CK Friday Links--Friday September 14, 2012

Here's yet another selection of interesting links from around the internet. As always, I welcome your thoughts and your feedback.

PS: Follow me on Twitter!

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Two deeply critical reviews of Wheat Belly. (No Gluten, No Problem and Evolutionary Psychiatry)

Food companies are motivated by what consumers want, not the other way around. (Chemicals In My Food)

Engage your critical thinking skills for this article: Why you'll be a vegetarian in 25 years, like it or not. (Fooducate)

An absolutely adorable snack that won't crush your daily calorie count. (Owlhaven)

Recipe Links:
Looking for a ton of Pressure Cooker recipes? Here's your go-to resource. (Dad Cooks Dinner)

I'm obsessed with this Four Herb Pecan Pesto too. (21st Century Urban Pioneers)

Want to make your own homemade Flavored Salts? Here's how. (Table Matters)

Off-Topic Links:
Why does an artist in a white tent craft fair have less credibility than an artist hanging on a white wall in a museum? (Ask Harriete) Bonus Post: Craft fairs devalue handcrafted art.

Read this post, and you'll never get trapped by The Worst Argument In The World. (Less Wrong)

How do you interpret Robert Frost's poem The Road Not Taken? (Zen Pencils,via Alosha's Kitchen)


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5 comments:

chacha1 said...

I'll be coming back to these links later if time permits, but for now just let me say ... with regard to Harriete's piece, I prefer craft fairs to gallery shows. I think the process of modern art selection works against accessible artists. And since I don't happen to like "critic-friendly" art (i.e. art that requires a critic to explain it to you) ... well.

As to Fooducate and the mandatory vegetarianism of the future ... I doubt it. In 25 years I'll be 72. I have no doubt that meat will be more expensive than it is now. I don't, however, think that Americans will be meatless.

I personally will probably depend even more heavily on eggs and dairy than I do now (I would starve without dairy) but there is a whole lot of empty country in the U.S. and the food industry is not so stupid that they won't find ways to raise marketable quantities of food animals.

These may not be the supersized factory turkeys, pigs, and cows of 2012. They may be heritage birds and wild boar and bison. But that, in my opinion, would be a good thing.

Daniel said...

The "you'll be a vegetarian in 25 years whether you like it or not" article fascinated me because it is a flawless example of Malthusian thinking. People always forget exogenous factors or the potential for innovation, and they assume that the pie is always fixed. I guess we'll see how it plays out, but I am betting meat will cost about the same in the future too.

For those who don't agree, google "Simon-Ehrlich wager."

As for the craft fairs vs museums article, I thought it was a fascinating issue and I had a big debate about it with some friends and family on Facebook. I agree with you: I don't want an artist interpreted for me either--in any artistic domain. I guess that's why I was never a fan of artists like Motherwell or Rothko. :)

Great thinking Chacha!

DK

chacha1 said...

p.s. I love the two Wheat Belly smackdowns. :-)

Sally said...

I enjoyed the review of Wheat Belly. To quote:

The book was received essentially as gospel. Why?

In my opinion, there are three main reasons:

1. It's written by an M.D., which adds a patina of credibility to the book's claims,
2. It's filled with endnotes of citations that reference scientific peer-reviewed publications, and
3. Its message—to "lose the wheat, lose the weight, and find your path back to health"—already agrees with the world view of many in the GF community (that wheat and gluten equals bad).

But as you'll see, those three factors are dangerous. They build a facade of trust and credibility. They cause us to let down our guard; to cease being the critically-thinking readers that we ought to be. And sometimes, that means we fail to question information that is suspect; we unknowingly accept and perpetuate a myth; we fall victim to false information.


If you change the name of the author, the specific dietary community and the toxic food/food groups, this applies to all popular "science-based" diet books.

I think the last paragraph says it all. It sums up what has happened to us over the last century, but especially in the last 40 years or so. We stopped paying attention to culture and tradition and started trusting "experts" without question. It hasn't served us well.

Daniel said...

Sally, great, great comment. And your statement about trusting "experts" without question gets at why I started writing Casual Kitchen in the first place. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts.

DK