On Wednesday, February 11th, The New York Times had a column on its editorial pages titled "What Is The Purpose Of Society?" That title grabbed my attention, and when I looked to the bottom of the column, to find out something about author Mark Bittman, all I saw was this advisory: "Thomas L. Friedman is off today."
Frankly, I think that Thomas L. Friedman is "off" most days! As for Mark Bittman, it turns out he is a food writer. He does mention "food" in the very first line of the column, but molten chocolate cake is not featured in the discussion. Molten chocolate cake, incidentally, is the cake shown above, in a picture taken from Bittman's food blog.
Instead of talking about food in his column, Bittman was pitching for what I would call a "progressive" political agenda, putting the question this way: "Shouldn't adequate shelter, clothing, food and health care be universal?"
Bittman thinks that "Progressives are not thinking broadly or creatively enough. By failing to pressure Democrats to take strong stands on everything from environmental protection to gun control to income inequality, progressives allow the party to use populist rhetoric while making America safer for business than it is for Americans."
The column goes on like that, and even uses a "hardware/software" analogy that I thought was rather well done. I commend the column to you.
I think it's great for a food writer to be taking on political topics like the topics Bittman is addressing in "What Is The Purpose Of Society." Bittman's column is conjuring up quite a meal, and as my friend Mr. Dylan says:
Call me for dinner, honey, I'll be there!
Image Credit:
http://markbittman.com/
Love it! Very delicious indeed.
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