A story in yesterday's Washington Post takes a spin through the supermarket and rehashes some of the current moral quandaries faced by the average shopper. Organic? Big organic? Local? Free range? All of these factors are mentioned. The author cites works by Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan, and if you've read either of these authors, the WaPo piece will seem like old news. If, however, you're just starting to take an interest in how and where your food is produced, this might be a helpful, albeit brief, overview. In the end, the author consults a bioethics scholar who says that rather than worrying about every single factor involved in every item we eat, we'd be better of picking certain facets-animal cruelty, environmental impact, taste-placing them on a scale of importance, and shopping accordingly.Posts with tag ethics
Washington Post talks ethical eating
A story in yesterday's Washington Post takes a spin through the supermarket and rehashes some of the current moral quandaries faced by the average shopper. Organic? Big organic? Local? Free range? All of these factors are mentioned. The author cites works by Eric Schlosser and Michael Pollan, and if you've read either of these authors, the WaPo piece will seem like old news. If, however, you're just starting to take an interest in how and where your food is produced, this might be a helpful, albeit brief, overview. In the end, the author consults a bioethics scholar who says that rather than worrying about every single factor involved in every item we eat, we'd be better of picking certain facets-animal cruelty, environmental impact, taste-placing them on a scale of importance, and shopping accordingly.Some cookbooks are too preachy
Someone finally said it: some "cookbooks" are just getting too preachy.
It used to be the case that cookbooks just had recipes - in other words, they were for cooking, plain and simple. Those books were pretty dry, though, and slowly people discovered that cookbooks with a bit of text, a bit or personality were much more interesting to read through. Gradually, more stories and text were added to many books, a trend which encouraged people to cook by answering the question of why people should cook - like dads or teens, who might not otherwise turn to a book like the Joy of Cooking.
But some books are taking this a step too far and telling readers why they should radically alter the way they eat - sort of like a self-help book with recipes. Of course, unlike a self-help book, they seem to use alarmism to try and convert the reader, rather than affirmation. Seattle PI Food Editor Hsiao-Ching Chou cites Grub: Ideas for an Urban Organic Kitchen and The Ethical Gourmet: How to Enjoy Great Food That Is Humanely Raised, Sustainable, Nonendangered, and That Replenishes the Earth as examples and notes that, while nothing is necessarily wrong with their message, trying to disguise them as something other than what they are - manifestos - is a bit misleading, recipes or no.
Mare meat: a controversy
In January, my boyfriend and I went back to his old neighborhood in France (he spent a year teaching at a university in Nice despite not knowing French, but I digress). As we passed the local butcher shop, the word "Cheval" was posted in huge letters on the plate-glass window.Because I didn't speak any French, my mind starting racing. Cheval, cheval, that sounds like ... chivalry. Oh no, I thought, are they butchering knights?!
No, worse: they were butchering horses.
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