Thursday, July 18, 2013

Wise Words from Michael Pollan

I think he's all that and a mason jar of homemade dehydrated kale chips.  I love what this guy has to say about food.  Even though (or especially because) I was trained as a dietitian at UC Berkeley and UCLA, my favorite nutrition advice ever is "eat food, not too much, mostly plants."

In his latest Cooked, I am tickled with his perspectives on and blend of anthropology, religion, food science, biology, chemistry, history, agriculture, journalism, home ecomomics, research, technology and especially ethics, whisked together with great humor by his awesome way of expressing himself...

...so I find myself compelled to share some of his thoughts on cooking:
Once I committed a couple of hours to being in the kitchen, I found my usual impatience fade and could give myself over to the afternoon's unhurried project.  After a week in front of the screen, the opportunity to work with my hands--with all my senses, in fact--is always a welcome change of pace, whether in the kitchen or in the garden.  There's something about such work that seems to alter the experience of time, helps me to reoccupy the present tense.  I don't want you to get the idea it's made a Buddhist of me, but in the kitchen, maybe a little bit.  When stirring the pot, just stir the pot.  I get it now.  It seems to me that one of the great luxuries of life at this point is to be able to do one thing at a time, one thing to which you give yourself wholeheartedly.
Unitasking.

Who knew he could share the dharma, too?