michael pollan on the rise of food stars and the decline of home cooking.
- dave 8-03-2009 4:25 pm

I heard him on the radio this evening. He was lamenting that we are losing what is a very basic aspect of what makes us humans: cooking. He spoke of an hypothesis that cooking allowed us to grow bigger brains than the other primates, because cooking allowed us to absorb way more calories way more easily -- rather than chewing 7 hours a day. Heavy processing takes that "easy calorie" thing to an absurd extreme, and gets us away from a close relationship with ingredients.

On the radio this morning I heard someone talking about how electric light has changed another very fundamental aspect of human life: the sleep cycle.

Feeling kinda dysfunctional, what with my effed up eating and sleeping. I did cook for myself (buffalo meat, fresh local tomatoes, and fresh berries for dessert), but what the fuck am I doing up at this hour? I blame the cats and dogs and outdoor varmints rather than eeeelectricity.

- mark 8-04-2009 9:16 am [add a comment]





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