Me and Harold McGee

Nobody beats Harold McGee on the science of cooking--his On Food and Cooking is a must have for anyone who is a serious cook.

How wonderful that he has a new book!  Here's a teaser interview.

Why Won't Americans Eat Their Veggies?

The NYT just published this interesting article about how Americans, despite all efforts to convince them otherwise, refuse to eat their vegetables (I combine the exception categories in one curved swoop: an older, well-educated, better-paid woman).

This fascinates me on a purely rhetorical level: here we have serious efforts of persuasion that fail, and fail again, and then fail some more.  I am also delighted by the Rockin' Baby Carrot Campaign, though I think reimagining baby carrots as junk food is probably NOT the wisest decision.  But who knows what works with kids these days? 

The two points that stand out for me beyond all the whining excuses are these: vegetables are expensive, and they require work to integrate them into a meal.  If we want more Americans to eat veggies, we first need to make them cheaper--rather than subsidizing processed foods that at once fatten us while starving us of vital nutrients, we should apply those subsidies to make vegetables cheaper (and the logical first place to start this is Food Stamps).  I really think that's the quickest and best fix.  But it'd also be good to teach America's children more about good eating habits--there is a clarity of mind in young people, who see things in Black and White, that makes them amenable to clear arguments about healthy choices, and they would take this propaganda home with them (childless that I am, I might be romanticizing America's youth--still, I have seen 9-year-olds that are remarkably receptive to anti-smoking arguments, for instance).  In the longterm, these children would also have the education about food to make better choices and avoid fad diets--this could be a comprehensive win.

All of this is fantasy territory, however.  The corporate food producers fattened and fed by subsidies will never let Congress make such a change, and even I can see that America's education system needs other fixes first, as we slide ever lower in reading and math.

Ikea's New Cookbook: Delightful, Delicious, Delovely

I am still swooning over the clever visuals in this cookbook. *want*  (h/t David Lebovitz)

Course in Korean Food? Sign Me Up!

How exciting that the first ever course in Korean food will be taught at Philly's own Drexel University.  So wish I could take it!