“I’m your cook, not your doctor. You are going to have to be responsible for yourself."

Paula Deen on her diabetes and her culinary offering to the American people.

She’s wrong. Paula Deen is not a cook.

Paula Deen is a great many things–– a force of nature, a shrewd businessperson, a send-up of what Southern women are supposed to be but aren’t, and a comedian whose culinary satires fit on a plate––but she is not a cook.

Do not be confused. Paula Deen has no idea about what being a cook, especially a home cook, means.

According to Larousse Gastronomiqe, in 1765 a bouillon seller, A. Boulanger (which in English means ‘baker’), opened the first modern restaurant in Paris. His sign read,   “Boulanger sells restoratives fit for the gods.” Soon, the city was filled with “restorative” shops that also sold wine and caffé.

Cook=Doctor. Even though the link between healing and soup has not been clearly proven, food is what humans need to revive their bodies. It gives us pleasure, yes. It also restores us.

Cook. Doctor. Deen is neither. She may cook at a stove, however like Rush Limbaugh and Howard Stern, Paula Deen is an entertainer. And now she’s a spokesperson and the face of Type 2 Diabetes.

Amy Winehouse. “Rehab.” Maybe that’s why this situation makes us all cringe.

Cooking is not a callus enterprise as Deen’s quote would lead you to believe. Food heals. It illuminates. It honors. It speaks where words fail.

But, most of all, food imparts balance in both body and mind––anyone with blood sugar issues such as Deen’s knows that. What people eat matters. And if you really care about people, you feed them well.

I’m not saying you should be a Vegan or ignore the delights of French fries––I’m saying we all need balance. Even Escoffier served rich food in moderation––and with vegetables.

Today I bought organic grapes. Tomorrow I’m going to make a sourdough starter from wild yeast. After two weeks of  careful feeding and nurturing, if all goes well, I’ll have basis for some amazing bread. And, if it really is as amazing as Nancy Silverstone promises in her cookbook, Breads from the La Brea Bakery: Recipes for the Connoisseur,

I’ll pass it along to my friends so that they can feed their own family and friends.

Why? Because I’m a cook. Maybe you’ll do the same thing too. Here’s  the link from Food.com.

more later...