What’s real, what lasts

It’s a scary world out there. The world of newspapers, where I spent most of my professional life, is shrinking with warp-speed rapidity. Layoffs in the art world, the business world, the retail world are frightening. Where can we take refuge? There are, of course, spiritual answers to that.

But in the material world, I’d say food — growing food, shopping for real and good food, cooking food for those we love — is a refuge. It doesn’t have to be fancy, but it should be real. The idea that fast food, cheap but rarely nutritious, is the growth market in a recession is truly depressing.

Let’s come out of this with an appreciation of what we’re eating and why; what matters and why it does. As Americans we have (literally) gotten fat on cheap food. Let’s realize that good food is worth paying for. Let’s stand up for the farmer, for the honest purveyor of food, for the chef who does it right. Let’s stand up for food.