Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

OK, definitely way too over-simplified. As with most things there are boundary conditions that very much do not fit into the rules listed.

For instance:

1. "Don't eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food."

Having lived in and associated with people both in larger cities and very small towns, I've seen people that never leave where they live their entire life. Up through several decades ago some of those in the smaller areas might have had a hard time finding certain imported items/ideas like mangos, kangaroo, kimchee, etc. Is this item in the list a back-handed way of endorsing the "eat local" movement, or is it just ignoring that there have been some people with very limited exposure to the "other" that would actually reject some of those very other items as "not food"?

3. "Don't eat anything that won't eventually rot."

Some foods seem nearly too perfect, like honey: If we can find it still edible, however desiccated, after thousands of years, then that rule is certainly right out.

5. "Shop the peripheries of the supermarket; stay out of the middle."

Big presumption on layout of the market...or maybe not. At any rate, go near the center of most I shop in and you'll find the flours, dried pastas (yes, they're generally better fresh but the certainly do not have to be), rice, beans, lentils, etc. What you have there are some of the basics that there is no way I'd consider avoiding.

I have similar thoughts and comments on many of the other rules, but will have to save those for another time since I gotta run right now.

ok, after recently having been given some that was way too flabby in part I say unreservedly: crispy

Pork Roulade - cooked bacon that's been chopped, with pickles, mustard, onions, etc; surrounded by more flat pork goodness, that's then wrapped and tied with more bacon and cooked to perfection. Hail to the pig!

Lamb Vindaloo. I was greatly disappointed when the owners of my favorite Indian restaurant moved away from the small (only one local Indian restaurant) town and the place closed. I started researching one of my favorite Indian dishes, analyzed several dozen other recipes and ended up with my own vindaloo.

you can't even pop corn in a microwave can you? i mean, don't you need a special bag? hence, hoax.

I am SO tired of hearing people complain that eating healthy is expensive. Eating ORGANIC is expensive, but buying and eating lots of fresh produce and cooking at home is much cheaper and better for you than processed, fat&sodium laden crap that is turning the poor/middle class fat. Fast food is a convenience - if you take a *little* time to cook real food, you'll find that it doesn't break the bank and will do wonders for your health. Yes, this can be difficult for those working two jobs or just otherwise stretched to the max, but there are PLENTY of people who aren't so overburedened that they can't cook a simple meal.

He actually said "great-grandmother," not grandmother. And he doesn't mean to exclude things like sushi--it's made of fish and rice, which is obviously food. What isn't "food" are basically the items referred to in #2--things that aren't whole foods.

Okay, as a general guideline I like the rules. I think that they would be very difficult to adhere to all the time, and perfectly, as they are written, but they're generally decent rules. There is one exception, and it's as much about the other comments as the rules. Everyone is very keen to help "The Poor" eat healthier - get more fresh foods, less processed foods, etc. In principle, I'm bang alongside that. In practice, that won't necessarily help. Having a refrigerator stocked to the brim, for free, with good things won't be all that useful to a lot of the working poor. If you're working two jobs, trying to get your kids to and from school, possibly caring for a sick relative, etc, food is just going to slip to the bottom of the priority list. (I have a very good friend going through all that right now). You're going to pick up convenience foods that probably taste like feet, but fill you up and get you out the door quickly. Given that there will always be a certain segment of the population that is dependent on convenience foods, perhaps there needs to be more focus on making those foods less harmful than on eliminating them from use.

re #10: I brought my potted jalapeno into the house this fall (we live in New England) and it recently started flowering. I've got two little peppers on the way! Peppers are self pollinating, so one plant is enough, but I would think two would be better. We have been using tufts of dog hair as a sort of paint brush to move pollen from one flower to another since we don't have bees in the house. So, it is possible to grow a little bit of food indoors in the winter.