When it comes to food and sex, we’ve allowed science to trump common sense. We’ve let this happen even while we know science has been at times savior, at other times profiteering fear-monger–think the birth control pill versus artificial aphrodisiacs, or any of the numerous “facts about nutrition” that change every year–from low-fat to good fat, or oat bran to Omega-3’s, not to mention trans-fats and genetically modified crops.
Science is modern, America loves modern, and therefore science has ruled hands down. The rigors of science require extreme discipline, and we have long been proud of our abilities in that department. Discipline over pleasure is our long-standing mantra.  Sacrificing pleasure is one of the foundations of American society–Puritan ideals, Protestant work ethic, Seventh-Day Adventists, Mormons, Prohibition– like everything else, we took even Christianity to extremes. Our influential American ancestors applied those principles and then used science to go even further–Kellogg, Rockefeller, Roosevelt bought into the superiority of science hook, line and sinker, especially when it came to such animalistic indulgences as food and sex. They went so far as to say meat caused masturbation, therefore we must eliminate meat. “The decline of a nation commences when gourmandizing begins,” according to Kellogg.
I consider myself a loyal gourmand, even here on the homestead. As I have said before, sacrifice has never been my forté.  I am, you might say, très français, in all my appetites. People look at this lifestyle as some great sacrifice we’re making, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Going back to basics means more pleasure, not less. Time to garden, cook, read, entertain, be creative. No high-traffic commute, no 60-hour work week, no noise or air pollution. And we all know that less stress means more sex and better health for all species.  Even on its worst days this lifestyle is definitely less stressful.
Of course, the tides of science are beginning to turn. Science is finally beginning to prove what many of us have known all along from good old-fashioned common sense: The Western diet and the Western lifestyle are directly linked to the Western diseases. Now the famed Dr. Oz claims an orgasm a day keeps the doctor away.
For all of its triumphs, science is often wrong. Â Â It believed it was doing the world a favor in creating the pesticides and herbicides required for monoculture farming practices, or pharmaceuticals that cause more side-effects than ailments they cure, or the hydrogen bomb.
The stern rigors of science or the passionate chaos of nature-when it comes to food and sex, I’ll second-guess science over Mother every time.
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Many folks like to beat up on the science that brought the world the Green Revolution (vastly increased yields for rice, corn, and wheat) but I wonder what would have happened if those increases had not happened. In the early 60’s predictions of the coming famines were all over the place. (Most loudly from the Club of Rome, but I must confess I don’t remember what that organization was.) Those famines never happened (although wars, civil strife, and other human-caused events did bring some brutal famines). In the Omnivores Dilemma (I think) one of the ‘good’ farmers is quoted as having asked in respect of the millions living in NYC ‘why do we need those people anyway.’ There are surely better ways to run ‘factory farms’ but let’s remember we do need to eat.
I haven’t read Pollan’s Omnivore’s Dilemma yet, it’s next on the list, but his In Defense of Food was the inspiration for this post–I think his research and witty writing style are top-notch, and I see many agree with me! Thanks for commenting!
The Club of Rome was a group of environmentalists who warned the world about running out of basic resourcs in its flawed report, ”
Limits to Growth.” I say flawed because the book’s premise and findings were based on a single assumption, the economist’s favorite caveat, “all things being equal.” Well as we all know the only constant is change. The “Green Revolution,” the North Sea oil finds, and of course major new advances in technology changed the resource base of the earth. The doom pronounced by the Club of Rome never arrived. But alot of people made money cashing in on the panic it engendered, principally the oil exporting nations
There is a well balanced article from the NYT on 2/13 on this subject. (I suppose I give myself away when I refer to the NYT as well balanced!)
The article is ‘A Balance Between the Factory and the Local Farm’ and discusses why the ‘local’ movement is sometimes good and sometimes unrealistic. In the article the author makes an important point: some farmers’ markets are so very expensive that only upscale and/or truely committed ‘foodies’ can afford to shop in them. Having accompanied my children on their shopping trips to Whole Foods I understand the point he is making. The article also makes fun of the ‘$5 tomato’ raised in many backyards. Despite that, I’m going to put in my 9 tomato plants as soon as this damn snow gets out of Kentucky!
If you wait until the snows leave you may not be planting until late May.
will check out that article right now, thanks! am crossing my fingers i’ll have good tomatoes this year, the last was a total bust
I have a set routine for my tomatoes. We are away all summer so I put in the plants in cages around June 15, heavily mulch them (or use those weed preventer strips), and then hope for the best. Usually come Labor Day I have a fine crop but one year every plant died in late-July so my lawn mower guy told me. Who knows why? Let’s hope we all do well this year.