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Our discussion of "Cooked..."

We sat down Wednesday evening for a satisfying discussion of "Cooked..." by Michael Pollan. This book was informative, but not ground-breaking in its insights. We all know that we don't have enough time, yet we should cook our meals. That's the only way we surely know what we're eating, and we can control sugar, salt and fat. But it's so seductive to let corporations do the work for us...after all that salt, sugar and fat are some of the things that help food taste good! Maybe once we know more about the science of cooking we'll be more inclined. The author enjoys explaining how fire, air, water and earth help move food from raw to cooked. Each of these elements imparts taste, texture and umami, making us more than willing to partake. Our discussion did slip into a side discussion of the raw food movement, and how eating raw differs from cooking. We concluded that you have to eat A LOT of raw food to be satisfied, and that cooking really does help us eat and benefit from our food. Universally, we agreed that fresh is best, and when you cook for yourself (and/or your family) the emotional benefits are just as important as the nutritional ones.
One of the group owned chickens at one time, and commented that the eggs she got were the best she'd ever had. We don't really know how old the eggs are you get at the market, but you do know when Daisy the hen laid the egg you hold in your hand. That's hard to beat. And no, she didn't eat the chickens.
We liked the book, but it was a bit wordy. It did help drive home things we already knew we should be doing, and gave us the science behind cooking.

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