Cooked - Fire

Michael Pollan's "Cook" begins by discussing the element 'Fire' and how it interacts with our relationship with food. He focuses his discussion on barbecue; arguably the best food around. I really appreciated the part which talked about the sacrifice of the pig and the gods' love for the smoke. Barbecue is definitely God's gift to humanity! Many times, he mentions how fire has tended to be a man's toy. Whenever food was to be cooked with fire, men would do it; some because it was outdoors, but mainly because they wanted to hangout, eat, and drink their alcohol. So to begin, cooking with fire was a man's job.

An interesting quote made by Sy Erskine was "[Barbecue is] the mystic communion among fire, smoke, and meat in the total absence of water." Pollan admits he doesn't quite know why this pit master mentioned water, but speculates that it may be because it is the enemy of fire or because it's a feminine principle and barbecue is a man's. Either way, this quotation brings the idea that food has not only a relationship to us (humans), but also to other ingredients and even the elements. 

Also, I feel that the following quotation goes along very well with everything Michael Pollan has been stressing to us so far...

"'You see, this cooking is really all about interdependence and community, and that extends to the farmers who grow the food and the little slaughterhouses they depend on. That sense of interdependence is what we've lost.'"

Through reading these books and having discussions about reconnecting with our food, I'm seeing relationships that should be present that aren't. I don't mean just the relationship between us and our food, but the relationships we hold with each other through food, as well as the relationships various "foods" have with each other.