This will be the first of what I’m sure will be many posts on this subject. As I mentioned in my post, “You’re allergic to what?!?!?!“, after being diagnosed with my food allergies I had to fundamentally change how I viewed food. Gone were the days of “I don’t want to eat that because I don’t like it/don’t want to”. I no longer could just eat whatever was offered to me without asking multiple questions: “Are there nuts in there?” “What did you use to make this?” “Can I get ______ as a substitue for _______?”.
Early on, before I was 100% accustomed to thinking about food in an active instead of a passive way, I would get into things I was allergic to – almonds on a cheese ball, carrots in salads, tomato based pasta sauce – and pay the price. Thankfully, I’ve gotten a lot better and haven’t had to take benedryl in a long time (*knocks on wood*).
As a part of the learning process about my new relationship with food as well as an increased interest in food and cooking, I started to read a number of books. These books made me do a lot of thinking as well as gave me inspiration to try to eat more local, in-season food, as well as seeking out grass-fed beef and other sustainable organic meat options. These choices were not only about my personal health but also about how these choices impact the greater society.
It’s amazing how eating things that are in-season and local will impact recipes and what you eat. Eating a salad with lettuce from the farmer’s market for the first time shows you how lettuce actually has a taste and should. Roasted veggies need little more than salt, pepper, and a little olive oil to make an amazing side dish. Organic eggs from a local farm are full of what some refer to as “liquid gold”. A grilled sirloin of grass-fed beef fresh of the grill with basic seasoning reminds you what a steak actually should taste like. Why wouldn’t you want to eat like this?
I encourage folks to check out these books, even if you don’t have the food issues I do.
- The Omnivore’s Dilemma – Michael Pollan
- In Defense of Food – Michael Pollan
- Medium Raw – Anthony Bourdain
More to come on this issue for sure. I’d love to hear what others have to say and think about this as well. Feel free to leave a comment here with suggestions or ideas of other books I should read.
The value in The Omnivore’s Dilemma is showing how consolidated we have become with what goes into our food. I think the first step is realizing that most of our diet is corn and that has changed vastly in just the last 50 years. Next we need to look at why we went from a diversified, plant-based diet to a meat & dairy heavy diet. Our thinking and our taste buds and our policies are not always in our best interest! Lastly we need to realize the things that are harming us and make changes. The incidences of allergies and autoimmune problems are skyrocketing. Either it’s a pure, unrelated coincidence or…. our actions are contributing and we need to modify our behavior. A few years ago I read a book called French Women Don’t Get Fat. It’s a great book that is mostly memoir with a few recipes thrown in. It’s the story of a French girl who was average sized with zero attention to her diet – she just ate normal amounts of typical French food. She did a year abroad in America – had the same food habits as in France – but when she returned to France she had gained a lot of weight. Thus began her quest to understand food. It’s not a diet book – it’s a food book. I made the homemade yogurt a few times and it is TO DIE FOR. I made it with good, organic, 1% milk and it was the BOMB. The national hype about the book has died so I’m sure it would be a short or nonexistent wait for it from the library.http://mireilleguiliano.com/section/sub/14