The Food Wars

Today the New York Times had an article about a best-selling cookbook, a spiral bound affair with no pictures and many recipes sent in by ordinary cooks. The book is edited by a Mrs. Good, a Mennonite from Lancaster, PA, where many of my ancestors came from. Apparently these are ordinary recipes for ordinary people who don't eat out 5 times a week, probably don't do cilantro and tomatillos, and think of food as food. Eat to live, not live to eat. Short cuts o.k., canned soups o.k. Hell, they probably even do margarine or yuk, urp, whipped topping. Please tell me you don't go that far.

Someone pointed out that this is a far cry from food as style, cooking as hobby, the occasional competitive cooking with minute attention to every little parsley sprig that some magazines and newspapers promote. The kind of food where you have to visit 4 or 5 ethnic markets to put together a meal.

The first shot has been fired across the bow. Maybe it will heat up like the Mommy wars. I love it. With a foot in each camp and no great ego invested in either, it's going to be fun.

With knives pointed and forks at the ready, en garde!

Grapeshot, who is punchy from writing this hideous synopsis that makes her novel sound very silly.

Onward!