I’ve been thinking about food again lately. I was talking to my friend Laurel (she’s a chemist, which I mention because it’s cool that a chemist would actually talk to me, and also because when she wins a Nobel Prize, I’ll have mentioned her in advance, and thus it won’t be name-dropping to say that I know her) and explaining that the weeks I cook mostly Burmese food are easier than the weeks I cook what Min calls bo sa (white people food).

See, when I cook bo sa, I end up with all sorts of leftovers in the fridge — a little pasta, half a chicken burger, some wilting salad, etc. When I cook Burmese food, I can make one new dish each day, and it goes with the dish from the day before. For example, the leftover lentil fried rice from Monday becomes a side-dish for the chicken curry on Tuesday, and the leftover curry goes well with the veggie stir fry on Wednesday, etc. Everything goes, everything gets eaten, and there isn’t a mystery buffet in the fridge.

Laurel recommended a book called French Women Don’t Get Fat, in which Mireille Guiliand talks about traditional cuisines and how they mesh better than our North American miscellany. French Women Don’t Get Fat turned out to be part diet book, part cookbook, and part food essay, but it’s quite an entertaining read with lots of tips on eating seasonally, embracing a variety of fresh fruits, veggies, and nuts, and enjoying luxury in moderation.

On the less-moderate side, I was reminded by a recent blog post that I’ve always wanted to watch Food, Inc. I went and rented it, but Min blanched as soon as he saw the cover. I’m waiting for a night on my own to watch. I’m already sneaking mostly free-range meat into the house, so I’m not expecting seismic alterations. But, we’ll see…