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1:34am May 3, 2013

Another pet peeve

The constant mentioning of whether ingredients are ‘organic’ or not in the notes before first recipe. Why does whether it’s organic matter in a recipe being put out there for general use?

There was this section earlier that talked about how the more natural the food is, the better.

I felt like screaming out a line from a Jefferson Airplane song “You say nothing’s right but natural things — ahhhh you fool. Poison oak’s a natural plant, why don’t you put some in your food?”

I think these things irritate me so much because I’ve spent so much time around people who not only insist on this stuff for themselves but push it on other people too, whether they want it or not, can afford it or not, etc. I remember one person insisting it wasn’t a problem that I couldn’t afford to shop at Whole Foods — “Think of all you’ll save on healthcare bills later!”

And this book has a lot of subtle and not so subtle tendencies to present things as just how things work, when it’s more like just how things work if you happen to be coming from a particular lifestyle. Don’t know what to call it. It’s not just food faddism, it’s stuff that is related to it but couldn’t quite be called that. Whatever it is, it gets under my skin, especially when I’m reading a book that seems otherwise to be full of very useful information, and am not sure that other people would all be able to automatically discern which parts are for real. And all the disclaimers don’t help.

ETA: Oh it turns out the entire damn recipe is intended to be organic “wherever possible”. That’s not a recipe. That goes beyond being a recipe. I can’t describe why it’s not the same as recipes should work. But specifying whether the fruit and coconut milk and etc is supposed to be organic goes way beyond the limits of what a recipe-writer should be offering a reader unless its an organic cookbook or something which this isn’t. And all the description of organic this and organic that makes me want to take an organic puke or something – can’t describe why. Feels like someone sticking on shiny things. Like those products that put all this green packaging and outdoor scenes on them to make you think they’re environmentally friendly. Until I feel like I’m drowning in sickly sweet organicness shining all over the place blinding me.