Food in the
Streets once started with a research questioning the influence of food in the
public domain. In the (five) years after, this question has been expanded,
changed and redefined, but anyhow, it has always been an important part of the
blog and my professional life.
Since the
beginning of this century, more and more people have realized that it is
necessary to find answers to questions combining food and public life. Especially
when it became clear that the cities will be the central place of our society. Isn’t
it strange when you think that we changed from a mostly rural society into an
urban society in the last 100 years?
That people
are looking for answers to this new type of society has become clear to me when
last week I read about the farmers markets in town. There’s so many now, that they
can’t just survive on people with a big budget. In a short period these markets
have become serious business attracting all kinds (not really all) of people.
After a visit to this
bi-weekly market last week, yesterday I passed by this market, organised by
a local radio station (!). How cool to see people filling-up their shopping
baskets to make sure they can survive onto the next market.
You know
that living the ‘modern life’ (what is the modern life actually? Is it people
running from here to there or is the it crisis-hit-person looking for a new
method to fill its days?) doesn’t allow most people to sit down and eat three
times a day. So meals are skipped or eaten behind the computer. On the way home
people buy a ready-to-eat or take away meal and then its’
eaten in an instant because ‘there’s something else to do’. But these markets
provide the people with that what they need. Buy some bread or pizza at the bakery,
a bottle of wine from a local wineproducer and – to top it all up – a gelato
made with natural ingredients. Some
friends, some sun and it all makes eating a relaxed event.
Eating
healthy, in my opinion, isn’t that difficult. Even when you live a very busy
life. It only asks for some planning ahead and discipline. Make sure you have
enough fresh food in your house (order it, if don’t have time to visit farmers
markets) and start to do some multi-task cooking: make next days’ soup when
todays dinner is in the oven, make one (or two) extra servings of rice or pasta
so you have some for lunch as well or boil some extra veggies to store in the
freezer. See, it isn’t that difficult.
But you are
not me so you might need some extra help to realize this healthy lifestyle in
your busy life. With the book
I bought last Friday you might be able to handle it. Simple recipes, illustrated
in a nice way and complemented with facts that make cooking and eating even
more interesting. And this book definitely isn’t the only one that can help
you. There’s internet, there’s app’s, magazines and so on.
That food
and the public domain are interrelated is clear. It is only difficult to say in
what way. As long as we keep trying to do it in a healthy way, it is fine to
me. Try to combine ‘business with pleasure’ and we will be fine. For now at
least.
