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Courtneys Blog

Food Blog

What is this luscious meat? All dressed in a tomato-y sauce, served warm from the deli counter. It so happens there is an anachronistic "gourmet" grocery store in my neighborhood, a place that sprang up to cater to the post-WWII generation who first populated these suburban homes. Several of those original owners are still here; some arrive at the store by taxi, but at least as many of them drive themselves. There seems to have been a solid Italian-American presence here. The store actually sells cardoons! I've seen lovely cheeses and sausages there. It's not a place with a strong local-sustainable attitude, though, so we are selective about what we buy. Pasta. Booze. Cheeses and sausages. Well, the other day, Cranky was cruising the aisles there, and the friendly guy at the deli counter asked him if he wanted to try this meat. For free. "Come on! I'll give it to ya!" OK. So Cranky brought it home, warm and aromatic. We had to eat it right away. Although it was something I'd sworn I would probably never eat. But I gave it a try. Agghhh. Tasted like pond algae. We threw it away. Frog legs. What were they thinking?

This is the whole article. Not too long, but it mentioned what I thought we're a few interesting angles to a food blog. Well, at least the 8 or so I've read so far in my life:). I very much appreciated the social/historical commentary on the grocery store she was shopping at, observing the dominant Italian-American customers and even their different modes of transportation. Sustainablity seemed to be a concern for her, which she mentioned was not a key element to this particular store. It was only after this very gastronomic analysis did she refer to the food product, frog legs (eww), which did not fare well with her senses. So much so that she refrained from going into detail about it. I picked this because it was short and to the point, filled with a decent amount of information and humor.

Letter to the Editor

http://www.positivehealth.com/article-view.php?articleid=2133

Dear Laura McGuiness,

I've recently come across the "Colour Coding Your Diet" article in Nutrition magazine, and would like to comment on a few things I noticed throughout my read. First off, this subject has always fascinated me so I'm glad to be apart of the public discussion, but I was dissapointed with the amount of information presented on it here. You laid out a very simplified and vague case for why we should choose our foods according to color, and failed to mention any of the other important decisions inherent when dining for health. It's true that vision can aid us in making smart choices about our diets, but unless you are aware of the quality of soil, method of production, and method of transportation of your food, the assessment of quality from appearance alone is nothing more than an uneducated guess. Sight has become a dangerous tool in capitalist society, so any informed person should be wary when told "it's the healthiest way to eat." I feel that future articles on the health of eating should extend past talk of nutrition to encompass a deeper understanding of our relationship with food, not only from a biological perspective, but a social one. We owe nothing short of our lives to the people that provide us with this daily need and gratitude to the diverse cultures that have brought pleasure to the experience of eating.

Sincerely, Courtney Rowles