The most subversive thing I've ever seen in the NYT

This caught me up short. I never thought I'd read these words in the New York Times:

If science can’t guide us yet, who can? The answer is not me. The answer is culture, history and tradition.

That is about the most conservative sentiment I've ever seen snuck into an NYT article—NYT blog post, actually. It's an interview with a guy who wrote a book about eating well. Sure, there's some trendy organic-boosting and farmer's market boboism (white people LOVE farmer's markets; it's like a religious thing).

And while good food doesn't have to be expensive, it's not aways easy to prepare and this is going to remain a rich people's book, for people who will buy books to learn what they already if they'd listened to their parents (assuming their parents weren't giving them TV-dinners every night.) But the point of the article is even more subversive—it's a defense of home and hearth, of families cooking (healthy) meals at home and enjoying it.

Hundreds of comments, some from militant vegetarians and people bashing the guy for promoting his book (apparently you're supposed to write books and publish them, and then just keep your mouth shut and cross your fingers that somebody buys them). But many of them sound like this:

This is the best news I’ve heard in years. Everyday I feel guilty over the time and money I spend on feeding my family home-cooked meals. It’s so 1950’s housewife-y. Instead I should be working out, emailing the office, dragging the kids to another soccer game, or at least paying down my credit card debt. And get this, it’s my job to cook! I’m a food and wine consultant! I even host a blog for home cooks! (http://sogood.tv). That’s it, I’m not drinking the kool aid anymore. Ladies (and gentlemen), get back in the kitchen with your heads held high! The whole planet will thank you.

- Posted by Heather Johnston

That's downright subversive, is what that is. I love it!

The book sounds interesting but I actually don't think it's something I'm going to buy—as the author admits, he gives away the game on the cover: "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." He also bashes the nutritionist industry that leverages every new finding into a dramatic new nutrition fad (when I see that I think of bottled water industry and the beverage companies' overselling of water consumption).

But wow: "culture, history, tradition". It's like Edmund Burke's cookbook.

Could this advice apply beyond just...food? Could there be better ways to order our lives than the latest vagaries of science, handily marketed for your convenience?