Comments on: Five Easy Ways to Go Organic

By: LivingSmall » Cooking “from Scratch”

LivingSmall » Cooking “from Scratch” — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 18:02:59 +0000

[...] Looking at these stats, I’d be curious to know how many of the 33% who are not eating restaurant takeout are actually cooking, and how many of them are eating out of boxes — but at least it appears they’re cooking something at home. The eating takeout thing I find really wild — how do people afford it? Fast food I understand — its prime virtues are sameness and cheapness — but I remember when a Boston Market opened in Salt Lake when I was in grad school. I thought about buying dinner there one night when I was fried and it was late — but it was so expensive — much more expensive than buying a pre-roasted chicken at the store, for example. [...]

By: Kristi

Kristi — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 17:31:11 +0000

Okay, I had no idea that home ec was no longer being taught in schools. Music and art, yes. PE I had become aware of. But Home Ec? We’re not teaching kids to move, imagine and create, cook and balance a checkbook. Yes, that explains a lot. What the heck *are* we teaching?
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That said, despite Home Ec and art in school, when I finally moved out on my own I had no idea how to create meals for myself. I’d even done some cooking at home — lasagna, french toast. But you can’t really get by on those for long. I didn’t want to cook the way my mom had, but it wasn’t until I chose to “go vegetarian” and pick up a new cookbook that I began to understand some of the basic principles of meal prep — variety of color, flavor, and texture. Some of that may have been a failure of my Home Ec class (which I had in 8th grade) but some of it was my attitude toward the “domestic arts” (back then just called “women’s work.”) I’m wondering how we can restore a sense of respect for and joy in the domestic. The current trend of fetishizing the domestic isn’t doing much to help.

Thanks for the link to the Times piece. I’ve already been doing these things for so long they’re no-brainers to me. (Although I do feel a little pang paying about twice as much per gallon of milk for the organic or hormone-free local.) I’ve got to believe there are at least a dozen other simple things to be done. I’ll check out those other links, too, but I don’t imagine I’ll be scrolling through the hundreds of comments on the Times page.

By: cmf

cmf — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 00:58:26 +0000

I know — can you believe I’m jumping on the Reagan bandwagon and agreeing that ketchup is a vegetable? I agree with you completely — I’d rather see people eating real food than box food, and can we please re-open the school kitchens and get some lunch ladies in there to feed the kids? I guess what set me off was over at Serious Eats, where the first comment in the thread suggested that people order organic sides of beef — I mean really! Where does that fit into the simple and easy ways to start liking real food construct? I loved your post where you pointed out that the comments thread at the NY Times was baroque — I find the elitism in it all *so* frustrating that I’m willing to say fine, lets start with ketchup, milk, potatoes, peanut butter and apples. It’s an imperfect list, but its short and easy to remember, and a place to start.

By: ali b.

ali b. — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 23:53:08 +0000

I agree with you, I really do. But I also understand some of the reactions. It just feels a little silly to be paying more for “organic” ketchup (and let’s face it – it’s considerably more), when there are other, simpler shifts that could be taken in a family’s diet – like LESS ketchup, more of ANY kind of vegetable – that would benefit that family more, for a whole lot less $$. I like the EWG approach – they list the most important produce to buy organic, and also give good non-organic substitutes if someone can’t afford the organic version (can’t afford organic raspberries? – and how many of us can? – go for conventional blueberries, because they require fewer chemicals to begin with). Believe me. I totally understand the pull toward boxed food, and frozen pizza, and cheap take out dinners.

The foodie movement really is an elitist movement right now – I think that’s why I so strongly feel that change requires more than just a bunch of upper middle class people (who can afford it) “voting with their forks.” Imagine what it would do for some of those broke families if their kids could have access to real nutrition in schools, or if 77% of the items in a supermarket weren’t totally nutritionally deficient, as a recent Hanafords rating system determined!

And yeah, we need to learn to cook again. I saw Michael Pollan talk recently, and I brought up that subject. He commented that we got rid of Home Ec classes, when we really should have ungendered them.

Sorry. I’ll shut up now. I could talk all night.