The quick answer: For best health, you have to be a cook or at least be on good terms with a cook.
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The Siren Song
In Greek mythology the daughters of Achelous lured passing sailors to their death by singing their siren song. It was a song so irresistible seamen would leap into the ocean and succumb to their power—the men's only protection was to cover their ears.
The poet Walter C. Perry spoke of this: “Their song, though irresistibly sweet, was no less sad than sweet, and lapped both body and soul in a fatal lethargy, the forerunner of corruption and death.”
So the term “siren song” refers to a message that is both seductive and destructive. Which brings us to the brilliant advertising campaigns of Food Inc. These campaigns too are cleverly manipulative, distort the truth, and bring early death. I see them on TV but listen with amusement and never ever take their propaganda to be wisdom.
Seduction through Convenience
In the last century, as the Industrial Revolution rolled through our food supply, a repeating song for new factory-made food products was “convenience.” It came in stages but bit-by-bit the art of cooking was reduced to opening packages. My first job out of college was with P&G, a venerable company that offered food products like Duncan Hines cake mixes. Later canned frosting was offered.
The packaged cake mix with canned frosting could serve as a metaphor for the adulteration of our food supply. The box had a very long shelf life, the cake was easy to make and required little skill, and of course it was sweetly unhealthy.
The directions on the cake mix called for an egg to be added (the yolk emulsifies the water and oil) but it wasn’t really needed as chemical emulsifiers were added at the factory. The idea was that adding an egg, though not needed, gave the woman making the cake the illusion of “cooking.”
We laughed at how easily women could be manipulated but out of company loyalty didn’t ponder long the consequences of our corporate philosophy—what was left when you took all the work out of cooking? Eating one packaged cake won’t kill you but a diet full of such factory-made products will. That’s one thing we proved in the last century.
The Joy of Cooking
Some years ago my Mom remarked with surprise, how all her friends had stopped cooking. They had worked long and hard at rearing their children but as their husbands retired from working, the wives retired from cooking. They ate out, bought “take out,” or pulled factory-made meals from the freezer. Today you can eat a variety of foods without ever cooking and these women followed that downward path. What was the result? All of Mom’s friends have passed away (their husbands typically died first) except one who suffers from dementia.
Mom still cooks, enjoys good health, and lives independently. But she doesn’t have anyone from her generation to talk to—and for my Mom, that’s a big problem.
The Pendulum Swings
The cooking pendulum has started to swing back towards equilibrium. I see this in our readers, how they are relearning how to cook more and open packages less. You’re ahead of the curve, this isn’t happening in every home, but you provide a model for the future that others can emulate. The good Lord bless you.
Please comment: Please comment on what you are doing to advance home cooking, or tell of someone who helped you. Or share your idea on how to spread the word.