Reflections on LATE 05: Innovate food
It was very interesting to be on the panel for the session on food at the Late at the museum, I was interested in how the discussion went,
We came back to science and sustainability quite often but these are only part of a good future for food.
The relationship of humans to food, and especially cooking, is of vital importance to all areas of society. Food isn’t just about eating. Because it is the most fundamental activity for humans, when, with whom, how often, at what time and what we eat it is used by humans for all sorts of sociological and cultural reasons.
Cooking, the thing which distinguishes us from animals also plays a large role in health and socialistion. If you cook, you eat better food, you can take control of your diet, you expand food choices, portions are smaller and it is more efficient to cook for a group than for a few people, so you tend to gather round the shared table which is where most socialisation goes on- you learn your manners, and underestimated mechanism.
It is interesting that in all the talk of the obesity epidemic, cooking is never mentioned. One can only assume that the powers that be know the value of cooking but have a better plan up their sleeves to solve the problems caused by junk food and overeating.
Read Michael Pollan‘s article in the New York Times “Out of the Kitchen and Onto the Couch” for more on this.
Being able to understand the importance of gastronomy is a vast interdisciplinary field. it is not just about sustainability or science, it is about culture.
If you remove the huge function home cooking performs, it would seem that it should be replaced with something equally clever. So I can’t work out what this is. Does anyone have a suggestion?
One other thing, the current attitude to fast food, that it is not really able to be held responsible for bad health, or that obesity is one’s own choice/fault is similar to the attitudes to tobacco when they were just establishing links between smoking and cancer. We will undoubtedly accept the dangers to people the 24/7 availability of what were formerly treat foods that are provided by fast food outlets. The recent talk of banning tobacco all together means that this will one day happen. It is called social change. Similarly we will look back at the days when fast food could be unrestrictedly sold with disbelief.
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