Monday, September 5, 2011

Moron of the Week: Helen Zoe Veit ∞

In today’s Times, Helen Zoe Veit’s op-ed “Time to Revive Home Ec” argues (what else?):

Reviving the [home economics] program, and its original premises—that producing good, nutritious food is profoundly important, that it takes study and practice, and that it can and should be taught through the public school system—could help us in the fight against obesity and chronic disease today.

There are really two major problems with this op-ed: blatant opportunism and foodie propaganda.

First, the opportunism. Does Helen Zoe Veit really think Americans should reinstitute home ec? It’s not really clear. She writes her own experience with home economics was “utterly stripped of content.” Then, she tells us about her “deeply empowering [cooking] lessons” that “weren’t hard.”

But she wants kids to learn cooking anyway. So, no, little Billy, you can’t read Clifford the Big Red Dog, you have to go peel potatoes. Why exactly is Veit arguing for home economics? Well, she’s an assistant professor of history, and she’s written a book on food that’s coming out soon. That’s a hint.

Then again, shameless self-promotion by way of a Times op-ed is pretty much par for the course. What’s more insidious is the leftist reinvention of food. Is producing good, nutritious food “profoundly important”?

No. Absolutely not. Eating good, nutritious food is important. We leave the actual production of food to other people, like chefs and farmers and butchers, as well as large agricultural and food processors. We do this because we live in an advanced economy that rewards specialization. It’s why you pick up a $3 loaf of bread instead spending an hour and a half (and $2.50 worth of ingredients) baking it yourself.

Members of the food cult would like you to believe that food is intrinsic to our self-being and that if you don’t know the provenance of your kale, then you may as well give up on life now. Sure, we need food, but we also need shelter and clothing—and I don’t see a sew-your-own-jeans movement brewing on the horizon.

Foodies also want you to believe they’re not elitist, and that, in cases like these, that they’re merely thinking of the children. To that, I ask them to join the club. Diabetes and obesity are serious issues, but teaching someone how to braise a lamb or make a puffed pastry never made anyone thinner.

But in the end, Veit, never much of a committer, writes her idea may “sound outlandish.” Phew. Now there’s something we can agree on.