Where's the geography?

So, I neglected to mention that I'm studying to be a geographer. When I mention geography, most people think of political geography, maps, or GIS...that's not the geography that I study...although I do teach a bit of it and cultural geography as well.

I study human-environment interaction through a critical geographic lens. Since I started this blog yesterday I have to keep reminding myself that it's ok to write about something other than geography. But, food and geography are related. Technically, the local landscape should dictate our food choices, but technologically, the sky is the limit. Our food travels a great distance from harvest/production to our table - the shrimp in my soup tonight was from Argentina and I believe some of the shellfish originated in Thailand. The creme fraiche was from Vermont and who knows where the onions, carrots, celery, and butter originated. And that's just the soup - what about the ziti and broccoli? What is the impact on the environment and our bodies when we consume food that is jet-lagged?

That's one way I could tie this blog into my "profession" but that's not that interesting...I'm more interested in regional cooking I suppose. Many cultures use similar methods and similar ingredients but the food is very distinct...how many different ethnic meals start with sauteeing onions until translucent and then adding tomatoes?

What about an exploration of cultures that don't have meat with every meal - that's could be interesting and economical; not to mention less of an impact on the landscape and the body. Why not lentils instead of chicken? I've been wanting to make the lentil zigni for some time, perhaps that'll be my next cooking task.

A few years back, I had this grand idea to tie geography into our meals - way before I thought about geography as an academic discipline - I would go to the atlas and show the kids the country the dish originated and then a few facts - that didn't last long. But when we travel, we do like to get a taste of regional flare. At the Grand Canyon last spring we had a delicious southwestern meal, in Canada this summer, we scouted out local establishments - the food was excellent...and in Canada BTW processed food - condiments, soda, etc - is not loaded with corn syrup.

What kind of insight does food give you into a culture? Ethnic dining in US metropolitan areas tends to fetishize culture but I'm thinking more about available land resources - ingredients - fuel - cooking method - taboos, etc. I'm sure someone has written a dissertation about these issues, but maybe I'll just eat my way around the world and call it fieldwork.