Eating Good

So I was sortof joking when I wrote to some friends, telling them I had started a blog that tackles the socially & politically charged dilemma "what should I make for dinner?" However, in the particular climate of our time (climbing, that is), the question is anything but benign. In the face of rising temperatures, rising obesity rates, rising cholesterol, rising habitat degradation, rising poverty, scarcity, costs of production (ah!) - we are all meant to raise our consciousness when we go to market (to market, to buy a fresh, locally produced, grass-fed, antibiotic-free, organic pig).

There is tons written on this topic. In fact I recently finished the very thought-provoking new book by Michael Pollan, "In Defense of Food," where he actually feels it is necessary to define the word "food" for poor, deluded Western eaters who think that cheese is actually grown to the perfect shade of Cheetos-orange inside little plastic wrappers, which is simply nature's evolution of the banana peal. We're pretty far gone. I get it. I agree. But it's so hard to do it right.

For example, last night Herb and I attended Toronto Taste, an event in support of Second Harvest - a phenomenal charity that redistributes fresh food left over from restaurants and hotels (which otherwise would have been thrown in the dump) to social service programs across the city. It's a "duh" idea. I could take these 20 gigantic, fresh, delicious spinach lasagnas and dump them in the garbage cause they just weren't selling so hot tonight or I could, you know, give them to a women's shelter, an AIDS hospice, a seniors center. So Second Harvest figured out and perfected how to do this and we live in a better city because of it.

Toronto Taste is their biggest fundraiser (I'm pretty sure) - all the chefs and restaurants in the city (that count) come out for it. Each one gets a booth and produces a perfect little nibblet - something savoury or saucy or sweet - and you get to go around and have one of this, one of that, all fantastically yummy. Also there are wineries and breweries and wateries (what else do you call them?), chocolatiers, bread-makers, tea tottlers - all for our epicurean pleasure.

In the program, co-chairs Tracy Wynne and Camille Allman write "As an honoured guest at Toronto Taste 2009, you too become an activist and form a vital part of the food chain that enables Second Harvest to recover and redistribute millions of pounds of perishable and non-perishable surplus food to those in need."

Damn. Doesn't that make you feel good? Really full. But good. But wait. Wait. An activist? Are you sure? I mean, I'm a fundraiser too so I know what you're trying to do, here. And sure donors are super-duper important but let's not fool ourselves. I'm pretty sure that the chick in the $700 Holt's halter-dress that took one bite of her Kobe-burger before throwing it, and her unscathed napkin, into the trash is as much of an activist as I am. Maybe a little bit more. But dude, we were there for the food. Oh, and yeah, it's a good cause.

Ok, that might be a bit more cynical than I really feel. I'm sure at least 65% of the people there really do care and do want to do the right thing (breakdown of the remaining 35%: 15% trying to impress a date with a mixture of compassion & affluence that would make them an attractive parent for potential future children ; 15% trying to impress a date with a mixture of wealth and social status that makes up for the fact that they are old/fat/ugly; 5% looking to get laid - there's always that 5% at any event).

But all we really did is fork over some money and fork in a whole heap of food (and fork out tons of waste - both food and trash, I'm sure). I'm really glad that something good will come of it, but I know better than to accept even an ounce of credit for it (ummm, but yeah, we'll take the tax receipt, thanks).

I'm not really sure what it would take to be a food activist, but I guarantee it requires a lot more effort. Planting your own organic garden, becoming a vegan, eating a 100-mile diet 12 months a year...I'm not being callous. I am in awe of people that take these stands. But it's not what I can do. What I can do is try. And try to try on a somewhat regular basis.

There's a quote from Voltaire that I've been coming across a lot lately: "Perfect is the enemy of good." We can't eat perfectly. I don't have the time, temperment, or marriage to survive it. But we can try to eat good or at least take responsibility for eating better.

Tonight's less-than-perfect dinner:

- Meat lasagna that's been in our freezer since Nate was born (Loki wouldn't eat it until we put slabs of it on top of toasted raisin pita bread and called it "pizza")

- Organic Spinach Salad