It's a tasty combination!
* * *
I occasionally get mildly snarky comments about the amount of food blogging I do, amid the philosophizing and commentary.Here's the deal: I think food, enough of it and a variety of it, is essential to civil society. Yes, yes, you'll die without it, but it's more than that. People who are just getting by, or who aren't getting by, people who spend all their time trying to provide the basics, food, shelter, they're easy prey for any fast talker who promises more; they're closer to deciding that other people are merely resources to be exploited; they'll buy into the idea that if only some group or class is wrung out, driven out, eliminated, everything will be better. They do this not because they're stupid or gullible, not because they're criminals, not because they were born hating, but because they are human, and they're hungry.
It's nice to think that the desperate are all noble Jean Valjeans, doing horrible things only because they must. For too many people, it becomes a way of life. It's best stopped before it starts. Hungry children can easily grow up to be misfit adults.
Conversely, in a healthy society, there's plenty to eat, of many different sorts. We're omnivores; we are comforted by having food around and all the more so when it's not a supply of identical bland, balanced bars of survival rations.
"Feed a man a fish, and he eats a meal; teach him to fish, and he'll have food for life." And teach him to set up and run a fish farm, and he'll feed his family, your family and a whole lot more -- and at every level of eating, catching or raising fish, he's likely to be too busy to stick a knife in you. Engaged in activites, he's likely to become more engaged in the society around him; able to look farther ahead than the next day's meal, he's likely to make better decisions.
So I blog about food. It's not just food.
For me, I just enjoy reading all the posts on food. I have even tried a few. With my workload, I end up eating out quite often. Experimenting with your posts is fun and relaxing.
ReplyDeleteI think you describe your meals very well. My recipes are much simpler and done without as much care. I guess a lazy cook describes me pretty well, more fuel than taste issue.
ReplyDeleteBreakfast for me earlier was two shredded chicken nuggets, torn up curly fries and an egg. Mix up egg, pour on nuggets and fries, toss around and microwave for 90 seconds in a cup. You end up with about 3/4 cup of breakfast. Some bacon or sausage would have gone really well, but I didn't have it. A tortilla for a taco would have been extra good !
I think your blog is awesome - no need to change a thing !
I agree that it's "not just food." It's also aesthetics: it's a form of enjoyment. Yes, the arm of the healthist lobby that wants food to be "fuel," no more, no less, doesn't want us to enjoy what we eat... but enjoyment is good for a person, I think, and without it we become grey and drab.
ReplyDeleteI forget who said, "Build a fire for a man and you'll keep him warm for a night. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm for the rest of his life." Was it the crooked cop character from "Firefly"? Okay, a little grim for humor first thing in the morning.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, somebody is complaining about one of the flavors of the free ice cream you serve to the world on your blog? Sheesh, all they gotta do is stop clicking through here.
I love reading your exploits on the food topics, and I tremendously enjoy the variety of ways that you utilize left-overs to create completely new tasty meals from them, this one being a great example.
Your breakfast blogs make me contemplate waking early enough to compose something like them for breakfast. I don't, but I think about it.
ReplyDeleteBeing in New Orleans a lot of everything revolves around food. You talk about your next meal and your previous meal while eating your current meal. Food is important, expression through food is culture and art.
It’s your blog, write whatever you want!
ReplyDeleteI like the blog just as it is. A good mix of topics. Although I think about 5% of the population are just assholes, I believe that number increases on the net. Perhaps they just do not have humans that want to be around them and they need the net to ply their trade?
ReplyDeleteYou do you.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things I miss the MOST about the disappearance of Brigid's blog is all the lost IJTIT* 'recipes' I had bookmarked that are no longer available. (Mayhaps someone who knows her in meatspace could prevail upon her to at least make an archive of these available...hint hint...nudge nudge. )
*I Just Threw It Together.
That blog is back on the aether with all of its archives as far as I can tell. Ms. Ecks would know better but I used her blueberry muffin recipe from way back just the other day.
DeleteDear Roberta, all I want is a 3-D printer capable of creating tasty meals downloaded from you and Ms Brigid. That concept would be a WMD for many waistlines, not just mine. Mmm, 3-D bacon, yum!
ReplyDeleteJaynola-
ReplyDeleteYou are CORRECT!!
MnM is indeed back online.
HUZZAH!!
(Thanks for the tip-off...I had lost hope of a return and removed it from bookmarks...)
I enjoy all of your posts. That's why I'm here. Glad to see you've some newish wheels.
ReplyDeleteI love the food posts because of course I love food, but also because it's not just food.
ReplyDeleteThank you, all!
ReplyDeleteAs others have said, your blog, your choice of what to blog about. I respect anyone who can find time to post daily, or more or less daily. I have a hard enough time posting weekly (as opposed to weakly, I guess); life keeps giving me stuff to blog about, and I keep stumbling over the fact that my posts would be all too likely to come out as incoherent cursing...
ReplyDelete