“I understand the political idea [behind banning fast food] — like, let’s keep this type of food out of our community — but, I would say, why don’t we think about wages and healthcare and free college and free childcare before we start making the solution about access to certain types of foods, and really start to focus on quality of life, that makes fast food one of many choices that people have.”
I’m really proud and happy to introduce Dr. Marcia Chatelain, my guest on this week’s episode of Food with Mark Bittman. Dr. Chatelain is an historian and a professor at Georgetown, where she teaches history and African American studies. Her astonishing book, Franchise: The Golden Arches in Black America was published in early 2020; it caused me and many other people to completely rethink what we thought we knew about the relationship between McDonald’s and the Black community — and it won a Pulitzer. Franchise has just been published in paperback with a brilliant new preface: It’s worth reading the book a second time for the preface alone.
My interview with Dr. Chatelain is as interesting a conversation as I’ve had, on and off the podcast, all year. Somewhere in the middle of it, I was so moved by what she was saying that I had to stop and tell her. I’m completely in awe of Dr. Chatelain and her work, and I’m betting that after listening to this, you will be, too.
The recipes featured in the episode are here (Everyday Pancakes) and here (Chicken MarkNuggets).
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