Tomorrow I go back on the 11 day diet plan again, so pardon me if I talk about food a bit. The following was online today at MSN.
12 Short Food Rules, From Michael Pollan:
1. Don’t eat anything your grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.
2. Avoid foods containing ingredients you can’t pronounce.
3. Don’t eat anything that wouldn’t eventually rot.
4. Avoid food products that carry health claims.
5. Shop the peripheries of the supermarket; stay out of the middle.
6. Better yet, buy food somewhere else: the farmer’s market or CSA.
7. Pay more, eat less.
8. Eat a wide diversity of species.
9. Eat food from animals that eat grass.
10. Cook and, if you can, grow some of your own food.
11. Eat meals and eat them only at tables.
12. Eat deliberately, with other people whenever possible, and always with pleasure.
Don't eat anything my grandmother wouldn't recognize as food? Let's see....Grandma Redder died in 1900, and Grandma Dwyer died in 1926--both long before I was born.
Grandma Redder in all likelihood ate only rye bread, potatoes (especially potato pancakes, which were a regional specialty, and which my mother as an adult loved and made often), cheese, ham, beef (when a cow died), cabbage, onions, and apples. She probably drank tea and beer. I don't know what else they ate in northern Germany at the end of the 19th century. My grandparents were frugal (they sold all the butter instead of eating it themselves), and after Grandma's early death, Grandpa managed to scrape together enough $$ to bring him and all the children to the U.S. in 1903.
Grandma Dwyer probably had all this plus (I used to have one of Grandpa's shopping lists) coffee, bacon, white bread, soda bread, cakes and pies of some kind, ice cream, and wild game and fish. She may have had cherries and berries in season, too. I don't know if she ever had a garden in her back yard, as that was devoted to pens for Grandpa's live decoys and hunting dogs.
Gosh, there's a challenge. . . .
ReplyDeleteWe don't have a farmer's market near us but I do grow my own vegetables when the weather permits.
Nobody delivers out here except the coal truck and the postman so we're not in danger of calling for a pizza.
This entry got me thinking about our nearest supermarket. The aisles in the middle have cleaning products, soap, shampoo and toothpaste, baby things (food & nappies), pet food and booze. All the real food in shoved out to the edges. If you want bread you've got to to all the way to the far back corner of the store. Hmmm.
the grocery folks read Michael Pollen, too. and they're getting foxy. but still, produce, meat, and dairy are still placed at the outside edges of the store. these things sell out the fastest, and they need to be serviced much more often than things like canned soup or potato chips. Whole Foods often runs the dairy, eggs, and packaged cheese down one aisle near the frozen foods--it's a matter of plumbing and electrical outlets, too--but produce and meats are still outside where they can get at them fast from the coolers in the back.
ReplyDeleteit's amazing going to WF to buy the real food--fresh fruit & veg, some meat & cheese, eggs, nuts--for this diet. it's soooo inexpensive compared with what i'd usually be spending. And to see all the things I'd normally buy but don't now.
xo, ma
Naturally, I hardly ever have to buy eggs! :-)
ReplyDeletei wonder what mice taste like?
ReplyDeleteInteresting post! If we suddenly had to live like Grandma Redder or Grandma Dwyer, we'd starve. Where would I grow anything?? I could possibly get away with chickens, but no cows or pigs. I've been amazed at how much food is costing these days. The price seems to rise as my teenagers appetites increase too. Double whammy. Still, it's cheaper to shop on the perimeter of the store. When I buy packaged food, my bill shoots up. No snacks, no frozen stuff, no single serving packages... and no eating out!
ReplyDeleteSal
sal:
ReplyDeletewell, this is why i'm still employed, thanks be. can't afford to quit. this is also why we've had two break-ins this spring, and why stickups on the street are up all over town. they just don't make the news unless somebody gets hurt. but between the price of gas and the price of food, people are getting desperate.
actually, this is covered by rule 7: pay more, eat less....
ReplyDeletei'm definitely paying more for food these days, since I'm trying to eat more organic food - more produce, less meat - but it's still costly, especially when I shop at Whole Paycheck where I'm always picking up an interesting bottle of wine or 3. I am setting out my own organic garden, however, so you can't get more local than that! The D.N.
ReplyDeleteGreat post.. thanks. It is so important these days to know where your food is coming from. Not only do you need to examine your meat (better to avoid it all together especially ground beef which contains formaldehyde) but also be careful not to buy genetically modified fruits and vegetables. So many products on the shelves contain these GMOs and the companies don't even need to disclose this info. Watch Food,Inc.. it will change the way you shop. And after all, this is our only true power.
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