This isn’t a blog about the economy or food trends or about the coming winter seriously inhibiting all of the 100 mile dieters out there.
I say it’s a tough time to be a cheffer because I’m honestly starting to feel like a deathmonger. Why? I’m glad you asked. I can’t believe the jaw-dropping, eye-popping, gasps of horror that greet me when I begin a recipe with items like “two tablespoons of butter” or “4 ounces of bacon”. Desserts – forget it. I think that I would get less of a rise from a recipe that calls for a cup of rat poison than one with a cup of whipping cream. I can hear the rationalization (well, rats are small and this recipe does feed 12, so it’s not that much rat poison…) But butter, cream, pork, eggs, God forbid – runny cheeses, forget it.
I think I’ll blame the media and general public fearmongering. I remember the early 80’s – Nuclear war was going to kill us all. Emergency broadcast system warnings during my Tom and Jerry cartoons, what’s a nine-year old to think? By the mid to late 80’s, between acid rain (remember acid rain?) and the new AIDS virus, we were all doomed. The 90’s were all about smoking. Everybody smoked like supermodels, and we could pretty much eat whatever we wanted because lung cancer was going to get us.
Enter the new millennium… We understand the spread of AIDS, we’ve quit smoking, and whatever happened to acid rain? Al Gore made a movie that made everyone think of global warming but the environment dropped off the radar when the Dow Jones lost 8000 points.
So now what will be our demise – Food. Something has to kill us, and right now it’s food. Maybe in a few years we’ll find out that cell phones really do cause brain cancer, and we can drink milkshakes again.
If I cook anything more than a steamed boneless skinless chicken breast (non-GMO, organically raised, stress free, sustainably fair traded of course) and non-fat yoghurt I can expect the wrath of the Dr. Oz viewer. I think the stress of thinking that everything that goes into your mouth is bad for you will stop your heart long before the occasional foie gras torchon will!
Maybe I’m wrong and sure, I’m exaggerating. Having said that, let’s all take a step back, relax, eat well, eat REAL FOOD, eat moderate amounts of it, and move our bodies. To quote Paul Sorvino, my favourite chubby actor turned opera singer “everything in moderation, including moderation”.
Don’t be afraid of food. If you do it right it won’t kill you. In fact, I seem to think we need it to live.