Martha’s Guide to Morality
Posted on December 19, 2010 | posted by:
A few weeks ago I was able to tag along with some friends to a taping of the Martha Stewart Show. We dressed as Martha instructed (no dull colors, no patterns or logos, ‘dressed to impress’), and we turned up without any idea of what the topic would be. We wondered what we were in for: a special cookie Christmas episode perhaps, maybe ginger bread house construction, or how to create the right antler set for your dog or cat.
The day’s episode turned out to be “sustainable seafood.” I was shocked—how could Martha, just a few weeks before Christmas, devote an episode to sustainable fishing?
While the episode did not delve into the complexities of the situation, what Martha and her guest promoted the consumption of sustainable seafood via the Blue Ocean Institute’s guide to Ocean Friendly Seafood. The guide ranks species of fish according to the ecological effect of their fishing or farming practices, health advisories, and relative abundance or rarity. The fish are listed from green to red—green being abundant fish with low health risks and little damage to habitat through fishing to red meaning the species has a combination of problems. Martha joked that the color system used in the guide reminded her of the Federal terrorism color levels.
After identifying a few ‘green’ fish to eat, she made two dishes with a visiting chief from Los Angeles. The audience all left with the Blue Ocean Institute’s guide (as well as hand lotion and packets of instant oatmeal).
I saw this particular show as a form of transdiciplinary television. An established field (Martha) was bringing in experts to explain various particularities and share their expertise, and ultimately cooking it in a rare sauce, difficult to replicate at home. How can we make this kind of thinking routine? Maybe Martha is a good first step. How can we take something formulaic like this guide, and really incorporate it into our way of thinking?