rethinking food

i can't tell you how many people write in their profiles "omg i love food lol!!" or something to that effect. seriously. food these days has become something of an indulgence that isn't treated like an indulgence. true, we all have to eat. and why, you ask, shouldn't we eat good food? you know, something exotic that excites our taste buds, or something that reminds us of home like fresh steamed mantou that mom used to make?

the truth is, good food is often more expensive than simple food. and the second truth is, good food makes us eat more than we need. i believe that gluttony is a sin, and for some of us a potentially deadly one,[1] and food in modern times is much more than simple nourishment. in a world where famine is still a fact of life, we waste a comparatively huge amount of money, natural resources, arable land, and gas to feed ourselves.

malnutritioned children at a Nigerian orphanage. credit: wikipedia.org.

so next time stop and think before you order that $5 slice of tiramisu, or that $27 plate of gnocchi, and ask yourself if you would not be better off going home and whipping up a pot of rice, some fresh veggies with tofu skin and maybe say, shitake mushrooms. just like mom used to make. your wallet, your health, your waistline, and (perhaps aspirationally on my part,) your conscience will thank you.

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[1] Laurie Barclay, Long-term Calorie Restriction Improves Cardiovascular Risk, available at http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/473866.