Michael Pollan Presents the Case for Cooking
Channel: Maya Adam
Date: 2016-01-19

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Transcription:

In many parts of the world today, but especially in the US, the most pervasive foods in our eating environment are ones that don't necessarily support our health.
One of the proposed solutions – that addresses the problem in both the short and longterm –is a return to home cooking. What if we were to reallocate a small amount of our time to cooking our food at home using whole food ingredients, instead of relying so heavily on the food industry to provide us with our meals? This may be easier than it sounds and cooking may turn out to have many side benefits!

Michael, in your mind, what is the role of cooking in addressing our modern day epidemics of obesity and diabetes?

Michael Pollan: You would think it's about the food, and not the process by which it's made, but in fact the process by which the food is made has a lot to do with our health…. we do have research that suggests that families who eat food cooked by humans are eating a better diet, and are healthier as a result…. But many other things follow from the process of cooking. I mean, when you cook at home you will use the best ingredients you can afford, you will keep it really simple, you don't need the food to last six months on a shelf. And, the odds are, whatever you eat, it will be better than processed food. There's something about the act of cooking that enforces, without us even being conscious of it, a healthy, wholesome diet. I think it's very hard to get fat on home cooked food. Now, the other reason though that cooking is important is that if you cook you will have a meal. You will sit down at a table with other people. Your family will eat together. And that has a lot of implications for our health too. Eating alone, snacking, eating in front of a television, all these things lead to a very different kind of food consumption.

[...]

People, I think over-complicate cooking. We live in a culture that celebrates cooking but doesn't actually do it very much. We watch it on television, we watch in restaurants, where now the kitchens are now open and we all think that cooking means restaurant food. And it's not. That's all special occasion food. Everyday home cooking is throwing a filet of fish on the grill or in a pan. It's taking out a box of frozen spinach. Frozen food, frozen vegetables is a very healthy choice. Very easy choice, you don't have to do any work. You don't have to wash anything, you can use your microwave for it, you can dress it up with some garlic or olive oil or lemon juice, there are a lot of really satisfying meals that you can get on the table in less than a half hour Some of us don't know how to make them, and I think that that's a tremendous problem. Because the cultural transmission of knowledge about how to cook, how to be resourceful in the kitchen, has been broken by a generation that's not cooking.

Maya: By reallocating a small amount of our time and energy to the preparation of simple, home cooked meals, we become empowered as we take back control over the foods we eat. Cooking is a very practical solution to our modern health challenges, that can be put into action almost immediately using whatever resources are available. In addition, cooking brings us closer to food, rather than seeing food as the enemy. Cooking can protect our relationship with food and it may be one of the most powerful ways of helping us protect our long term health.

Course by Maya Adam, MD
Directed by William Bottini
Editing by William Bottini & Tamsin Orion
Special thanks to Michael Pollan, Tracy Rydel, and David Eisenberg