Oh, and our local supermarket suddenly has begun advertising local vegetables! It’s only corn and squash and I’m sure most everything else is form California or Mexico but it’s really nice to see!

I’ve never read the Omnivore’s Dilemma, but it does sound like a terrific book written by a wonderful writer, Margaret Visser, called Much Depends on Dinner. The book’s about 20 years old now, and in it, she “dissects” a typical, simple meal featuring salad, corn on the cob, fried chicken, and ice cream. It was quite an eye opener for me, especially in bringing up the (then less discussed) issues of modern farming practices, food history, and the realities of marketing in creating various “mystiques” around food. The chapter on corn–which focuses some attention on the fact that it is an ingredient in every item sold in any supermarket–is fascinating. But the chapter on ice cream, and Haagen Daas in particular, is hilarious. The book really pushed me in the direction of the work I now do: I practice an alternative medicine and I augment that work with providing nutritional counselling as a means for restoring health. She made it so clear that we must know what we’re eating, and know also the importance of pleasure in consuming the foods we eat: I’ve learned in my work that no one ever becomes well again without incorporating those ideas in their dietary habits.

Enough rambling….I encourage everyone to read Margaret Visser (and really, anything she writes is brilliant) and I’m going to go off and find a nice copy of the Omnivore’s Dilemma for my own pleasure.

Thanks again, Mr. Henry! Your post was a lovely surprise.