Bring it on!

At the turn of the 20TH century, American kitchens celebrated a plenitude of food. Then in the first decade, rationing, then in the 20's prohibition, in the 30's breadlines, the 40's rationing again, in the 50's abundance returned, then in the 60's DDT scares, the 70's nitrite scares, the 80's fat scares, and in the 90's a wealth of choices returns for a third round. In the1st decade of the 21st century, a food historian predicts healthier food choices, organic foods and avoidance of high fat items especially trans fats. How antithetical to reason these restrictions and precautions! What goes around the American kitchen, apparently comes around. Fads, falsehoods and the madness of crowds revolve in a circle of lies. When one in 10 Americans today uses food stamps, this statistic does not differ from conditions at the turn of the last century when agriculture drove the economy and poverty was inevitable for at least 1 out of 10 as a matter of course. At the turn of the 21st century, therefore, nothing is new. Gourmet magazine vs. A Taste of Home is the symbolic and real contrast between those who can cook and those who can admire cooking, between pretension and immersion, between, Martha Stewart’s labor intensive posturing in the kitchen and Rosanne Barr’s "comic vocabulary of material resentment." At the turn of the 21st century, the habit of dining out, more than ever, vs. home-cooking. Yet, famous chefs create calorie and fat-ladden menus that hold a candle to old-fashioned down-home favorites. So why do health nuts and government do-gooders claim junk foods and modern food choices are creating an unhealthy obesity epidemic? Earth day celebrations now hand out T-shirts instead of commemorating nature’s gastronomical bounty. Nothing’s changed. The irrationally of life in the American kitchen has manifested itself for 100 years. Logic says food is good, food is natural, food is good for us. But why is too much of a good thing bad? Bring on the bounty!