Always great to read a smack down of that smug Christopher Kimball! Not to mention what well-written piece on the topic of food accessibility and affordability.
Any call for America's poor to just "get cooking!" to solve the problem of food insecurity seems to come from a lived experience as impoverished as any food desert. I think the person "struggling" here is Christopher Kimball, not the people who manage to survive exponentially more difficult social and economic conditions on a daily basis.
It takes time to cook! Work full time, work more than 1 job, care for a family, run around to forage for food in markets….time and energy for food prep and then cleaning it up all takes way more time than fast food or chicken nuggets. In most cases the intellectual energy (planning meals, evaluating where to shop) is compounded by the physical energy to procure and prepare the food is expended primarily by women. It’s exhausting, soul crushing, and unappreciated.
Really great insights here! I've recently learned of my state's food bank initiative of "farm to food bank" to give greater access of fresh, local produce to those who need it. Most foods donated are shelf stable or processed, so I think this is a helpful initiative, but even then some produce might not be helpful because it's unfamiliar to those receiving it.
The part about poor parents giving in to their children's requests for junk food as an emotional support really struck a chord with me. Growing up we went through bouts of being poor due to unemployment. My mom worked really hard to make sure we were fed. Sometimes we accessed the food pantry (where i tasted my first Twinkie), or we got food assistance from our church, other times we were the recipient of food baskets for those in need. I remember helping at church to put together food baskets and was startled when we received one. I didn't think of us as poor. My mom tried very hard to feed us basic, healthy food but would sometimes give in to our requests for junk food. I really think it was a way she could say Yes to us and watch us be excited and happy for something so basic.
I am much better off financially now as an adult and I cook and bake very well, but my food experiences as a child 100% still affect me and my choices surrounding food to this day. It is so engrained that I struggle to make new and better habits. So it's outrageous for him to suggest that poor people just need to "learn to cook". Thank you for combatting his ridiculous argument so eloquently.
This reminds me of an integrative medicine conference I went to years ago and the doctor was in a very poor predominantly Black part of Massachusetts and some large majority these Black kids had never eaten a fresh tomato in their lives. But here we are in late stage capitalism where we’ve moved so far away from our food sources. We don’t know where our food came from, who grew it, what’s in it. And that disconnection is causing all these other disconnections. That parable of the harvest- as you sow so shall you reap. We’re eating blueberries 🫐 flown in from who knows where packaged in single use plastic containers. We’re killing the earth and lining the billionaires pockets. And paying the poor Mexican immigrants picking tomatoes next to nothing. And the monopolies grocery chains have and gauging prices. Thank you for calling out this hypocrisy. A wealthy white man lecturing to poor Black and Brown folks that they’re just lazy and don’t wanna cook. I grew up on a farm. We did a lot of canning. And we were dirt poor. That taste of government cheese is the taste of the humiliation of not having money for food. I remember going hungry and when I was in 8th grade and played basketball we’d stop at McDonald’s for dinner after the games, and I’d just say I wasn’t hungry because my parents had no money for food, and my friend Kim always acted like it was not a big deal that she paid for my meal every time. It was a REALLY BIG DEAL to me. Not charity. Not pity. Not sympathy. Just her saying I love you and I’m happy to pay for you. We just connected again after 32 years. She’s as lion hearted as ever.
Wow. Thank you. Your piece helped me make sense of my past in major ways. I’m a food stamps kid raised on government cheese and powdered milk in Appalachia whose love of cooking had me considering a career in food journalism after college.
The universe plopped me down with some food journos of the time (Kimball peers) and helped me know those fusty pubs run by trust-fund babies were NOT where I belonged. I didn’t belong at BusinessWeek either, but at least as a biz reporter I grew to hate capitalism more. As a food reporter, I’m legit afraid the perks and people around me could have gotten me hooked to a lifestyle I don’t respect. Because it is based in tone-deaf folks ignoring others’ lived experience while often ripping off their ingredients, traditions, and skills. Plus, people at the food mags looked down on me even though I had more journalism experience than most of them combined. Condescension never feels good to me.
I won’t bother reading Kimball’s piece and instead be grateful I happened upon your rebuttal.
