Friday, April 22, 2011

Earth Day 2011- A Culinary Holiday



For many people Earth Day is the one day of the year where they reflect on how we treat the earth, a day to plant a tree or a day to post Happy Earthday on Facebook.

But for Culinarians Earth Day should mean much, much more and taking care of the earth should be a 365 day a year commitment.

If we do not care for the plants and animals that we currently enjoy, that we creatively cook and display to express our creative culinary flare, they will no longer be in abundance or even existence and the prices will continue to rise, until the day where certain, fruits, vegetables or animals will become a luxury to eat. 

Chefs and Culinarians for centuries have been focused on eating what they could grow, cure, can or hunt, that is until the last several hundred years.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy a pineapple flown in from Hawaii, imported Italian Olive Oil and wines from Europe, Australia, and various other parts of the world. But in balance and in moderation.

This blog posting is not a comment on our dependency of foreign oil, or the fact that we have take a item, such as the tomato, a summer fruit, that  truly only taste good when it is permitted to ripen on the vine and made it a daily staple in our homes and on menu's around the country.

Today's posting is to simply ask that all Culinarians, try and make Earth Day a focus of everyday, from the way we eat, think and create menus.  To what we buy and sell in our restaurants and supermarkets.  And probably the most important thing we can do is to educate the general public, they are already curious on how we cook, the cooking techniques we use and where food comes from.  We now need to take educating the general public to the next level, and start educating them on how to eat local, sustainable and earth friendly.

Happy Earthday everyone.

Eat well, be safe and enjoy live...

No comments:

Post a Comment