In Defense of the Meal

The food culture in this country is in complete disarray, and it has been now for generations.

The problem is so severe, that being born in this country is a risk to your longevity – regardless of your background. Immigrants fare worse health outcomes here than they would have at their country of origin.

We are disconnected from the source of foods. We are no longer seeking it from the farms, the oceans, or the ranches.

The food is fake, my dear.

We are conditioned to trust the grocery store, while we are bathed in their fluorescent lights. We have been fooled into valuing the cost of food in dollar terms, when the actual concern is whether or not we are even getting real food in the first place.

The very definition of food has been degraded. “Spread” is butter, “nuggets” are chicken. Bread is essentially angel food cake. We seemed convinced that even water cannot simply be water. It has to be “smart” or “alkaline” or “plus”.

The food is fake.

Nutrition labels mean nothing.

The problem is beyond “nutrition”, which for me has become a bad word. There are few things which have created as much disservice to the pleasure of eating a meal as nutritionism, which imposes an unnatural and sterile lens on food. Seeing food as a combination of carbs, proteins, and fats is meant to distract and confuse.

These labels were used as a tool to destroy real food. People who deal with real food see through the nonsense.

The grandmas who make pasta from scratch, the Michelin chefs, the Korean auntie gathering ultra seasonal produce to make kimchi, and the ranchers up at the crack of dawn downing their skillet fried bacon slabs and biscuits to have the energy to get to work. The amount of protein and whether or not it is cruelty free, is a legit joke to them.

Instead of the delight of seeing all the colors in the table spread, the aromas from freshly ground spices heated on a pan, they are telling us to make a hard stop and take a picture of our food, so we can answer “how many calories is this?”, “what are the macros?”.

We need a renaissance in food.

We need to go back in time – not to some future of protein bars, powders, and those god forsaken gummies. The old book of family recipes, the farm to table star chefs, the YouTube guides, grandmas and grandpas, the sauerkraut fermenters. I truly believe they will save us by restoring the very thing that makes us human: the meal.