snowing blizzards

Food

Posted on 19 February 2010

Lately my husband and I have been thinking a lot about food.  He has done some posts here, here and here.  While we were on vacation we read In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan.  While it is a bit of a manifesto it is also a great book that made us think about the way we consume food.  In it Pollan (among other things) challenges the reader to buy foods at the store that have less then 5 ingredients that have no un-natural and un-pronouncable items.  We decided to take on that challenge and everything has changed for us, the way we eat, cook and most importantly *think* for the better.

Yes it takes longer to shop.  I have to actually spend time thinking and looking at the foods that I want to buy and that can be challenging when shopping with a 2.5 year old in tow.  However it has made me realize just how shitty (excuse my language but it really needs a stronger word then even that one) the state of the food industry is.  There are additives, preservatives, extra vitamins and more in everything.  There are even extra ingredients in low fat milk for crying out loud.  It’s very hard to find a pasta with less then 10-15 ingredients and it took me 2 stores and at least a dozen brands last weekend to find corn tortillas.  It shouldn’t be this hard.

I think the part that makes me the most sad is that the stores that the majority of the American public shops at (Safeway, Stop & Shop, Shaws, Price Chopper, Kroger, etc) are among the worst offenders.  The Safeway by us doesn’t sell organic meat (not that it means all that much), they only sell organic milk in half gallon containers and the vegetable section is smaller then the frozen food section.  I realize that this is one store among hundreds of thousands but I’m willing to bet that there are many more like it.  Whole Foods tries, but in our house their nickname is “whole paycheck” because while the quality is there and the selection is there it costs a lot of money to ship organic produce from all over the world to your local store.  Trader Joe’s also tries.  They are in fact among the better ones but they don’t have many locations in the interior of the country and they also ship their food from all over the world.  I give them kudos for trying to keep the prices reasonable though.

Farmers markets are the absolute best.  The food you get is local, fresh and you can actually meet the people who grow the food you’re buying.  However, it is winter in most of the country and things just don’t grow in the snow.    People need to be educated and educate their children on how to preserve: can, dry, freeze, etc fresh food in the summer for the winter months.  They also need to be educated on how to cook and make fresh food at home.  To me personally this is one of the most important points.  Buying a bag of frozen pasta, veggies and sauce that you re-heat does not make it healthy.  It is filled with crap that no one really knows what it does to your body.  Though by the looks of most of this country I think we can make a wild guess as to what effect it has.  We also need to *eat less* on a daily basis.  I started my weight loss quest a year ago (27lbs ago) by simply feeding my toddler from my plate and not taking seconds.  I would serve my (at that time) regular portion and just give her what she wanted.  It was a great stepping stone and helped me to not feel the pressure of counting calories etc.

I will be the first to admit that I am not the healthiest person out there.  I’m over weight, though that is changing.  I exercise, but probably not enough.  I take my vitamins when I remember but who knows if that actually helps.  I am also trying to show my daughter that cooking at home is important, going to the farmers market is important, caring about your food is important and most of all how to cook that food is important.  It does become challenging when she wants to “help” make dinner and I’m doing something that requires sharp knives and high heat on the stove but we are both (more me then her) learning how to give and take in those situations.

This leads me to the other part of why I wanted to post:

Jaimie Oliver gave a great and powerful talk at TED this year.  He is someone who truly cares.  He wants to make a difference and is doing what he can to help.  If everyone in this country just paid a little more attention to what they consumed and made even a few changes to their eating habits I think that we would be well on our way to being a healthier country.  It’s not going to be easy but taking it in small steps and focusing on the kids is where we need to start.  We will also be able to make the corporations that run the food system in this country listen to us if we change our buying habits.  Food choices should not be run by accountants.

I’ll get off my soapbox for now but I’m sure you’ll be hearing more about this subject in the future.  Being trained as a chef means that food is very near and dear to my heart and making sure that food is as healthy and tasty as it can be even nearer and dearer to my heart.