I SRSLY LOVE PIZZA
Brendan has been diligently working away at his school projects so I haven't had a whole lot of time to update... until now! I made an insanely good pizza tonight, FROM SCRATCH!
Why did I go through the hassle of making the dough from scratch, you ask? Well, am I ever glad to tell you! It all started a week ago when I watched Food Inc., an amazing and infuriating movie:
Immediately after, I read (the hot and studly) Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food, two books that should be required reading for every man, woman, and child on earth. Quickly moving on, I devoured Mark Bittman's Food Matters, and let me tell you it does matter, and my life will never, ever be the same. (as cliche as that sounds!)
These books expose industrial and modern food for what it is: "food". Or rather, "corn" (oh, how I love derisive air quotes). Everything is corn, everything. EVERYTHING.
And while I will spare you the long sermon about the evils of nutritionism, I will cut to the chase and tell you what popular science and culture wont: the industrial food industry (regime) has invested millions upon millions of dollars to keep you fat and guilty, and they're getting filthy rich off of it!
We eat, we get fat. We diet, we get fat. We buy organic, we get fat. We go low-carb, we get fat. We cut out saturated fat, we get fatter! And then, when the headlines proclaim our fatness, we get guiltier (thus fatter), and the "Food" Peeps wring their hands together greedily and cackle "Excellent" like Mr. Burns off of the Simpsons.
I just figure enough is enough. The human race survived years and years without a diet guru shaping their eating into a "problem". Whole civilizations existed on the very things that have been demonized in our society, like carbs and saturated fat, yet here we are in 2009, nutritionally the most dysfunctional group in history. Like an abused wife, we keep coming back to our Western diet, proclaiming, "He has changed. This time it'll be different because he's cut the carbs and added omega 3s! He promises not to do it again!" Only to see after the honeymoon period he's at it again, tearing a strip off us after eating a slice of bread. Scapegoating and searching for quick fixes doesn't work, yet we're loath to admit there is a solution beyond them.
Food truly does matter, but it matters in a way that transcends "it foods" and nutritional advice. Food is culturally defining, it is life, and it integrates us into the fabric of being in ways other human necessities can't. Food is a spiritual act, whether we like it or not, and I will be damned (damned I tell you!) if I let some unethical massive business conglomeration tell ME how THEY think I should nourish my soul.
(You're welcome for the AWESOME photo quality, I am just THAT good.)
The crust is homemade and whole wheat (no high fructose corn syrup here) and it is topped with a pizza sauce I made from leftover canned tomatoes and loads of garlic. On top of the sauce I layered the pizza with spinach and shredded zucchini, then added fresh mozzarella, parmesan, red peppers, and finally some slices of chorizo sausage. I served it with cut up veg, much to the chagrin of Brendan who usually asks for "meat with a side of meat".
Let me tell you, the pizza was so good, it earned the much coveted "sofa king good" seal of approval from B.
Why did I go through the hassle of making the dough from scratch, you ask? Well, am I ever glad to tell you! It all started a week ago when I watched Food Inc., an amazing and infuriating movie:
Immediately after, I read (the hot and studly) Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma and In Defense of Food, two books that should be required reading for every man, woman, and child on earth. Quickly moving on, I devoured Mark Bittman's Food Matters, and let me tell you it does matter, and my life will never, ever be the same. (as cliche as that sounds!)
These books expose industrial and modern food for what it is: "food". Or rather, "corn" (oh, how I love derisive air quotes). Everything is corn, everything. EVERYTHING.
And while I will spare you the long sermon about the evils of nutritionism, I will cut to the chase and tell you what popular science and culture wont: the industrial food industry (regime) has invested millions upon millions of dollars to keep you fat and guilty, and they're getting filthy rich off of it!
We eat, we get fat. We diet, we get fat. We buy organic, we get fat. We go low-carb, we get fat. We cut out saturated fat, we get fatter! And then, when the headlines proclaim our fatness, we get guiltier (thus fatter), and the "Food" Peeps wring their hands together greedily and cackle "Excellent" like Mr. Burns off of the Simpsons.
I just figure enough is enough. The human race survived years and years without a diet guru shaping their eating into a "problem". Whole civilizations existed on the very things that have been demonized in our society, like carbs and saturated fat, yet here we are in 2009, nutritionally the most dysfunctional group in history. Like an abused wife, we keep coming back to our Western diet, proclaiming, "He has changed. This time it'll be different because he's cut the carbs and added omega 3s! He promises not to do it again!" Only to see after the honeymoon period he's at it again, tearing a strip off us after eating a slice of bread. Scapegoating and searching for quick fixes doesn't work, yet we're loath to admit there is a solution beyond them.
Food truly does matter, but it matters in a way that transcends "it foods" and nutritional advice. Food is culturally defining, it is life, and it integrates us into the fabric of being in ways other human necessities can't. Food is a spiritual act, whether we like it or not, and I will be damned (damned I tell you!) if I let some unethical massive business conglomeration tell ME how THEY think I should nourish my soul.
Jesse I just loved this post! I am so totally watching Food Inc today. Then reading your recommended books... hopefully this will be enough to make that "life change". Also, you have inspired me to make my own pizza from scratch cuz yours sounds so good - will take pictures! xoxo
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