Why bother cooking? You don't have time, of course (or you think you don't); that's the big reason. But you also don't do it as well as the professionals, so just let them handle it for you. Or at least let them give you a head start in the form of meal-assembly shops (食品组装店) and canned, frozen and pre-chopped ingredients. Michael Pollan thinks you should bother. His latest book, Cooked, is a powerful argument for a return to home cooking.
Scores of food writers and editors, myself included, have long mourned for the increase of companies on the public's diet. We have seen the slow retreat (撤退) from the kitchen as primary contributor to America's obesity and other health and environmental problems. But perhaps only Pollan can so effectively pick up the clues of so many food movements, philosophies and research papers and turn them into a persuasive narrative with a clear message. He writes, "The best way to recover the reality of food, to return it to its proper place in our lives is by attempting to master the physical processes by which it has traditionally been made. "
Don't challenge him. Because of the power of his writing, Cooked may prove to be just as influential as Pollan's other book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, possibly the single most-quoted text by those caring about how our eating choices affect the planet.
As in The Omnivore's Dilemma, Pollan knows that his reliability depends on a willingness to practice what he urges, so in Cooked he takes just as much of a hands-on approach as he suggests his readers do. He divides the book into four sections: in this case, the classical elements of fire, water, air and earth. Each represents a type of cooking—barbecue, braising (炖), bread baking and fermentation—and, as the book's subtitle promises, explores cooking as no less than a transformation of nature into food and drink.
