Green Options

Last Wednesday, two of my favorite foodies were on tv doing a segment about “guilt free” eating. Using simple substitutions, I learned I can save more than 200 calories by switching my morning bagel to an English muffin with Laughing Cow low-calorie cheese spread and almost 1,000 calories by switching from fettuccine alfredo to tofu noodles and light cheese. Simple changes that make decadent foods more health-conscious, what’s not to love?

For some people, quite a bit, actually. The foodies in question are Rachel Ray and Lisa Lillien — women who love talking about food in a way that doesn’t make a person like me feel overwhelmed. But their philosophies for simplicity, healthy substitution, and fun in cooking don’t always mesh with the more serious demands some food activists make. What I’m still not sure of is whether there’s a compromise to found somewhere in the middle?

I’m not one to usually pile on the sarcasm when someone is down but it’s no holds barred when it comes to the cult of celebrity. Instead of seeking virtues or talents we have bought into the artificial importance being created by the media in order to promote a product, a person - or in this case a “yummo” catch phrase.

The people over at SeriousEats alerted me to the latest parody book in the genre of Is Martha Stuart Living? Run, don’t walk and get yourself a copy of Every Freaking! Day with Rachell Ray by Elizabeth Hilts, author of the popular Getting in Touch with Your Inner Bitch. This “64-page full-color parody is jam-packed with laugh out loud takes on the things that make her (in)famous, like”:

If there’s a more controversial celebrity “chef” than the ubiquitous Rachael Ray, I’m not sure who it is.  With both a rabid fan following and a equally large contingent of foodies who can’t stand her gravelly voice and relentless enthusiasm, most people either love her or hate her.  She must be doing something right, though.  She’s expanded her empire from the wildly-succesful “30 Minute Meals” to add several more Food Network shows, a daytime talk show, a magazine, multiple cookbooks, and branded kitchen merchandise.

I can’t say that Ray’s mission has much to do with the environment, at least directly.  Aside from a few “green” items featured in her magazine such as bamboo salad bowls and the like, distinctions like “local”, “organic”, and “grass-fed” rarely, if ever, enter into her vernacular, although, to her credit, she acknowledges the presence of vegetarians and creates recipes with them in mind.  But Ray’s mission to get more people to cook good food on their own is, implicitly, encouraging the very steps that everyday people need to wean themselves off the industrial food machine and nudge them toward their own kitchen.