Is there enough food? How do we get it to people? What is its quality? These common questions all concern supply; people spend a lifetime addressing them, and if you closely examine any one, you’re ensnared in a complex web.
Like many professionals, I often succumb to the temptation to work late and eat out with friends. That experience, effortless and pleasurable in anticipation, is usually expensive — even when it’s at a theoretically inexpensive restaurant — and frustrating; more often than not it’s unsatisfying. (Note that this means it’s also sometimes satisfying, which is why I keep doing it; it’s a gamble.)
When I cook, though, everything seems to go right. I shop an average of every two weeks in a supermarket, and make a couple of trips a week to smaller stores. I’m aware that my choices are mostly imperfect, but I rarely conclude that I should make a burger and fries for dinner or provide a pound per person of prison-raised pork served with fruit from 10,000 miles away, followed by a cake full of sugar and artificial ingredients. Yet, for the most part, that describes restaurant food.
This time of year, I’ll buy local greens and local fish and wind up eating half or less of the food I would have if I had eaten out. Dessert only happens if someone else buys or makes it because it’s just too much work.
That’s pretty much it. The investment is minimal: A quick shopping trip takes me a half-hour, including the walk or drive. The time spent eating is relaxing and uninterrupted by the insipid ritual: “Is everything tasting to your liking?” or “You guys O.K.?” It takes 10 minutes to clean up. And not to mention the happiness on the face of my husband because I cooked him a meal.
Compared with a restaurant, the frustrations and annoyances are minimal, the food is not all that bed, unquestionably healthier and more environmentally friendly, and much less expensive.
It’s not that I’m unconcerned about the supply side. I can’t help bugging myself with questions about whether the food I buy is “good” enough: pesticides? Fertilizer? Carbon footprint? Fair pay for farmers?
But that is easily taken care of really. Organic variants actually take care of those queries. And if you are worried about the slightly higher cost then stop cribbing!
Buy things that you feel answer to your standards, and you’ll be a cut above most restaurant food in every category. You’ll know exactly what you’re putting in your mouth and how much of it. You’ll move in the right direction, cooking and eating less meat and junk and more plants.
I recognize that I’m privileged with my cooking skills, though, in fact, I have friends who are better cooks than I am, who have access to better food and who have more leisure. I recognize, too, that there are many people for whom time and money and skills and even access are challenges. The thing, though, is not to discount this argument simply because not everyone is in a position to benefit from it, but rather to use it to benefit those it can, and to create the same possibilities for everyone.
Like many professionals, I often succumb to the temptation to work late and eat out with friends. That experience, effortless and pleasurable in anticipation, is usually expensive — even when it’s at a theoretically inexpensive restaurant — and frustrating; more often than not it’s unsatisfying. (Note that this means it’s also sometimes satisfying, which is why I keep doing it; it’s a gamble.)
This time of year, I’ll buy local greens and local fish and wind up eating half or less of the food I would have if I had eaten out. Dessert only happens if someone else buys or makes it because it’s just too much work.
That’s pretty much it. The investment is minimal: A quick shopping trip takes me a half-hour, including the walk or drive. The time spent eating is relaxing and uninterrupted by the insipid ritual: “Is everything tasting to your liking?” or “You guys O.K.?” It takes 10 minutes to clean up. And not to mention the happiness on the face of my husband because I cooked him a meal.
Compared with a restaurant, the frustrations and annoyances are minimal, the food is not all that bed, unquestionably healthier and more environmentally friendly, and much less expensive.
It’s not that I’m unconcerned about the supply side. I can’t help bugging myself with questions about whether the food I buy is “good” enough: pesticides? Fertilizer? Carbon footprint? Fair pay for farmers?
But that is easily taken care of really. Organic variants actually take care of those queries. And if you are worried about the slightly higher cost then stop cribbing!
Buy things that you feel answer to your standards, and you’ll be a cut above most restaurant food in every category. You’ll know exactly what you’re putting in your mouth and how much of it. You’ll move in the right direction, cooking and eating less meat and junk and more plants.
I recognize that I’m privileged with my cooking skills, though, in fact, I have friends who are better cooks than I am, who have access to better food and who have more leisure. I recognize, too, that there are many people for whom time and money and skills and even access are challenges. The thing, though, is not to discount this argument simply because not everyone is in a position to benefit from it, but rather to use it to benefit those it can, and to create the same possibilities for everyone.
it is an amazing article for all the food and cook lovers. visit the Cartoon HD APK for the free movies and tv shows.
ReplyDelete