Hi, I’m Zak and I like to eat
Ahh, the first post. This is where I tell you why I bothered to start a blog. Living in Ann Arbor for two years, I’ve only just started to become interested in eating as an activity. A few months ago, I read “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan. That book made me think (which is really the sign of a good book). I can shop at the farmer’s market, I thought. This will be easy. Well, it wasn’t and it’s not. I immediately realized how little I know about food. In fact, my attempts to eat consciously, responsibly and cheaply meet resistance at every corner. I should eat something in season, I told myself, only to realize that I had no idea what was in season. I couldn’t even pinpoint the season for winter squash. The farmer’s market was a cold, crowded, scary place and nothing they were selling really looked edible. Whole Foods was more familiar, but all the options were still overwhelming. Organic or Natural? Should I pay twice as much for something Local? What the hell does sustainable mean, anyway? And if I know my bananas come from Ecuador, should I still buy bananas from Ecuador? How much oil did it take to fly those bananas here? But children in Ecuador need to eat. Am I not supporting their economy? And what is tofu?
I was confused, and while I’ve learned a lot about food in the last months, a lot of those questions still bounce around my head when I’m buying food. And I haven’t even approached the terrifying reality of cooking these foods.
Now I’m sure some of you were better prepared for cooking on your own by a mom or dad. You have a head start, but I’m going to catch up. This blog will be partly a document of my learning process as I explore the realities of conscious eating and cooking.
I hope that this blog will also serve as a source for student eating information in Ann Arbor. I’ll try to follow the local food scene, and pass along information to you. The odds are against me on that front, but I hope that an optimistic first post will bind me to the task. I would also like to find other people who might be interested in contributing to this blog, but at the moment that’s a pipe dream.
As I get started with this blog, I’d like to point you to some other food blogs based here in Ann Arbor. I can foresee my posts coming from these blogs occasionally, and they are probably better resources than I am at the moment, so check them out:
And here are some other resources. Dig in:
Ann Arbor Food group at Yahoo!
Thanks for reading!
