
In Sunday's Pittsburgh Tribune Review, dietitian Betsy Klein states that fad diets, such as low-carb regimens, seem to be disappearing. She explains that they are declining because people are less obsessed with weight-loss and more concerned with what they're actually consuming. This change in eating can be traced as far back as the '70s culinary revolution in Berkeley initiated by chefs like Alice Waters. It looks like the trend is spreading to the rest of the country.
This past September, the New York Times printed an article about people starting to eat to enjoy food rather than solely to lose weight. Chefs are preparing healthful well-balanced meals that do not necessarily follow any extreme forms of dieting. I wonder whether people are eating to enjoy the culinary sensations on their palate or if they're eating to experience the food's medicinal properties. For example, some people consume honey because they believe it relieves a sore throat. In other words, some people eat with the objective to have food activate or shut down corporal pains and desires.
Even if we're eating for reasons both gastronomical and pharmaceutic, which culinary purpose dominates? How will our culinary perception evolve in 2009?













