When it comes to cooking in our modern society the choice often comes down to two different thoughts. First, do I have the time to make this? And second, do I have the actual ability and know how to make this meal? Michael Pollan attempts to answer these questions for his audience, while also trying to reveal some of the historical context and misconceptions that people can have about cooking and the food industry as a whole. To some Pollan's series "Cooked," based off of his novel of the same name, may seem like it is a bit cramped. However my opinion is that Pollan does a decent job of creating four distinct areas of focus for his series.
For the four episode series Pollan dedicates each episode to one of the four elements (fire, water, air, and then earth) and Pollan does an excellent job of using the element to correspond with the theme that he has in mind for the episode. For his fire theme it focused around the historical origins of cooking and the beginning of the social structure and society building that revolved around the communal act of cooking around a fire. The second episode was water and the advance of culture and individual taste that evolved from having dishes being able to mix vegetables and to create distinct flavors. The third episode was air and the influence of bread within the social and technology advances of our society, as well as beginning the conversation of how the modern food industry has changed the way we eat and think about eating, in regards to bread and the evolution of white bread and the loss of nutrients from this new creation process. The last episode focuses on the process of fermentation and the need of fermentation to emphasis a commitment to traditional cooking/fermenting techniques at times in order to use the natural environment and bacteria around to enhance your food.
The last episode was also a follow-up on the overview of Pollan's entire series in regards to the historical background of food and cooking within the human experience as well as the modern thought process in regards to cooking and the need for our society to go back to cooking, even if it is only a few times a week. Pollan's central point of "Cooked" is to layout the background of cooking and how it is has effected our society, in both deliberate and unintentional ways, to show its importance with the lives of humans and why we as humans should make sure that the tradition of cooking does not disappear from our society.
The trailer for "Cooked" is below if this show sounds like it might interest you.
