Thursday, June 05, 2025

At the museum
Picasso, 1935.

Man Ray pipe

Monday, June 02, 2025

The Virtues of the Table: How to Eat and Think is a book about ethics by a very opinionated journalist, Julian Baggini. He’s really quite preachy. But I still enjoyed reading the first half of it, because I like his way of challenging commonly-held ideas. The second half was a bit tedious, rehashing a lot of concepts that are often mentioned about food and cuisine, and I kind of speed-read it.

Here are some quotes that appealed to me. (Note, the Kindle edition doesn’t have page numbers).

“The idea that novelty is a cardinal virtue in food can only emerge in a culture where the food tradition is weak and the daily menus not packed with favourites passed down the generations. Routine need not lead to boredom, but ironically, the constant pursuit of novelty can. There is nothing more tedious than culinary innovation for the sake of it.”

“In the 1950s and 1960s the Spanish costas were ruined by tasteless developments built to attract mainly British holiday-makers in search of a cheap break. Now, behind the beaches, the foothills are being ruined to provide tasteless food to, often British, consumers in search of cheap meals. The Spanish have blown their inheritance in search of quick rewards.”

“Excessive rigidity about the desire to cook everything from scratch is not a character trait I wanted to reinforce. It would be wrong to become moralistic about what is in essence a luxury. Before the widespread use of domestic ovens, the poor did little home cooking as we would now recognise it. In the slums of the developing world, takeaways and simple restaurants are the cheap option, not an indulgence, since it is more expensive to buy the fuel to cook at home for a single family than it is for one person to cook for many. In the modern West, doing a lot of home cooking is the privilege of the time-rich, or at least time-flexible.”

Time Marches On

The essays in this book were collected for publication in 2014, meaning they were written and in some cases published elsewhere earlier than that. I’m surprised at how many of the ideas were being explored in detail back then (as I recall) but have gone dormant now, though they would be just as relevant. I think the whole question of ethical eating was discussed much more a while ago than it is now. When was the last time I saw the term "food miles" and heard all the fuss about eating local? No longer an obsession, I guess.

I’m also surprised at how several of the “facts” known a decade ago are now very much in question, especially those theories of weight control and hunger that have been demolished by the widespread use of GLP drugs like Wegovy.

“Why do people seem to think that people ought to lose weight by willpower alone?” asks the author when discussing weight-loss surgery. He argues that such surgery should be a perfectly respectable and unquestioned procedure, but he didn't think it was accepted.

The same judgy question comes up for people on weight loss drugs now, but the whole issue has shifted as it’s become apparent that the control of food thoughts and hunger is simply much more difficult — or not possible — for many people, whose problem can now be solved by drugs, not surgery with all its risks. Reading the viewpoint from a decade ago sheds light on how much things have changed because of effective weight-loss drugs.

I wish I knew what inspired me to get this book! The author is still producing many articles, so maybe he mentioned it himself? I can’t really recommend it, though it has some good chapters.

Julian Baggini (Wikipedia)

Saturday, May 31, 2025

My Ann Arbor Kitchen in May

May, 2025: Food in Ann Arbor

May has been a very busy month. We traveled to Virginia for Alice's graduation, and we began our back-yard cooking season in Michigan. For Sherry's In My Kitchen this month, I've divided my post into two parts: Virginia and Michigan; yesterday’s post was about Virginia. Before and after our Virginia trip, we cooked a variety of foods in our kitchen, and after a lot of rain, were able to cook on the grill in our back yard.

Finally: Outdoor Cooking and Eating

In my kitchen and dining room…

I love this new dragon cup made by Evelyn. The dragon wraps around the cup, so I showed two sides of it.

Salmon and coleslaw

At the Neighbors’ House

Sushi Lunch

Beyond My Kitchen: Government Interference in Science and Government Dishonesty Emerges

First, a cartoon suggesting who will eat when we achieve our new social order. (source)

Here’s one clear and believable summary of the current childhood nutrition situation, as expert food scientist Marion Nestle explained it:

“Most American children’s diets are dominated by ultra–processed foods (UPFs) high in added sugars, chemical additives, and saturated fats, while lacking sufficient intakes of fruits and vegetables.”

The “Make America Healthy” report on childhood nutrition was released this month. While the problems in our society with feeding children a healthy diet seem to be pretty well formulated, the solutions seem questionable and more details of the dishonesty of the study have been revealed each day.

Current budget legislation substantially cuts benefits for families who need them, and reduces benefits to farmers who have supplied food to food banks and other charities. This makes the report seem a bit hypocritical. Note: for info about more government interference in science and health, see “Trump’s new ‘gold standard’ rule will destroy American science as we know it.”

