For some reason, something always seems to derail my efforts. Maybe it's the fact that the internet is positively brimming with self-important amateur chefs who feel compelled to share every variety of casserole or chicken cacciatore or "skinny" guilt-free Christmas ham or WHATEVER, and do I really need to add to the noise? Probably not. But alas, something keeps bringing me back to this. So here I am.
I've always enjoyed food, but I never really understood it until somewhat recently. I didn't grasp the complexity, the absolute intricacy of the many processes that together, in a kind of symbiotic, elaborate dance, finally culminate in the act of me stuffing my face. I didn't understand how flawed many of these processes are, and the detriments they impart on our health, our communities and our environment. In college, I thought a healthy dinner was a Lean Pocket and a Diet Coke. Quite simply, I didn't know what food was and wasn't, and I could never predict that a little awareness would lead to such a meaningful, impassioned awakening.
Now, at 27, I find food to be endlessly fascinating. I love cooking it, I love eating it, and I love learning about it. I don't believe we should be apathetic bystanders to a food culture we are all so critically entrenched in. I think we should care about what fuels ourselves and our families, and we should care about everything that contributed to it along the way.
So bon appétit, my friends. Looking forward to the good eats ahead. xx A
