The response by the reader who distinguished between moral philosophy and moral theology, and between preaching the gospel and making rules, resonated deeply for me.
As I prowl the aisles and read labels in the enormous supermarket across from the building where I live, the flagship of a major Canadian chain, I recall Michael Pollan's maxim, "Don't eat anything with ingredients your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food." And I sigh because in another generation, that maxim won't be useful any more. By then, everyone's grandmother will have eaten enormous amounts of "food" containing ingredients with no nutritional value and no chemical relationship to anything my grandmother would have recognized.
I think the transition began with my mother's generation. I grew up in the '40s and '50s; "convenience food" had just begun. She had a full time paid job, and had to cook for a family of 5. I liked her oooking, but some of the dishes I remember would not please me now. E.g., a casserole combining canned tuna, canned mushroom soup, and potato chips. But that was just the beginning, the bare sliver of a wedge, of what we have now.
I learned to cook in my teens, when my mother went back into the paid work force. It was very straightforward cooking, focusing on broiled or pan-grilled meats, stews, boiled vegetables, and simple desserts like jello and packaged pudding mixes. I didn't make that tuna casserole, but I made it later for my kids, with canned peas and usually without the potato chips. I have greatly expanded the range of my cooking --- more legumes, more herbs and spices, less meat, no packaged dessert mixes, Mediterranean and South Asian influences --- but my cooking is still pretty simple most of the time. I'm happy to say that my children are all good cooks.
I particularly appreciated your discussion about the Catholic church’s position on abortion.
The response by the reader who distinguished between moral philosophy and moral theology, and between preaching the gospel and making rules, resonated deeply for me.
I'll let him know. BTW, did you grow up Catholic? And PS, as I know you know, that distinction began with Aquinas.
As I prowl the aisles and read labels in the enormous supermarket across from the building where I live, the flagship of a major Canadian chain, I recall Michael Pollan's maxim, "Don't eat anything with ingredients your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food." And I sigh because in another generation, that maxim won't be useful any more. By then, everyone's grandmother will have eaten enormous amounts of "food" containing ingredients with no nutritional value and no chemical relationship to anything my grandmother would have recognized.
I think the transition began with my mother's generation. I grew up in the '40s and '50s; "convenience food" had just begun. She had a full time paid job, and had to cook for a family of 5. I liked her oooking, but some of the dishes I remember would not please me now. E.g., a casserole combining canned tuna, canned mushroom soup, and potato chips. But that was just the beginning, the bare sliver of a wedge, of what we have now.
I learned to cook in my teens, when my mother went back into the paid work force. It was very straightforward cooking, focusing on broiled or pan-grilled meats, stews, boiled vegetables, and simple desserts like jello and packaged pudding mixes. I didn't make that tuna casserole, but I made it later for my kids, with canned peas and usually without the potato chips. I have greatly expanded the range of my cooking --- more legumes, more herbs and spices, less meat, no packaged dessert mixes, Mediterranean and South Asian influences --- but my cooking is still pretty simple most of the time. I'm happy to say that my children are all good cooks.