Jessica Lee Jernigan: Work

New Food for a New Year

While the extent of my fast-food patronage may be slight, it's not so much because I'm a foodie snob; it's more that I would rather be standing at my stove with a glass of wine than fighting traffic or waiting in line at the drive-thru. I may, however, be making an exception for Qdoba Mexican Grill. The fact that the first Ann Arbor outlet of this national chain is on my way home from work (2252 S. Main Street, a couple doors down from Blockbuster) had a lot to do with my decision to give them a try.

The menu is what you would expect from a Mexican chain—burritos, quesadillas, taco salads—but the difference is in the details. Qdoba's pico de gallo is a tasty mix of chopped onions, tomatoes and fresh cilantro. Their guacamole is good and chunky, with a discernible kick of garlic. I ordered a cheese quesadilla and a pinto bean burrito, which turned out to be entirely too much food for one person. I am happy to report, though, that the leftover burrito was just as good on day two, reheated in the microwave. Read more…

Eat Slowly: The Slow Food Movement Seeks to Reverse Fast Food Culture

Once upon a time, fast food seemed like a good idea. When Ray Kroc and the McDonald brothers first turned a chain of restaurants into assembly line-driven factories of food, their vision was in perfect harmony with a faster, more mobile, more streamlined America. Teens cruising in tail-finned cars could stop by McDonald's for something cheap and tasty. Suburban families could drop in and get a treat for the kids, freeing mom from a night in the kitchen. Travelers from Indiana passing through Ohio could rest assured that the burgers and fries there were the same as back home. And the era that spawned McDonald's also gave us such miracles of convenience as the TV dinner and the boxed cake mix.

While we've been re-engineering our food to better fit our increasingly hectic lifestyles, our food has been changing us. Fast food has altered the way we think about eating, as well as the social, familial rituals of dining together. It's transformed the environment and farming practices. It's modified our bodies—maybe even our brain chemistry. Read more...

Can I Supersize That for You? Ellen Ruppel Shell on the Obesity Industry

One of the things I found rather eye-opening in your book was in your profile of Nancy, the woman getting weight-reduction surgery. You make it very clear that this woman is not obese because she's lazy or weak; you point out that in other areas of her life—in her job, with her family—this woman demonstrates considerable strength of will.

Ellen Ruppel Shell: If we think about it, we've probably all seen examples of this in our life. We've seen ourselves or our friends, people we know and love, radically change their eating habits after a significant event. For example, a friend of mine just went through a very difficult divorce. She had been really thin for her entire life, but she put on about a hundred pounds in less than a year during this difficult period. Nothing changed that person's character; her weight gain wasn't an issue of willpower or morality. The suggestion is that severe shocks and stress can affect the way our brains work, and scientists feel now that these changes in brain chemistry can affect, among other things, appetite regulation. I mean, we've never found the locus of willpower in the brain; it's a kind of philosophical construct. It's a useful construct—it's nice semantically, but it doesn't have any real scientific meaning. If I can do anything with this book, I would like to set the record straight about the role of willpower in weight gain or weight loss. To assign blame in this area—to make obesity a moral or character issue—is distinctly unhelpful. Read more...

When Tony Is Hungry, Something Dies: An Interview with Anthony Bourdain

On the last page of your book, you're sitting on the beach eating ribs, and you say that at this moment your "critical sensibilities are on hold." Until I read that, I never considered what eating must be like for a chef. Is it hard for you to just enjoy a meal and not analyze it?

Anthony Bourdain: Well, not always. When I'm going to eat at The French Laundry, or Gordon Ramsay, I know it's going to be one of the most fantastic meals of my life—not only from what I've heard and what I've seen, but also because I just feel it. In those situations, I go into a sort of fugue, a state of total submission where I just don't care what comes next. I know I'm in good hands and I go with it.

But a lot of professional chefs—when they're eating for pure pleasure—deliberately put themselves in situations where the expectations are not too high. They look for very simple food so they can relax and not have to think critically or professionally. You live at such a high pitch as a chef—you have to pay attention to the bus boys, you have to know what's going on in the kitchen. You maintain this sort of awareness whenever you go to a highly touted restaurant, and that awareness does make it hard to enjoy yourself at the table. But most of the time, we eat a lot more simply than most people probably think. Read more…