Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Unreasonable?

These two books recently came into my possession - In Defense of Food was left in my work mailbox by a certain dear friend (I presume) and I purchased The George Bernard Shaw Vegetarian Cook Book at the library book sale for fifty cents when I attended the Festival in the Park the other day. The recipes in the Shaw cookbook are simple (usually five or fewer ingredients) and often contain white flour, cream, eggs, sugar or butter - Shaw died in 1950 and the recipes obviously reflect the character of cooking (without the meat) of the times. The principles of tasty, healthy, portion controlled meals are discussed throughout both books. Pollan does not promote a vegetarian diet as such but the mantra Eat Food. Not Too Much. Mostly Plants. certainly points to reducing both portion size and meat consumption in the typical Western diet.

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
-George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman (1903)
"Maxims for Revolutionists"







As I was cleaning the top of the refrigerator on our backyard patio, I found this partially assembled bird's nest in a produce basket. Perhaps the environment was too intrusive for the bird...

5 comments:

Nana Sadie said...

It's fun to look at what was understood decades ago to be a healthy lifestyle. My aunts were raised vegetarian and firmly believed they were healthier - perhaps they were, to a point, but white flour, white sugar, and fat, were all part of their diets. Heart disease and cancer are big in my family, in spite of the "vegetarian" roots!

We know so much more now!
(((hugs)))

Σφιγξ said...

Are you still waiting to receive An Omnivore's Dilemma?

Sandra said...

I read a substantial excerpt from the Omnivore's Dilemma in the Sun last year - http://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/365

Pam! said...

Perhaps I should tattoo Pollan's mantra somewhere. heh heh Seriously though, I have recently adopted it as my mantra and am making changes to actually live it. It's going to be tough, but necessary for many reasons.

Σφιγξ said...

Finding odds and ends:

http://www.americansinfrance.net/Newsletter/Vide-Grenier.cfm