Thank you also for reminding me that issues of food justice get my blood boiling. Write on!
This is a terrific piece. I actually write about how food deserts don’t exist and how we got it all wrong. This issue is so important. Appreciate you writing about it and looking forward to reading more!
I loved this. The article did a very wonderful job of outlining complexities that get walked past in nearly every conversation about access to quality food. It was so refreshing to see Time brought up in a considerable way. I've had conversations with colleagues about the culture of busyness that perforates every socioeconomic layer being a true drag on people ability to cook and eat in a meaningful, or nourishing, way.
The point about fresh fruit and vegetable prices being high due to spoilage varying sales yield was also well put. My intuition around this is that this inefficiency caused by spoilage may be likely increased be the fact that the supply is distributed to so many customers in such small amounts. It may be possible that the 'zero waste' cooking initiative wallowed in boutique status and missed a true opportunity to address the time and supply utilization problems by planting more significant roots to address the throughput efficiency problem at a true community scale.
Such an interesting read - and spot on. It's just another example of someone attempting to oversimplify and gloss over a multilayered problem by framing it as a personal moral failing rather than a socioeconomic and system issue. The issue of time is a huge barrier - all their lives people have been told to work harder, pull themselves up by the bootstraps etc - aside from all that's inherently wrong with that messaging, of course something was going to give. You want them to also be cooking and eating healthy food now? Come on
I had subscribed to Milk Street magazine about a year ago because it had one “quick” recipe which I liked. But I’ve been frustrated with it ever since, because while it is nice to celebrate traditional foods from various culinary traditions, it feels like it’s geared toward adults with no children (or grown children) with ample time on their hands to experiment and cook for joy. Those people exist, and before children I was one such person. But with two small children and a full time job, I feel that Christopher Kimball does not write for me. This piece offers further proof.
Always great to read a smack down of that smug Christopher Kimball! Not to mention what well-written piece on the topic of food accessibility and affordability.
Any call for America's poor to just "get cooking!" to solve the problem of food insecurity seems to come from a lived experience as impoverished as any food desert. I think the person "struggling" here is Christopher Kimball, not the people who manage to survive exponentially more difficult social and economic conditions on a daily basis.
It takes time to cook! Work full time, work more than 1 job, care for a family, run around to forage for food in markets….time and energy for food prep and then cleaning it up all takes way more time than fast food or chicken nuggets. In most cases the intellectual energy (planning meals, evaluating where to shop) is compounded by the physical energy to procure and prepare the food is expended primarily by women. It’s exhausting, soul crushing, and unappreciated.
Really great insights here! I've recently learned of my state's food bank initiative of "farm to food bank" to give greater access of fresh, local produce to those who need it. Most foods donated are shelf stable or processed, so I think this is a helpful initiative, but even then some produce might not be helpful because it's unfamiliar to those receiving it.
The part about poor parents giving in to their children's requests for junk food as an emotional support really struck a chord with me. Growing up we went through bouts of being poor due to unemployment. My mom worked really hard to make sure we were fed. Sometimes we accessed the food pantry (where i tasted my first Twinkie), or we got food assistance from our church, other times we were the recipient of food baskets for those in need. I remember helping at church to put together food baskets and was startled when we received one. I didn't think of us as poor. My mom tried very hard to feed us basic, healthy food but would sometimes give in to our requests for junk food. I really think it was a way she could say Yes to us and watch us be excited and happy for something so basic.
I am much better off financially now as an adult and I cook and bake very well, but my food experiences as a child 100% still affect me and my choices surrounding food to this day. It is so engrained that I struggle to make new and better habits. So it's outrageous for him to suggest that poor people just need to "learn to cook". Thank you for combatting his ridiculous argument so eloquently.
