarding Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma, and how it had changed the way I thought about our food system and as a result what I put into my body. The book made me take into consideration the source and the impact of the food (most specifically the meat) I was eating.

Having just finished Peter Singer and Jim Mason's The Ethics of What We Eat (also published as The Way We Eat) I now find myself edging closer and closer to eliminating meat from my diet altogether. In a very well written and extremely informative tome, Singer and Mason break down three different family's eating habits, delving into the not-so-nice world of factory farming, the 'locavore' movement and 'fair trade' products.

This book is a wonderful (if not shocking) read and I recommend it highly.

As I get older (and wiser, hah) I generally feel more and more responsible for the choices I make and how they affect not just me but the world I live in, and the ethical questions raised in this book have really made me analyze what makes it's way into my shopping cart. As a chef, I feel it is my responsibility to lead by example and to educate as best as possible regarding our food system and how choices as seemingly simple as what we eat can have larger and permanent consequences.

All of that being said, this blog should making something of a shift towards vegetarian cuisine, as I limit the amount of meat (sustainable or not) that finds it's way into my pantry, so bear with me and (hopefully) enjoy the ride.

This Chef's Dilemma

Michael Pollan did a number on me.

I just recently finished reading the terribly interesting (and terrifying to boot) Omnivore's Dilemma, and this hard line meat eater and sometime vegetarian abuser is a little softer and more sensitive because of it.

I won't get in to the details of the book for those of you who have yet to devour Pollan's work, but I will say this, I finally understand the vegetarian argument. I've seen the 'kill floor' videos, I've witnessed the slaughter of various species for consumption, and I've even done my own share of dirty work, but "It tastes damn good" was always enough of a reason to me. I now find myself actually considering limiting my consumption of meat, unless I can attest to it's origins and sustainability. It won't be an easy feat, but as a chef and a lover of food, I really identified with a quote from Pollan, "You are what you eat eats, too." I just find it hard, knowing full well the impact and cost of our current industrial agricultural system, to ignore the facts and continue to eat the way I have in the past. While I can't see myself going the way of the herbivore, I do foresee a difference in the way I view what I put into my body.