Into the Third Culture Kitchen...

There are a lot of people out there talking about the importance of vegan and vegetarian cooking based on locally sourced organic food. It’s an important conversation, and you can think about it from a health perspective, or from an environmental sustainability perspective. Either way, I’m down with it, and I think everyone in the world should have the time and resources and access to cook and eat good healthy food that doesn’t contribute to worsening environmental and public health catastrophes, and I think this is a worthy goal for activism and advocacy. The trouble is, I, like you, don’t have a lot of time or money, and for my own health reasons, I can’t go 100% vegan, or even 100% vegetarian, all the time, nor can I be as involved in food justice activism as much as I’d like, at this point in my career.

So, I’m going to write this blog, to do my little bit in my little corner, to share ideas and reflections and recipes with friends and family and whomever is interested. In my own cooking and domestic arrangement, the most important thing I strive for is balance. I’m looking for balance in flavor, cost, time, environmental impact, and health, and I have spent a number of years now trying to figure out, through trial and error, a way of cooking and eating that works for my own particular lifestyle and personality. There are lots of great ideas and approaches out there that don’t work for me: on the one-hand, I’m crazy-food obsessed and if it isn’t delicious, I won’t eat it. On the other hand, if it requires a trip across town to find the one market in the city that sells that one random and expensive ingredient, I’m probably never going to get around to making it (well, maybe for my birthday I will).

This blog is going to chronicle my daily efforts to cook cheaply, quickly, healthfully, and responsibly, to make the most delicious meals possible. There will probably be a fair number of misfires, but hopefully they will be informative. I love reading recipe books, but only to get inspiration and guidelines for experimentation, so you’ll be seeing the results of my experiments, good and bad, as well as occasional reviews of the cookbooks, websites, and chefs who inspire me.

I’ll also talk about some of the tricks and tips I’ve worked out to save money and time, reduce waste, and add deliciousness. I believe in Jamie Oliver’s argument that social and emotional healing can happen at the dinner table, but I also think it’s got to be doable on a daily basis. Mark Bittman has been a great guide to minimalist and efficient home-cooking, and Lynne Kaspar Rossetto has taught me to respect the traditional wisdom of Mediterranean cooks who knew how to make an entire meal for a large family out of the weeds growing by the side of the road.

Sean, my fiancé, and I, have some exciting plans for this year, apart from just getting married. We’re going to start growing some of our own food in our little apartment in the foggy Inner Sunset of San Francisco, and we’re going to try to get our friends and neighbors involved in our food adventures, too. Food and eating and cooking are central to human sociality, so it will be interesting to see what comes of this as a community-building exercise. I’ll be chronicling as much of this as I can in between teaching, writing my dissertation, and planning a wedding. Wish me luck, and eat well!