I recently watched all four episodes of Cooked, a Netflix documentary series based on Michael Pollan's book of the same name. I didn't expect to be as completely enthralled in it as I was, and I watched all four episodes in one day -- and I started taking notes because I found so much of the subject matter interesting.
Episode 1: Fire
The four episodes are based around four breakthroughs in cooking, and they also align with the four elements. Fire represents -- you guessed it -- cooking with fire, and with the application of heat more generally.
This episode set the stage for how vital cooking is to human survival. We are the only species that cooks, but unlike a lot of things that humans do, cooking is natural for us, and necessary for our survival. We co-evolved with cooking: We have small jaws, small teeth, a relatively weak digestive system. And big brains. Cooking means that we don't have to spend all day chewing fibrous plant matter, and therefore expend most of energy eating. The energy saved was used up by the growing brain, and the time saved means humans could explore other pursuits.
This episode focused a lot on meat. I have been a vegetarian for over a year, but the slow-cooked Southern barbecue looked pretty good.
Michael Pollan made a statement in defense of meat, saying that he doesn't think the environment would be better off if everyone became a vegetarian because most of the most sustainable agriculture systems involve both animals and plants.
Of course, this is not referring to how the majority of agriculture, especially animal agriculture, is done today.
There is indeed a natural symbiosis between animals and plants that can be captured on a farm: The animals eat the plants, the animals' waste fertilizes the plants. However, in order to have a food system that resembles this, we would have to severely cut back on the amount of meat that everyone eats. Many farms do use animal waste as fertilizer, especially organic farms, but there's simply too much animal waste and too few crops. Animals raised in industrial settings are also prone to diseases, and their waste can transfer diseases like e. coli to crops.
So I'm not sure if I agree with Pollan that not everyone should be a vegetarian. But that's kind of a ridiculously hypothetical way to think about it: Not everyone is a vegetarian, and the majority of people are only going to keep eating more and more meat no matter what happens to the planet or their own health. So really it's the least I can do to try to offset that trend a little by eating no meat at all.
Episode 2: Water
This episode went into pot cooking and how specific flavors and cuisines developed around the world. Cooking in water binds flavors together in a unique way.
One chef in particular made some comments that really spoke to me. She said that she thinks of cooking as a "mindful" task, and that in modern life we try to get away from these small tasks so we have more time for life -- "but this is life." Any time spent creating something is valuable time.
Pollan expressed a hope that this may be a "cooking renaissance" where we cook not because we have to, but because we want to -- for our health and happiness.
Episode 3: Air
This episode was all about bread making, and it was fascinating. Bread represents civilization and has certainly fueled most major civilizations. There's something about bread that makes it more nutritious than its parts: water and flour.
This something is when you add microbes and yeast from the air. For a long time, there was no instant yeast, so water and flour were left out to be exposed to airborne yeast. Then the dough was fermented over a period of a few days: this breaks down the flour and gluten to become more easily digestible. This method of making bread using "wild" yeast and long fermentation is called sourdough. (Turns out it's not just a flavor!)
This type of bread is particularly nutritious. All bread used to be "sourdough." One doctor raised an interesting question: Could instant yeast be the reason for so much gluten sensitivity today? Not people with an allergy (Celiac disease, about 1% of the population) but people who just report a sensitivity to gluten?
It seems plausible.
Episode 4: Earth
While the air episode dealt with fermentation, this episode focused on it completely. One-third of the foods in our diet are fermented and we may not know it at all. Alcohol, chocolate, cheese, ketchup, soy sauce.
Fermented foods are often the most culturally distinct and "weird." Such as 1,000 year old egg and fermented Icelandic shark. They are certainly an acquired taste.
This episode touched on the anti-bacterial craze, and how this kills many good bacteria in our environment and in our own bodies, making digestion more difficult. The pasteurization of milk is also unnecessary if cows are raised in clean enough conditions. The episode featured a microbiologist/nun who makes French cheese from raw milk. She's incredible.
