During spring quarter, I took a class called “Biology of Non-Infectious Disease.” While I learned a lot about cancer, diabetes and lung disease, something that stuck with me the most was a quote by Michael Pollan that my professor ended a lecture with. This was the quote, “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
Such a small sentence; just seven words. Yet those seven words stuck in my mind far better than any of the other material I learned from that class. The concept is very simple. It seems so easy, I mean, how hard is it to not overeat and consume a large portion of fruits and vegetables every day?
This peeked my interest in Michael Pollan. I wanted to see what else I could learn from a man who so simply put the way that we should eat.
I read his book “Food Rules,” and loved it, but it wasn’t until I watched his documentary “Cooked” that my perspective on food changed.
I started “Cooked” on a train ride from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles. Usually the two-hour ride seems to drag on and on, but this time it didn’t.
“Cooked” is split into four parts -- Fire, Water, Air and Earth. The separate episodes focus on how fire has shaped cooking today, pot cooking and consequences of processed foods, the science of bread making and the nature of gluten, and the process of fermentation. Each episode is so different, yet they come together to educate you on all of the different aspects of food.
You follow Pollan as he travels around the world to educate himself and learn about the different cultures and their food traditions. You see the origins of things you love to eat like chocolate and bread. You are able to understand how these simple ingredients shape into a great tasting food, and for me, seeing this process was fascinating.
Food becomes broken down right in front of your eyes. You learn about the microbes that help turn raw ingredients into delicacies and you see how much time and effort these other cultures put into their food. Cooking is an art that most Americans have seem to have lost.
I see now how we have strayed so far away from our cooking roots. When we cook from scratch it is very rare occasion. How many people do you know that make their own bread every morning? Or grow their own spices? It is a small number, yet that’s how it used to be, and in other countries, that’s how it still is.
We have become so reliant on prepackaged foods and frozen dinners that we are slowly but surely losing our art of cooking. We give in to the highly marketed, highly processed foods because it’s easier, more convenient for our busy lifestyles.
Cooking has always been something that is passed down from generation to generation. My grandmother still has hand written recipes that are used throughout my family. But, with the way things are going, I fear that the only thing future generation parents are going to know how to do is tell their children how long to microwave something for.
The first thing “Cooked” taught me is that we became truly human when we learned how to cook. Yes, it may be more time consuming to cook everything yourself, but when you do you are investing in yourself and you are being human. The meal itself is such a human concept, but when you eat those processed, packaged foods you are taking the humanity out of it.
In the wise words of Michael Pollan, “When you let corporations cook for you, they cook differently than people do.”
While cooking every meal is difficult because we have strayed so far away from that, I urge you to try to cook. Cook as much as you can, and make it a priority. No longer disregard food and settle for something that you know is not good for you, but instead re-find the joy in cooking that our ancestors had so much of. Who knows, maybe you might find a new passion, or better yet, an amazing tasting recipe.
“Cooked” is available on Netflix, and you can watch the trailer here:
