The following is a look at how my eating habits/views on eating might change after reading "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan and "The Pleasures of Eating" by Wendell Berry for Writing Research and Technology, a class at Rowan University.
It is my guess that my eating habits will not change at all. I love to cook and eat. I always have, and I always will. However, there are times in my life, like right now, that become so crowded with things to do that eating gets put on the bottom of the list of priorities, and can be seen as nothing more than an unavoidable inconvenience. While I take pride in making food from scratch and taking the time to sit down and enjoy it, especially with family, when I get busy I eat nothing but processed foods from the nearest freezer, vending machine or fast food joint. I would be overjoyed if the "dream home of the future" Berry mentions could exist, if only for the months that I have to navigate school, work, homework, observations and the chores of everyday life. According to Berry, :
"The current version of the "dream home" of the future involves "effortless" shopping from a list of available goods on a television monitor and heating precooked food by remote control."
While this may be true, I think it is much more the habits outside of the kitchen that keep people from enjoying the preparation of food. I agree with Berry when he says, "One reason to eat responsibly is to live free", but I also think that prepackaged, precooked, overly processed foods allow us to have a different sort of freedom. We can go out for a day, take long trips, shuttle ourselves, or our kids, to various places while carrying all the non-perishable food we will need for the day with us. How else would I eat before, or during class?
As someone who is overweight, I have heard advice from various doctors and a personal trainer or two. While some bits of that advice might have overlapped, I have found that everyone has different, contradicting suggestions. "Drink 1 oz of water per pound you weigh," says the personal trainer. "Drink eight glasses of water everyday," says one doctor. "Try to get most of your water from food," says another. My strategy is to exercise and include water, fruits and veggies in my diet everyday. That's as far as I'm willing to go for now. And part of the reason is the issue that Pollan mentions regarding the "carb free" trend and the back and forth over red meat: "So violent a change in a culture's eating habits is surely the sign of a national eating disorder." We never know exactly what we should or shouldn't eat. There is a new fad diet, research suggestion and nutrition discovery everyday. There is no way that I will ever think about food on the level of the farmer or "The 1972 Russian grain sale and the resulting spike in farm income that fall helped Nixon nail down the farm vote for his reelection..." that Pollan mentions.
The bottom line is, when I am kept out of the kitchen because of my schedule, I couldn't care less what I eat, how it was prepared, where it came from or what's in it. Subconsciously, I guess I do worry about the impact of food on my body, but I guess I'm more concerned with the sure and immediate impact that not eating anything would have.
It is my guess that my eating habits will not change at all. I love to cook and eat. I always have, and I always will. However, there are times in my life, like right now, that become so crowded with things to do that eating gets put on the bottom of the list of priorities, and can be seen as nothing more than an unavoidable inconvenience. While I take pride in making food from scratch and taking the time to sit down and enjoy it, especially with family, when I get busy I eat nothing but processed foods from the nearest freezer, vending machine or fast food joint. I would be overjoyed if the "dream home of the future" Berry mentions could exist, if only for the months that I have to navigate school, work, homework, observations and the chores of everyday life. According to Berry, :
"The current version of the "dream home" of the future involves "effortless" shopping from a list of available goods on a television monitor and heating precooked food by remote control."
While this may be true, I think it is much more the habits outside of the kitchen that keep people from enjoying the preparation of food. I agree with Berry when he says, "One reason to eat responsibly is to live free", but I also think that prepackaged, precooked, overly processed foods allow us to have a different sort of freedom. We can go out for a day, take long trips, shuttle ourselves, or our kids, to various places while carrying all the non-perishable food we will need for the day with us. How else would I eat before, or during class?
As someone who is overweight, I have heard advice from various doctors and a personal trainer or two. While some bits of that advice might have overlapped, I have found that everyone has different, contradicting suggestions. "Drink 1 oz of water per pound you weigh," says the personal trainer. "Drink eight glasses of water everyday," says one doctor. "Try to get most of your water from food," says another. My strategy is to exercise and include water, fruits and veggies in my diet everyday. That's as far as I'm willing to go for now. And part of the reason is the issue that Pollan mentions regarding the "carb free" trend and the back and forth over red meat: "So violent a change in a culture's eating habits is surely the sign of a national eating disorder." We never know exactly what we should or shouldn't eat. There is a new fad diet, research suggestion and nutrition discovery everyday. There is no way that I will ever think about food on the level of the farmer or "The 1972 Russian grain sale and the resulting spike in farm income that fall helped Nixon nail down the farm vote for his reelection..." that Pollan mentions.
The bottom line is, when I am kept out of the kitchen because of my schedule, I couldn't care less what I eat, how it was prepared, where it came from or what's in it. Subconsciously, I guess I do worry about the impact of food on my body, but I guess I'm more concerned with the sure and immediate impact that not eating anything would have.
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