The Introduction

Post number 1. The time to answer those nagging questions, who I am, why I'm writing this blog, and what it's about. Don't worry, I'll get to all that stuff. But first off, a special thanks to my sister Becky who inspired me with her own food blog, The Intellectual Eater. She introduced me to the world of food blogging (and what an interesting world it is!), but abandoned her blog after only a couple months. As one of her most dedicated followers I was left in the dark, longing for more foodie blog posts. Let's hope this blog doesn't suffer the same fate.

Over the past year or so I have been increasingly experimenting with food and cooking and am passionate about changing the way I eat. I'm not talking about going on a diet or anything like that; I'm talking about changing the cultural context of my consumption. I was first enlightened by Michael Pollan's book, The Omnivore's Dilemma, a captivating look at American food culture. Pollan, my new favorite writer, opened the door to further reading on food culture such as Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle - her personal tale of the first year after moving from a city-slicker life to semi-subsistence farming - and Pollan's second must-read, In Defense of Food.

I am making an effort to eat less artificially-fortified freezer foods and such, and thus finding myself making more and more food from scratch. I had to have some important training for this to work, which leads me to second thank you in this post which goes to my mother (yes, Mom, you were/are always right, especially when it comes to cooking). She provided me with the necessary background for my endeavors into the culinary world. From an early age I knew the basics of both cooking and baking. I could follow most recipes without a problem, but I am always eager to add my own flare to the food I make. My roommates will vouch for this sometimes foolish urge as I am never content to follow a recipe, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse.

While a sizable portion of the posts to follow will be on food, this blog isn't just a foodie's diary. I reserve the right to put whatever I want in this blog, but the second-largest category for my posts will almost certainly be the environment. From a young age I loved the outdoors and the natural world. As a student today I enjoy taking environmental studies courses and learning all I can about human impacts on the planet. I consider the environmental effects of just about everything I do and I encourage others to do the same. Every lightswitch we flip, every bite we eat, and everything else we do during an average day has a cost to the environment. This blog will allow me to present some of my own experiments in environmentalism and offer insights to my readers.

While I've given a few hints so far, I haven't quite answered the question as to who I am. I'll keep this part short since I imagine most of my readers will probably be friends and family, and if you don't fall into one of those categories you probably don't care to hear a lot about who I am. My name is Josh Meisels, and I'm currently a senior at Washington University in St. Louis in the Olin Business School. I'm originally from Glenview, IL, a suburb of Chicago, where I grew up with my two older sisters, Becky and Rachel. I now live in a decent-sized apartment with a couple roommates, the setting for most of my culinary adventures and eco-experiments. Following this year, I'm taking the summer off to do something exciting (not sure what yet), and then moving to Seattle, the city where I spent last summer.

That's about all there is to say for now. Welcome to the blog!