This reminds me of an integrative medicine conference I went to years ago and the doctor was in a very poor predominantly Black part of Massachusetts and some large majority these Black kids had never eaten a fresh tomato in their lives. But here we are in late stage capitalism where we’ve moved so far away from our food sources. We don’t know where our food came from, who grew it, what’s in it. And that disconnection is causing all these other disconnections. That parable of the harvest- as you sow so shall you reap. We’re eating blueberries 🫐 flown in from who knows where packaged in single use plastic containers. We’re killing the earth and lining the billionaires pockets. And paying the poor Mexican immigrants picking tomatoes next to nothing. And the monopolies grocery chains have and gauging prices. Thank you for calling out this hypocrisy. A wealthy white man lecturing to poor Black and Brown folks that they’re just lazy and don’t wanna cook. I grew up on a farm. We did a lot of canning. And we were dirt poor. That taste of government cheese is the taste of the humiliation of not having money for food. I remember going hungry and when I was in 8th grade and played basketball we’d stop at McDonald’s for dinner after the games, and I’d just say I wasn’t hungry because my parents had no money for food, and my friend Kim always acted like it was not a big deal that she paid for my meal every time. It was a REALLY BIG DEAL to me. Not charity. Not pity. Not sympathy. Just her saying I love you and I’m happy to pay for you. We just connected again after 32 years. She’s as lion hearted as ever.
Thanks for this piece. I’ve stopped following Kimball for a while and it seems like he hasn’t changed 🙄
Wow. Thank you. Your piece helped me make sense of my past in major ways. I’m a food stamps kid raised on government cheese and powdered milk in Appalachia whose love of cooking had me considering a career in food journalism after college.
The universe plopped me down with some food journos of the time (Kimball peers) and helped me know those fusty pubs run by trust-fund babies were NOT where I belonged. I didn’t belong at BusinessWeek either, but at least as a biz reporter I grew to hate capitalism more. As a food reporter, I’m legit afraid the perks and people around me could have gotten me hooked to a lifestyle I don’t respect. Because it is based in tone-deaf folks ignoring others’ lived experience while often ripping off their ingredients, traditions, and skills. Plus, people at the food mags looked down on me even though I had more journalism experience than most of them combined. Condescension never feels good to me.
I won’t bother reading Kimball’s piece and instead be grateful I happened upon your rebuttal.
Thank you also for reminding me that issues of food justice get my blood boiling. Write on!
Thank you for your kind words!
Great piece -- thoughtful and thorough. And yes, I, too, am happy to dunk on Christopher Kimball and his self-righteous, sanctimonious attitude.
This is a terrific piece. I actually write about how food deserts don’t exist and how we got it all wrong. This issue is so important. Appreciate you writing about it and looking forward to reading more!
thank you for writing this!
I loved this. The article did a very wonderful job of outlining complexities that get walked past in nearly every conversation about access to quality food. It was so refreshing to see Time brought up in a considerable way. I've had conversations with colleagues about the culture of busyness that perforates every socioeconomic layer being a true drag on people ability to cook and eat in a meaningful, or nourishing, way.
The point about fresh fruit and vegetable prices being high due to spoilage varying sales yield was also well put. My intuition around this is that this inefficiency caused by spoilage may be likely increased be the fact that the supply is distributed to so many customers in such small amounts. It may be possible that the 'zero waste' cooking initiative wallowed in boutique status and missed a true opportunity to address the time and supply utilization problems by planting more significant roots to address the throughput efficiency problem at a true community scale.
Marie "Kimball" Antoinette
Oh, thank you for this! Beautifully said. I'm glad I found your newsletter.
Such an interesting read - and spot on. It's just another example of someone attempting to oversimplify and gloss over a multilayered problem by framing it as a personal moral failing rather than a socioeconomic and system issue. The issue of time is a huge barrier - all their lives people have been told to work harder, pull themselves up by the bootstraps etc - aside from all that's inherently wrong with that messaging, of course something was going to give. You want them to also be cooking and eating healthy food now? Come on
I had subscribed to Milk Street magazine about a year ago because it had one “quick” recipe which I liked. But I’ve been frustrated with it ever since, because while it is nice to celebrate traditional foods from various culinary traditions, it feels like it’s geared toward adults with no children (or grown children) with ample time on their hands to experiment and cook for joy. Those people exist, and before children I was one such person. But with two small children and a full time job, I feel that Christopher Kimball does not write for me. This piece offers further proof.
Fantastic, illuminating piece!