Here’s a quote from the press release about this new publication:

“We will end the childhood chronic disease crisis by attacking its root causes head-on—not just managing its symptoms,” said U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. “We will follow the truth wherever it leads, uphold rigorous science, and drive bold policies that put the health, development, and future of every child first. I’m grateful to President Trump for his leadership—and for trusting me to lead this fight to root out corruption, restore scientific integrity, and reclaim the health of our children.” (source)

New details keep emerging about this report. In particular, a news story on Thursday revealed that the report “contains citations to studies that do not exist.” (source) Several of the authors whose works were “cited” stated that the supposed articles and fictitious coauthors. Further reports on Friday revealed that the study is based on unreliable AI generation. Bottom line from an expert:

“This is not an evidence-based report, and for all practical purposes, it should be junked at this point….It cannot be used for any policymaking. It cannot even be used for any serious discussion, because you can’t believe what’s in it.” (quote from Georges C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association)

I’m not just skeptical about this bogus study, which the Trump administration is nevertheless supporting. I’m terrified by the meaning and implications, in the first quote, of “truth,” “corruption,” and “scientific integrity.” The administration has undermined existing programs and sabotaged public trust in the food supply. Kennedy's crackpot science ideas are already doing quite a lot of harm in agriculture, medicine, and climate science. Layoffs of food regulators, perversion of regulations, and defunding of agriculture and welfare programs (details here) undermine the well-being and health of all citizens.

I started writing this on Tuesday, and new revelations each day have caused me to revise what I’ve said. You really can’t trust this government!

Shared with Sherry and with Deb.

Friday, May 30, 2025

Virginia Kitchens, Restaurants, and Food in May

Food in Virginia in May

This is the first of two posts about food and kitchens in May, 2025. We had such a busy month that I had to break my usual wrap-up post into two parts: tomorrow will be a post about Ann Arbor kitchens and dining. During our trip to Fairfax and Charlottesville to attend Alice’s college graduation, we ate many good things. Here are a few examples.

Restaurant food: a steak at our graduation celebration in Charlottesville.

Brunch at a favorite Cuban diner: huevos ranchros.

Back in Fairfax: dinner at Evelyn’s. Salad, quinoa, bread…

… and the main course: trout.

Evelyn’s fried Gabriella brought us Armenian apricot leather.

Tom’s crab cakes in the refrigerator!

Bonus: Murals

Shared with Sherry and Sami.

Wednesday, May 28, 2025

Quiet Times, Good Times

Reading

Like many fantasy novels, The Bird King is around one third longer than it should be, as if the author didn’t quite know how to end it. Set in the historic era in Grenada, at the end of the fifteenth century, when the Moors were just being expelled from Spain, the book has a lot of interesting ideas about the relationship of Moslems and Christians at that time. I enjoyed these historic or almost-historic elements of the book. The presence of supernatural creatures was ok until it wasn’t.

This book seems more like a reference work than a readable history.
I read only parts of it. The author has written better books!

High Island Blues is set in the exact locations where we were birding in Texas in April.

This book was a gift from Deb at Readerbuzz, which was wonderful of her! Not only the setting, but the activity of birding and the goals of the characters in High Island Blues are very much like the goals of the birders that we traveled with. Obviously, the major difference is that no one on our tour —that I know of — was motivated to murder anyone. The birding sites named in the novel are the same ones we visited. Two characters in the novel at one point go into Houston to have lunch at the Galleria Shopping Center, which was the location of our hotel at after the tour. As the characters drive through Houston and around the birding areas, I could picture just these places where we drove on our tour.

At one point, we saw an old motel in Winnie, Texas, near the birding sites. This motel was mentioned by name in the novel. We were told that our tour company used to have people stay there, but it has declined in quality. We stayed in a much newer hotel, happily.

The characters in the novel in fact stayed at an old house with a colorful landlady, which I suspect was entirely fictitious, and which enabled the author to create a conventional plot of the English Country House genre, but of course set in Texas. A very successful artistic decision!

As mysteries go, this is a great read. The author has written many successful books, some of which are also TV shows. I’ve loved the “Vera” TV series based on another series of books by the author, Ann Cleeves.

High Island — site of the action in the novel. Our birding trip to Texas in April visited
there, and the experience was just like the description in the book, despite the gap of 30 years.

A Swainson’s Warbler that we saw in Texas when birding in the sites noted in the novel.
Just before finding the body, the key witness was searching for this bird.
(Len’s Photo)

What’s on TV?

Shared with Eileen’s critters

Monday, May 26, 2025

Peonies! And Other Blossoms

University of Michigan, Nichols Arboretum

Peony Garden 2025

This year’s peonies are just beginning to bloom. The garden has a remarkable collection of peonies
dating back over 100 years, and a staff of gardeners and researchers.