A Thanksgiving Dilemma…
It’s been a little while, but my life has been strangely calm. Usually by the second week of the block I’m already stressed out… Maybe it’s the inverted block and having just come back from a break. My Thanksgiving was just lovely, thanks. I, like many people I know, did not go home.
This year, my sister went to her fiancee’s house, my parents stayed home (as they were just out here for my show a few weeks ago) and I went up to Littleton to my friend’s house and spent it with her family and a few other friends. I made the pumpkin pie and hand whipped the whipped cream. (It was delicious, if I may say so myself.)
The ironic part of this break, is that my homework for class (’Environmental Inquiry’) was to read Michael Pollan’s book “An Omnivore’s Dilemma” which follows four different meals providing detail on what goes into the food, (material, work, resources, etc.) It’s a really simple connection, but not many people really think about what such a large effect the foods we (as a modernized world) eat has on the environment. So, after consuming a weeks worth of food in under two hours, I sat down to read the first part of Pollan’s book which can be summed up in the following sentence: Everything we eat comes from corn. Because of this, corn is grown in ridiculous amounts, sells for more than its worth, while farmers get subsidies giving them more profit than they’ve worked for. I switched from feeling like I had gained 10 pounds in foodweight to feeling like I had gained 10 pounds solely in corn.
The latter is not a good feeling – physically or morally.
I would definitely recommend reading one of Michael Pollan’s books – if you’re interested in any aspect of food. For example: eating it. He’s an interesting writer and is very passionate about the topic. If you’re not one for buying books without a sample, here is a talk he gave last year, entitled The Omnivore’s Next Dilemma, in which he covers some of the points made in his book. He also writes for the New York Times Magazine every now and then. I found this article pretty interesting: Unhappy Meals. His books also make great gifts… You know, just something to think about.
I guess that’s it for me – time for sleep? I think yes.
Michael Pollan also gave a great talk at CC as part of the Food Chained series in 2007 — you can listen to it here: http://www.coloradocollege.edu/podcast/?name=Michael_Pollan