I’ve always taken a sort of passive stance when it comes to my food radicalism.  I smile at my co-workers when they heat up a LeanCuisine.  I nod when someone tells me about a recipe using Campbell’s cream of chicken soup.  But at home, I’m rendering fresh lard, making sauces from scratch, grinding sausage, baking bread, making special trips downtown for grass-fed beef, and frantically googling for affordable sources of quality lamb.

I’m a food-psycho, I would say.  Nobody cares or would be interested in doing what I’m doing.  It’s too much work.

Not anymore.  I’ve become evangelized, and by a cheezy, Ryan-Seacrest-produced, probably-half-staged television show, nonetheless.  That’s right.  I watched Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, and it hit me deep.  Here’s one guy trying make some real change that can save millions of lives, and I’m hoarding my knowledge, however minimal it may be.

So, starting today, I’m going to be posting once a week on food.  Most of it will describe my long journey to effectively eradicate everything fake from my pantry and refrigerator.  What’s fake, you ask?  Anything that isn’t an actual food product.  My rule is that if I don’t know where to buy it, it shouldn’t be in my food.  Partially hydrogenated vegetable oil?  Never seen that on the store shelf.  Mono- and diglycerides?  Potassium sorbate?  Modified corn starch?  Nope.  Nope.  Nope.

This might seem like a huge pain in the ass, but I’m willing to bet you’re going to be surprised.  You’re going to be surprised when you combine good ingredients in a simple way to make great food.

Enough with the intro…

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