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03/16/2000 Archived Entry: "And I'm Still Here"

Congratulate me. This year marks my 30th year as a professional food journalist – editor, writer, broadcaster, cookbook author -- and lately cooking teacher, too.

I’ve lived through Julia Child as the “French Chef,” the Galloping Gourmet, Dr. Stillman’s high-protein, high-fat diet; Dr. Ornish’s low-protein, low-fat diet; Dr. Atkin’s high-protein, high-fat diet, phen-phen, diet herbs, hippie commune food, macrobiotics, “Northern” Italian, Nouvelle Cuisine, New American Cuisine, no cafes, grand cafes, the bistro boom, the coffee boom, beef Wellington, fondue, quiche, crepes, blackened everything, the fajita fad, chocolate mania, raspberry vinegar, sherry vinegar, balsamic vinegar, sun-dried tomatoes, the invention of the food processor, the discovery of Teflon., and, currently, yet another bistro boom.

And I’m still here.

Imagine this: When I started writing about food, I was only the third male of the species to be a daily newspaper food editor (food writer wasn’t even a career option), and if you mentioned exotic mushrooms you meant hallucinogens.

And I’m still here.

Then, pasta was still called macaroni, James Beard hadn’t even moved into “The Beard House” yet, Dean and Deluca didn’t exist, Balducci’s was just a good produce stand (on the other side of Sixth Ave.), Zabar’s was still a small Jewish “appetizing” store, there were only three bakeries in New York that sold croissants, bagels were tough and small and never came in cinnamon-raisin, if you ate organic or vegetarian you were considered a kook, only mothers and diners (which weren’t even mostly Greek-owned yet) served mashed potatoes, tomato juice and fruit cocktail were still restaurant appetizer options, and Korean grocers were found only in Seoul.

And I’m still here.

In my attic are fondue pots, crock pots, yogurt makers and ice cream machines, an electric whisk, the first bread machine, the first pasta machine, and one of the first microwave ovens.

And I’m still here.

I’ve written (always with skepticism, I’m proud to say) how polyunsaturated oils (corn, soy, sunflower and -- do you remember -- safflower) could be the answer to the national coronary crisis, how margarine is better than butter (and don’t we know different now), how oat bran might be the silver bullet for longevity, ditto fish oil, how eggs are the perfect food, then how they might be killing us, and more lately why olive oil may be, but almost certainly isn’t, the real answer to the national coronary crisis. (By the way, I’m sure you’ve heard, eggs are back in favor.)

And I’m still here.

I wrote about the swordfish ban (it was full of mercury), the striped bass ban (it was full of petroleum), the diethylstilbestrol scare (who even remembers what that was), the Alar on apples alarm (false), how red tide destroyed the Peconic bay scallop before it made its triumphant return, and how our still-present salmonella and E coli crisis may be killing us.

And I’m still here.

I started writing on a typewriter, crumpling paper and using up trees by the day, the words molded in lead on a Lynotype machine (now in the Smithsonian) and hand-set by a printer who was an actual person I could argue with. At Newsday, in 1969, I started writing and editing on a computer connected to a main frame. Remember them? After years of doing the same at the Daily News, I graduated to a home computer, transmitting my copy to my editor via that new-fangled technology called a modem. Now my words move from my home-office computer directly to my web-site – a word that was not even fathomed 10 years ago, much less 30. My life is now totally electronic and instantaneous.

It’s hard to keep up some days, but I’m still here.

I wrote a consumer guide in the early ‘70s -- How to Eat Better For Less -- when the recession looked like it might become a depression. I’ve written four cookbooks, thousands of newspaper columns, hundreds of magazine stories, broadcast many thousands of radio hours, and taught many hours of cooking classes.

And I’m still here.

I’ve (more or less) cooked my way through Julia’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking (volumes I and II), Craig Claiborne’s New York Times books, Michael Field, Richard Olney, Marcella Hazan, Giuliano Bugialli, Diana Kennedy, Julie Sahni, Madhur Jaffrey, Florence Lin, Eileen Yin Fei Lo, Paula Wolfert; Maeder Heatter, etc., etc. I’ve wokked around the clock, made my own pasta, sausage, cheese, yogurt, beer, root beer (it exploded), wine, and vinegar. I’ve aged salami, corned beef, soaked couscous, dried fruits and herbs, cured duck breasts, pickled herring, gravad lax, gefilted fish, purged snails, stretched strudel dough, smoked alligator, fan-dried sushi rice and Peking duck, stuffed small birds into bigger ones, baked cholent for 24 hours and bread in four countries.

And I’m still here.

If I’ve learned anything in the 30 years, it’s that foodways appear to change more than they really do (a steak, baked potato and salad is still America’s favorite meal), that there are no simple answers (to anything), and that the only valid advice about nutrition is: Variety, Moderation, and Calories Count. Which may be why I’m still here. Though a little chubby at the moment.