Mangia! Mangia!

I have friends who are omnivores and I also have friends who restrict their diets for various ethical, health, and socio-cultural reasons--everything from vegans to vegetarians to shades of vegetarianism ("I'll eat beef, but not fish or chicken" for example).

Sometimes people get into some really fun discussions of the ins and outs of what they will or won't eat. Meat eaters always like to play ethical gotcha with non meat eaters. And it can be pretty torturous for some to come up with consistent reasons for their eating mores.

That's why I stick to one simple rule about what I will and will not eat: I don't eat anything that has a face. Fortunately bacon does not have a face.

Silence of the yams

Very interesting, entertaining article on diet in the NY Times magazine.

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

That, more or less, is the short answer to the supposedly incredibly complicated and confusing question of what we humans should eat in order to be maximally healthy.

Also,

8. Cook. And if you can, plant a garden.

It's that simple.
But the fact that good, real food costs more bothers me. Not because I am cheap, but because it feels too much like a luxury. Whole Foods skeeves me out as much because of the whole hippy vibe as because of the Protestant ascendency vibe.

Not everyone can afford to eat well in America, which is shameful, but most of us can: Americans spend, on average, less than 10 percent of their income on food, down from 24 percent in 1947, and less than the citizens of any other nation. And those of us who can afford to eat well should. Paying more for food well grown in good soils — whether certified organic or not — will contribute not only to your health (by reducing exposure to pesticides) but also to the health of others who might not themselves be able to afford that sort of food: the people who grow it and the people who live downstream, and downwind, of the farms where it is grown.

Here's my way out: 1) Hey it's cheaper than when your parents were young and 2) Indulging in organic whole food excess is actually helping the poor! It's trickle down nutrition.