Willkommen - Well, Come In

A statement of purpose:

When I go to bed at night, I'm often already looking forward to what I'm going to have for breakfast the next morning.

In class, when I'm zoning out, I'm probably dreaming up a delicious meal for dinner.

You get the idea. My point is, I love food. A great many of my thoughts center around it. And for damn good reason: you generally eat at least three times a day, and those mealtimes are (sometimes) a social activity, perhaps an exercise in creativity, or, at the very least, sources of health and, hopefully, of pleasure. In short, food is important. Very important. So never let me hear you say, "It's just food." It'll probably leave me speechless.

That said, you'd think I'd be speechless anyhow--I mean, how much can one person think about food before there's nothing left to say? Believe me, you'd be surprised. My thoughts have yet to run out. If anything, they only seem to increase in number as every question leads to about three more. It's like the damn Hydra.

One of the most fundamental acts of survival has innumerable levels of complexity. A question as simple as what to have for dinner involves a bunch of variables to take into consideration. What nutrients haven't I gotten today? How much time do I have to cook? How much money can I spend? Should I get organic or regular? How important are all those antioxidants, anyway? Should I be avoiding carbs? And this doesn't even take into account all the finer points, like specific vitamins. Maybe if I'm sick, I should try to get some more Vitamin C. I'm not saying I think of all these things before I eat. Who could? But you get the idea. It's unimaginably complex. And utterly exhausting.

So this blog is my attempt at delving into some of these issues as they occur to me, and in the process of sorting out my muddled menus, maybe helping some other people pick up some random tidbits, too. Because really, it's fascinating. Like did you know that flavonols, an organic compound that help give fruits and veggies their taste, are a type of metabolite created by plants to ward off bugs and bacteria? That's why organic food often tastes better--no pesticides means veggies have to fend for themselves, which means more flavonols.

Okay, here I go. Expect to find fun facts, tasty recipes, a whole plethora of whatever random tidbits I happen to come across, and whatever else my meandering ruminations on food may include. Please send me your favorite recipes (or anything else you find of interest)! Seriously. This is too big a topic to tackle alone. Besides, your grandma's oatmeal raisin cookies might be just the thing I need to get me through this week's reading in my Shakespeare class.