Sapere Aude!

Last week, Josh the group leader, several super volunteers and the awesome students of MS104 all began our Food Writing Project with a tour lead by Scott, the most knowledgeable man (on the topic of Pizza) I've met.  We tasted loads of different slices and styles, and there is so much to talk about.


John's of Bleeker Serves only Full Pizzas!


Some of the students and volunteers will be reviewing the different food we try.  Others will be reviewing the restaurants or describing the things we did.  I'm going to take a slightly different approach.  Over the following weeks I'm going to be talking about the ethical and philosophical questions that come with eating food, and I'm hoping that it'll make you think about it too.


This might sound scary at first.  After all, when I hear people say they're a philosopher, I imagine old people with big grey beards sitting at their desks surrounded by hundreds of books.  But I think that's only half the picture.  We all do philosophy whenever we think about a topic and try to understand it better.  For example, did you know that 'Science' used to be called 'Natural Philosophy'?  This is because these early scientists were philosophizing about the natural world.

So, we can all be philosophers! All you need is to be interested in learning more about a subject, and to be committed to making good arguments in favor of your beliefs.  Importantly, in addition to this, good philosophers must listen to the arguments of others and change their minds and behavior if opposing arguments are stronger than your own.

It might be true that we can all do philosophy and think about subjects that interest us.  But why focus upon food?  This is a wonderful question, and I think there is a very strong reason: WE ALL EAT.  No matter where you're from; whether you're a man or a woman; tall or short; skinny, or a bit on the chubby side, we all eat.  Some of us might eat more than others, some people might eat only certain kinds of food, but we all eat.  It is because food touches all of our lives that it deserves, and needs, to be thought about. 

• We spend a lot of money on food; could and should some of this money be spent on other things? 
• Is everyone able to eat every day?  Should they be able to?  Should they be able to eat the same things you eat?
• Why are some foods popular and others less popular; what are we missing out on?
• How much of the Earth's resources are used to make food for people?  Can we use those resources for other things?  If the Earth has a limited amount of resources, does this mean we should try to limit the number of people?

There are so many interesting questions linked too food, so it can be hard to know where to start.  So, for this blog, I'm going to focus on the questions that naturally arise from the times MS104 and the rest of us spend together.  Last week we took a pizza tour and it raised - at least in my mind - many interesting questions.  One that stuck out the most though was moving food.  Whether it be physically importing tomatoes from South America to Italy, or taking idea of pizza from Italy to the USA, there's a lot to think about.  And this is what I'll be exploring in my next post: Moving Food.


Questions to consider:

• What does 'Sapere Aude!' mean?
• Can you be a philosopher about anything; is Scott a philosopher about pizza?
• What do you do all the time that might also deserve to be thought about more carefully?

A Surprise in my Kitchen!

 

This week I woke up to find a mouse in my kitchen!  

A 1998 New Yorker article estimated that there might be as many as 28 MILLION rats in NYC.  That's 4 rats for every person!!

I don't know about you, but I'm going to make doubly sure that I clean my kitchen after cooking so I don't leave crumbs for mice to eat.  I'm also going to clean all my surfaces thoroughly before cooking - imagine if a mouse walked over the table just before you started chopping your lunch on it!