During my recent visit to Chennai, bar one ceremonial dinner at a 5 star hotel, to which I had to go as the primary reason for the visit, all my meals were home cooked by loving hands and fed to me with great affection and I enjoyed every single one of them. On the other hand, my son and daughter in law, went looking for and finding famous local restaurant fare, just as I used to when I was their age.
My regular readers know that I love to cook though I do not do it as often as I used to. Instead I let an expert do it for me, but for me home cooked food using lentils, fresh green seasonal vegetables and for the others in my home, freshly slaughtered flesh with rice or whole wheat flour rotis to go with them will always be a first choice if I have to choose between that kind of food and restaurant food or processed food.
Luckily for us Indians it is still possible to live like that but there are indeed indications that urban India is changing rapidly to the Western model that Michael Pollan talks about.
Michael Pollan has been a great favourite of mine for many years, ever since I read his The Omnivore’s Dilemma and this video of his talk in London has only reinforced my admiration for him.
There is a particular phrase that he uses that is fascinating – “Create anxiety and solve the problem.” being a tried and tested method used by marketers selling processed food use, that resonates with me.
I know quite a few of my readers love to cook and it would be interesting to learn how they react to this video.