So this week – at some point, I’m not sure of the day but I’m sure someone will correct me – is Earth Day/Week.
I try to be green. Lately, I’ve been bringing my own bags grocery shopping, we recycle, and we try not to waste food.
To get completely off topic, I love me some Food Network. Seriously – Bobby Flay, Giada, Iron Chef, Guy Fiere, Paula Deen (who had the most hilarious radio show on NPR on Saturday that we listened to on our way to Rehoboth) – all my heros. I aspire to cook like them.
So I was a little – nay – a lot peeved when Isabel Cowles from the HuffPo gets on her hippy, green high horse criticizing some of my faves for not being “green.”
Take Giada De Laurentiis, who manages to add nearly 1,000 square inches of aluminum foil to her Los Angeles landfill while preparing to tickle her friends’ taste buds during the “Wine Tasting Party” episode of her show “Everyday Italian.” In the process of making Parmesan Tortilla Crisps and Salami Crisps, De Laurentiis recommends using 4 heavy, large baking sheets (14″ x 16″) each lined with aluminum foil for easy cleanup. She suggests using yet another foil-lined pan for marinating swordfish.
Instead of washing her bake ware, De Laurentiis simply balls up her greasy foil and tosses it away–an ingenious process that brings her great delight. What De Laurentiis doesn’t recognize is that the aftermath of her soiree will leave an indelible mark on the planet, since aluminum foil does not decompose: imagine the ramifications if thousands of Food Network fans were to routinely mimic such an extravagance.
Guy Fieri is an environmental and nutritional nightmare. His “Dragon’s Breath Chili” is enough to set Michael Pollen’s entire body of work into flames. Let’s look at what he encourages his audience to consume during an episode of “Guy’s Big Bite.” To make eight servings of Chili, Fieri calls for 2 tbsp butter; 3 tbsp bacon grease; 1 lb boneless chuck; 2 lb ground beef; 1 pound bulk Italian sausage; 12 oz lager beer; doubled-fried French fries; 1 c cheddar. This single dish calls for 4 pounds of meat from three animals, if you include the chicken stock.
Fieri is encouraging one of America’s worst habits–the profligate consumption of meat from anyplace. Chances are the average family can’t find local, organic butchers to source the wide variety of flesh Fieri calls for, so he sends his audience to the nearby grocery store to support what Mark Bittman called, “assembly-line meat factories,” which, “consume enormous amounts of energy, pollute water supplies, generate significant greenhouse gases and require ever-increasing amounts of corn, soy and other grains, a dependency that has led to the destruction of vast swaths of the world’s tropical rain forests.”"-[huffpo]
Aluminum foil? Is recyclable. And guess what, SO WHAT if she does “easy clean up” solutions – I do that too. I care about the environment, but seriously, let’s not be petty about it all.
And the beef that Guy uses isn’t 100% organic? Umm…I’m sorry, I can’t afford $10.99/lb beef just because the cows weren’t babied with with whatever it is they’re fed to make them “organic.” You know, we’re in a recession right now, I’m surprised Whole Foods is still in business with their RIDICULOUS prices for things like “organic beef” and “organic tomatoes” and flax seed.
Seriously, I’m so tired of pretentious, earthy people. Those trendsetters who drive prius’s in the city (even though there’s public transportation), and shop at Whole Foods to buy “all organic” everything while claiming they’re “doing it for the environment.” Big whoop!
The problem with these people is that they go too far. They criticize too much, and criticize those who don’t do as they do by calling them “heartless.” Not to mention, unless we drive a Prius, we’re killing the environment, the whales, the seals and the Pandas.
Using episodes from four years ago seems trite. Criticizing Food Network chefs for not being more “influential” on American’s seems…like a waste of time. American’s who engage in gluttonous behavior and are obese must be held responsible for their own actions. Celebrity chefs as well as the Food Network can not be blamed for the wastefulness of many Americans.
I for one, will continue to walk rather than drive to locations that I can or take the metro, try to be more adamant about bringing my own bags when I grocery shop, keep the AC off and open the windows to cool down our apt when I can, I’ll go longer between laundry, and be better about recycling. What are you doing to be green? Do you think this girl is being insightful or obnoxious?
P.S. Just for her saying this: “Fieri is encouraging one of America’s worst habits–the profligate consumption of meat from anyplace” I’m going to enjoy whatever meat I eat tomorrow more so than I usually would. Savor it if you will. You should all do the same. There is nothing wrong with being omnivores. Eat your meat and potatoes with pride!!!
P.P.S. I swear I will announce the winner to the Downtown Shop Around Contest! Likely by the end of tomorrow. I promise. I’m just slow. Very very slow
