oh, hello

Hi there. In case it wasn’t obvious, this is a food blog, one of many in the world.

To start, I have a confession to make: after a few years of food-related academic pursuits, volunteering, and world-wide researching, I’m becoming a little weirded out by the whole “foodie” scene. And yet…I still like to cook, and go to the farmers market, and sometimes take pictures of food, because food can be pretty beautiful, can’t it? (sidenote: are we the only species that makes such a big deal out of the taste/appearance of our food?) So here is my philosophy: good ingredients. If you have good ingredients, you don’t have to do silly things to them or serve them in towers drizzled with truffle oil and shavings of this and that.

Also, to continue the self-indulgent ramble, I am unfortunately aware enough to realize that this whole pursuit is just me partaking in some very weird decadence that is apparently going on in our culture, fin de siècle style, only not as many people have gout. Sorry, maybe that’s a weird thing to say. (Also I have quite a fascination with that time period, so I can’t really judge too much). But seriously, the existence of the Food Network is pretty weird, right? (Want to read my college sociology paper on it? probably not…) But I guess we enjoy what we enjoy, so might as well go with it – I’ll keep taking pictures of food!

I am also vegan (well, I eat the occasionally egg, and have a love of the once-in-a-while-skyr even if it makes my stomach hurt), but I will not make the claim that there is a fix-all solution to any food-related problem. So I won’t tell you what to do. But I will say that (as people are starting to realize) being vegan doesn’t mean eating mashed yeast all day, or spending a bunch of money on fancy raw food and kale chips that come in a bag. You can make it all yourself! And it’s probably cheaper than buying [quality] meat and dairy. Hooray!

In a nutshell: fresh vegetables from the farmers market = happiness itself.

PS: If you want my blog from my year-long world-wide fellowship, check it out here: http://www.aroundthere.wordpress.com

PPS: if you have suggestions on food-based food coloring, let me know! I have a thing for holiday themed snacks, but food coloring is a little…well, unnatural.