Journalistic Integrity

I have had this copy of a fancy yet healthy cooking magazine for about a month. For some reason, I get stuck 1/10 of the way into it. I have not read further. The quality of the writing is fine. The photos are beautiful. None of the recipes described are beyond my capabilities. I am perfectly willing to go to the natural foods store to find the ingredients. It is none of that.

And yet here I am, staring at the spread on pages 12 and 13 still. But this morning I solved my dilemma! I know why I won't read the rest of it. There is a serious disconnect between the "gourmet food and high quality tools" mantra that this periodical prides itself on and the photo on page 12.

The food looks fresh. The garlic even have their stems and roots on them still. The EVOO is beautifully pored in the well-seasoned cast iron pan to look quite yin and yang. The knife is a stunning stainless steel Sabatier paring knife with a blond wood handle. And the cutting board is a glittery, pure white granite oval. Very slight concavity. Oh. My. The knife is arranged in such a way as to clearly demonstrate it is chopping garlic.

And that is IT!
1. You would never cut on something that is not flat unless your blade was also not flat.
2. You would never use a paring knife to chop that amount of garlic.
3. You would NEVER EVER EVER use a Sabatier blade on granite!!!!!!

I mean, if I had that little granite number, I would want to show it off too. And maybe that is what it was for the photographer and the food stylist. Pretty, pretty things. The prettiest piece being too small in scale so the proper knife for the job would have dwarfed it making it look less impressive. SO to compensate for their sense of inadequate size issue they just used tiny things around it....to make it appear more grand. In a Big Fish Little Pond kind of way.

OK. Now that I know the source of my cognitive dissonance I can work with that. And I read on. Until page 58. Good golly. What are they trying to pull off now? There is a short article on whole grains with a photo. Here we have a white ground with a white square plate. On that square plate is a small, round white plate to the right holding a mound of hemp seed. Upper left, tiny glass bowl full of chia. Bottom center an itty bowl full of flax seed. Across the lower left corner is another paring knife. This one with a white handle.

If you turn the page 90 degrees clockwise, it sort of looks like someone has stabbed Mickey Mouse in the head. And what the heck am I supposed to use the knife for on that plate? I don't care how sharp the blade is. No one is chopping chia seeds with a paring knife. The only thing I can come up with is counting the seeds like a pharmacist. Because (I know I am terribly naive on this subject) I do not think that is how one "cuts hemp." (Does one even cut hemp?)

And now I find myself questioning the motives of this publication. Could it be that they are...gasp!...just trying to make money? Is it possible that accurate, clear, authentic, premier information is second through fifth on their list of priorities?