TED rule 4

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Two weeks ago I started my motorbike trip in Asia. I did a first loop around Malaysia and I’m now back in Kuala Lumpur. After 2 years living here, I have the impression I just discovered this country, very good experience! I saw beautiful cities and landscapes, met very friendly people, and as I was in small cities, I had to eat local food. Everyday, breakfast-lunch-dinner. It was delicious, cheap and healthy. So today let’s talk about food.

Here I’m calling Mark Bittman, a food journalist. His weekly New York Times food column, The Minimalist, meshes accessible and inexpensive ingredients with “anyone-can” cooking techniques to produce exceedingly delicious dishes. And he wrote several best sellers including How to Cook Everything.

In his TED talk he shares with us his concerns about what we eat, its impact on our health and on the environment. The problem is not new, there are many internet videos, documentaries and websites about it. Especially in US where it is now a real health care issue. Cows are industrially and unnaturally feed by soy and corn, given antibiotics to survive, fast food is overprocessed, food industry over market their products and promote unhealthy meals. This is without talking about GMOs, the impact of industrial agriculture on small producers, land & water pollution, global warming, animal cruelty, etc… Mark Bittman does a good summary of the major issues, and gives a simple solution to us.

We have to take matters in our own hands, not only by advocating for a better diet for everyone, that’s the hard part. But by improving our own. And that happens to be quite easy: less meat, less junk, more plants. It’s a simple formula. Eat food. Eat real food.

Unwittingly, I applied the “less meat, less junk, more plants” rule during my past two weeks, just because big steacks and junk were not accessible. Out of big cities, restaurants are cooking their own food with – I suppose – local products. And not only the food is delicious, healthier, better, but it also permits to really discover cultures and ways of life. I want to share that with you, so I started to take pictures of the meals I’m taking – soon to be published!

I though I could continue this way and use it as a TED rule for the year. Easy in the countryside, more difficult to apply in the suburban areas. I can even change it to a “less meat, no junk, more plants” rule. I don’t expect it to change my physiognomy, but if I can save the world with small food changes, let’s do it!