Eating Like America

Hawaii was breathtakingly beautiful and I had an amazing time, but it's good to be home for a number of reasons, including for my health.  Culinary tourism was fun for a while (see last post) but I got over novelty foods quickly and then found it hard to eat well in America.  Even salads were dripping in oil and deep fried, and outside of the shopping we did at farmers markets it was hard to find good quality fruit and vegetables to cook our own meals.  Eating badly takes its toll on the body, as is very visibly demonstrated in America.  I have always found that if you want insight into local culture you should watch a bit of local television and glean clues from the ads.  In America we vollied between ads for extravagant fast food with dodgy health claims, and ads for drugs to fix multitude health problems.. that are mostly caused from poor diet.

One evening while watching local television I caught Stephen Colbert teasing Michael Pollan about his new book.  Pollan is a journalist who has written a number of dense books on nutrition, for which he has interviewed scientists, doctors and nutritionists.  His latest book is an updated version of his New York Times bestseller Food Rules: An Eater's Manual which condenses what he has learned from experts and translates it into 'rules' which read like grandmotherly advice.  I was impressed enough with what he had to say to go out and buy the book - and it's good.  The advice offered is simple and sound and I'll definitely be incorporating some of the ideas into my life.  I also suspect that the book is something I will use as a reference when I need re-inspiring.  The text is made for revisits, and the illustrations by artist Maira Kalman are delicous.