A Look Back at 2015 Through Food Cartoons

Hello Everyone!

I hope you are all having a nice holiday season. As 2015 comes to an end, I wanted to reflect on the year through the lens of ever-satirical New Yorker food cartoons 

The issue of Genetically Modified Organisms in food production drew mass attention this year. While amazing groups like Vani Hari's Food Babe Army worked hard this year to bring change, there is still a lot to be done. I loved this cartoon for how it poked fun at the whole issue. It was an interesting interpretation...

"Foodie": pretentious snob or thoughtful gastronomer? I'd like to go with the latter, but regardless, "foodie-ism" spread like wildfire this year, especially on platforms like Instagram with the growth of the "foodstagram" community.

These two cartoons made me laugh. I cut both of them out of the magazine and they now hang on my bulletin board above my desk. I hope they make you laugh too.

With the rise in popularity this year of raw-vegan, gluten-free, sugar-free, non-G.M.O. diets makes this cartoon a very accurate picture of what it's like to eat in 2015. I know that when my family gets together, the cook must first create a venn diagram to figure out what dish could satisfy everyone's dietary restrictions and preferences. 

And finally, a cartoon so accurate that I might as well be that man. Darn avocados! So delicious, yet so elusive. Has an avocado ripeness timer been invented? If not, I think I've found my next project... 

Cheers to a year of much more!!

Thank you all,

Gourmanda

All images courtesy of TheNewYorker.com 

TIME Magazine Cracks Open the Labeling Shell/Vegetarian Considerations Brought to you by Buzzfeed

Image from www.ferretharmony.net

In their January 13th issue, Anita Hamilton, writer for TIME Magazine, wrote a piece about what the labels on your egg carton really mean. "Omega-3?" Your hen has been fed algae, flaxseed, or fish oil. "Cage Free?" Your chicken was probably living in a giant house, suffocating on the feathers of it's neighbor. This article is a very important one because we innocently believe what the producer wants us to believe, and that is not how it should be. I urge you guys to read the full article here.

Another brilliant thing that I came across this week was a video made by Buzzfeed. It showed some of their staff, who considered themselves foodies, go to a farms and go through the whole chicken raising and "harvesting" (slaughtering) process. As I consider myself a foodie, I really enjoyed watching this because it really made me question whether killing an animal for my consumption is a just and humane thing to do. I have been considering going vegetarian for a while now, and I have been slowly eating less meat at home, ordering tofu instead at restaurants, and cooking new Asian dishes that use tofu. I recently made a recipe that included firm tofu, enoki mushrooms, and rice that my neighbor suggested I make and it tasted amazing! I wish I had some pictures for you, but I will definitely be making it again, so you wont need to wait long!

I have been having so many snow days recently (not complaining!) that I have had a lot more time to think about what I am eating and also experiment with more sophisticated dishes.  It has been really fun, I wish I usually got this much time for food!

That said, the snow in New York is getting to be a little much. What did Punxsutawney Phil say? Six more weeks 'til Spring? I guess I can wait. :)

More,
Gourmanda