Take that, raw foodies
Bookworm on May 28 2009 at 11:03 am | Filed under: Uncategorized
The raw food movement is big in Marin. I think it’s insane. As the veteran of not one, but two major attacks of food poisoning, and as the friend of someone who almost died from unpasteurized milk, I believe in cooking with an unmatched passion.
It turns out that my instincts are backed by science. Richard Wrangham has written a book about how cooking makes humans truly special: Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human
He then delivers a thorough, delightfully brutal takedown of the raw-food movement and its pieties. He cites studies showing that a strict raw-foods diet cannot guarantee an adequate energy supply, and notes that, in one survey, 50 percent of the women on such a diet stopped menstruating. There is no way our human ancestors survived, much less reproduced, on it. He seems pleased to be able to report that raw diets make you urinate too often, and cause back and hip problems.
Even castaways, he writes, have needed to cook their food to survive: “I have not been able to find any reports of people living long term on raw wild food.” Thor Heyerdahl, traveling by primitive raft across the Pacific, took along a small stove and a cook. Alexander Selkirk, the model for Robinson Crusoe, built fires and cooked on them.
I feel smugly vindicated. I also plan on reading the book in its entirety. It’s on my list now.
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6 Responses to “Take that, raw foodies”
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All,
I tried vegetarianism for a short time (in college, under the influence of a girl, of course). The biggest single problem I had was the constant indigestion. I could handle the flatulence (not a big deal or even a social hurdle for an 18 year old male), the water retention (beer and/or caffeine), and the need to graze constantly (hooray for all-you-can-eat dining facilities in the dorms). I went through a roll or more of tums every day for three weeks before I gave up on the whole thing. Raw foods have their place (certain veggies don’t taste right to me when cooked) and eliminating food-vector illness is a big plus on my side. I’ve been in places hit by dysentary; one of my troops nearly died from food poisoning during a field problem (in the US!). The raw food movement is right up there with the no-vaccine crowd; they ignore what is proven correct over time (though sometimes dangerous to individuals) in favor of the exception touted by a single successful adherent.
Case in point (stretching the point, if you will) is the young man who fled chemo. While the media was quick to point out another young man who fled (and whose cancer went into remission under alternate medicine) they failed to mention that the vast majority who solely rely on alternate medicine die. This is why people from the nations where the alternative medicine originated come to the U.S. for modern treatment. Alternate medicine works for some and should never be discounted out of hand; modern practices tend to work for more and should be utilized (along with alternate) to maximize the chance of survival.
As a friend pointed out, he has four very good arguments for omnivore/carnivore status – his canine teeth.
Wow, that wandered all over the place. At least I know my kids will never fall prey to the raw-food fad. Macaroni and cheese are most definitely not raw.
SSG Dave
“Vegetables are what food eats.”
I live in a town that had a raw food restaurant several years ago that foodies all over the Bay Area were raving about. (Alas, the idyll came to a sudden end when the man who was bankrolling the restaurant, one day surprised his wife, the chef/manager, comforting “Hector” the sous chef from a position on her knees.)
The prices for this woman’s very clever and thoughtful concoctions of faux this and faux that were very high. It takes a lot of time and artistry to mash and manipulate nuts to take on a meat-like shape and consistency, all the while making certain no food is heated past 110 or 115 degrees.
I couldn’t see the point. For me, it will always be a no-brainer. Let’s see: a.) mushed nuts formed into a lukewarm ersatz meat patty that I can pay through the nose for, or b.) a hot-off-the-grill hamburger, slightly crusty on the outside, hot, yielding and bursting with juice on the inside, oozing fat and smelling of charbroil, delighted to jump into my mouth and give me abundant happiness even as it lessens by a few minutes a life that is destined to end in death anyway no matter what I eat.
Amazingly enough some people don’t have canines. Moo
We did say, after all, that the Left were full of sheep and cows that were going to be slaughtered once they had been fatted up sufficiently.
This just goes to show you that they really do want to get fattened up.
Somehow I don’t think cooked green salad is gonna catch on.
I know the restaurant of which you speak, Charles. I always did wonder what brought about its abrupt end!
The most obvious reason to cook food is to destroy microbial pathogens. However, another reason is to inactivate anti-nutritional factors present in plant foods, some of which are outright toxic – cooking thereby increases the nutritional value of those foods. Also, many raw foods (including salad components) carry bacteria, viruses, mold and other compounds that are toxic and that are best removed through processing.
My guess, Charles, is that that Bay Area fad foodie place to which you referred was big on raw soy, which is especially rich in anti-nutritional compounds such as toxic trypsin inhibitors. Finally – have you ever met an adherent to the raw food movement that looked a) healthy and b) happy?