Living machines and food for thought

Thank you for the tip, Ms. Portman, but it was bread, not The Shins, that changed my life. Or, more specifically, it was the discovery and appreciation of (not to mention personal indulgence in) how to make bread that deepened my relationship to the food that I eat in general. And something like that can change your life; food is a necessity in every delectable sense of the word.

The basics of assembling, cooking or baking raw and disparate ingredients into a final and (hopefully) edible device is pretty straightforward; we learn these things in our youth, even if we do not participate in explicit "cooking lessons". Food is all around us in one form or another; most get to eat it every day. And from this large and sustained (and sustaining) sample set, we gain at least a superficial understanding of various preparation methods. That is, we see - if only a stylized version in our mind's eye - the chopping, the boiling, the frying or the baking, and we taste the final product. For most, just the consumption is enough to satiate both their body and mind (to what degree is arguable and depends on many factors); there is no curiosity about how this food came to be - in front of you, me, or the other.

Folks that actually do the cooking themselves are part of a smaller group, and those that cook well are smaller in number still. But I think the most exclusive club is made up of those that truly understand, or at least have a gut feel for, the intrinsic characteristics of each culinary constituent, and further, for the subtleties of how each will combine and, potentially, transform into something new and whole and delicious. I mean, you don't have to know details down to a molecular level to be an decent cook (like a certain Mr. Brown), but it seems like there is a positive relationship between the degree of sophistication and appreciation of the essence of a victual element and being able to produce uncommonly good meals.

Certainly a few rules of thumb can get you by very well in most conditions, but as your connoisseurship and appetite for experimentation increases, you'll either have to be lucky or good to continue to please and excite the palate beyond a stable of standards. Alternatively, you'll have be able to follow recipes very well - which is sometimes harder than you think, given that many implicitly-include assumptions about your kitchen environment and/or your experience level. That is, a recipe may not adequately describe the procedure exact enough to replicate the intended - and finest! - of results. Consequently, if you do not have the experience (or, again, the luck) to fill in the gaps, the end-product may end up a bit underwhelming.

Which brings me back to bread. Yikes! Through happenstance, I came across the following article on making bread in the NY Times Food section back in November 2006; it sparked my curiosity, promising a "novel" and "easy" technique:

The Secret of Great Bread: Let Time Do the Work
By Mark Bittman (aka The Minimalist)
Published: November 8, 2006

So I resolved to go home and try it out (I was at the airport at the time), regardless of never having made any sort of bread before (save for pancakes). Somehow its creation in my own kitchen now seemed possible, and, further, it seemed alchemical and exciting. However, my first couple of attempts were downright dismal, later attributed to, among another things, not understanding the nature of yeast and what their role was in the process. I did not treat them well; they treated me to a wheat-based brick; I could hear them laughing from beyond (the oven), from their dark single-celled netherworld.

Later experiments proved more fruitful, so to speak; I needed to read a bit more about the bread making processes in general, how all those simple ingredients interacted in such specific ways to produce something so-much-better than themselves. What synergy (given the right conditions)! It's like advanced management theory come to life, but better - because you can eat the team when the project is done.

The real kicker was that this was my first foray into the world of fermentation, although I didn't know it when I started. True bread making (i.e. not the "quick bread" type, which relies on the chemical reactions of baking soda or baking powder) depends on live organisms to break down complex organic molecules into tastier and more nutritious ones for our consumption. In fact, some of the most delicious things out there - bread, cheese, cured meats, yoghurt, chocolate, beer, wine and vinegar - are all products of fermentation. "Underground foodie hero", Sandor Katz, has written much about whys and the hows, as well as the history of, our symbiotic relationship - one just beginning to come back into modern focus - with the beneficial microflora in our environment. Really cool stuff! And you know if it's about beer, I'm all over it..

All this said, I'm not saying that *I* can cook well or *I* know about all the details of creating wonderful food, but I *am* starting to recognize the various phenomena of interaction between me and my elements of substance. So that is the part that is new (or at least refined), and it's made me feel even more connected to the world - most literally - as part of the constant ebb and flow of molecules and materials from one form, one concentration, or one location to another. In fact, the action of the yeast reminds me so much of the novel (and labor intensive) grass farming techniques I read about in Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma", albeit at a microscopic level. However ultimately complicated, the basic actions involved in fermentation or grass farming, I can get my head around. And the ideas contained therein are very pleasing; read up!

But beyond food - however entrancing - isn't it exciting to think about those ideas that really gave you a kick in the pants (or the head?), helping to spawn a positive modification - and evolution! - in your worldview? Some of the other heavyweight readings that really turned on some light bulbs for me are:

1. "Guns, Germs, and Steel" by Jared Diamond
2. "The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature" by Matt Ridley

I am sure to discuss the above topics - sex and economics - at a future date, if only in passing, because those sorts of things color my every thought on levels sub-conscious. Yes, so they will be discussed again and again, even if you or I don't know we're talking about it; those things are hypnotic and applicable-always, eminently worthy of thoughtful conversation or drunken musings.

In the meantime, let me say that Ms. Portman does a hell of an interview, and for that, I will thank her again (but really mean it this time). And let me also say that *we* are all living machines, garbage in, garbage out, so let's get to that good eating (and drinking) - indulge in the microflora!