Just finished reading New York magazine’s half-cover story “The Ravenous and Resourceful Sandra Lee,” a profile the First Lady of New York — she lives with Governor Andrew Cuomo — and quite enjoyed it. I’d known a little bit about the distate for her among foodies — to whom using so many prepared foods in recipes is blasphemy — but I didn’t know about her upbringing, which goes beyond meager and can be better described as tragic. The story begins with her visiting New York state’s food banks, ensuring donations from such major players as Tyson, after learning that the banks’ greatest need was proteins. A shock to me was that only 6% of the food-bank users in Buffalo are homeless. And that 40% are children. Those are staggering statistics that call for action. While it seems she’s recently flipped the ratio of her recipes from 70% store-bought, ready-made and 30% fresh, I wish there was more information about the nutritional value of those store-bought products. I don’t have fuzzy feelings about major food companies that are deep-pocketed enough to, via advertising on Sandra Lee’s shows and in her magazine, make her an industry unto herself. Let’s face it, our grocery stores are lined with unhealthy crap. But her heart seems to be in the right place, as she helps economically challenged families enjoy the full benefits of mealtime. As Mario Batali is quoted in the piece, “She gets people out of fast-food chains, and that’s a good thing. At least she gets them in the kitchen, even if they are using frozen berries.”
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Just finished reading New York magazine’s half-cover story “The Ravenous and Resourceful Sandra Lee,” a profile the First Lady of New York — she lives with Governor Andrew Cuomo — and quite enjoyed it.

I’d known a little bit about the distate for her among foodies — to whom using so many prepared foods in recipes is blasphemy — but I didn’t know about her upbringing, which goes beyond meager and can be better described as tragic.

The story begins with her visiting New York state’s food banks, ensuring donations from such major players as Tyson, after learning that the banks’ greatest need was proteins. A shock to me was that only 6% of the food-bank users in Buffalo are homeless. And that 40% are children. Those are staggering statistics that call for action.

While it seems she’s recently flipped the ratio of her recipes from 70% store-bought, ready-made and 30% fresh, I wish there was more information about the nutritional value of those store-bought products. I don’t have fuzzy feelings about major food companies that are deep-pocketed enough to, via advertising on Sandra Lee’s shows and in her magazine, make her an industry unto herself. Let’s face it, our grocery stores are lined with unhealthy crap.

But her heart seems to be in the right place, as she helps economically challenged families enjoy the full benefits of mealtime. As Mario Batali is quoted in the piece, “She gets people out of fast-food chains, and that’s a good thing. At least she gets them in the kitchen, even if they are using frozen berries.”

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