Today is World Blogging Day and the subject this year is food. This, as you may know is a subject dear to my heart, my soul and my very life. For to me food is more than just simple survival but a way of life, an act of love, of caring, sharing and a way of promoting a healthy, happy long life. I believe it is imperative that we teach all children in the world how to grow it sustainablity, how to cook it and how to understand its processing, packaging and what impact it has on our small & fragile world. There is so much I could write about this month but I will choose the wonderful article written for Time Magazine by Dr Mehmet Oz in which he dispells the myths, the fads and tells us (with latest research papers in mind) just what we should be eating. As a cardioligist he says that his first objective was to to “heal with steel” but he quickly realized that the biggest reasons that the patients were lying there on the operating table was “the food they ate”. Read the entire article (Time Magazine September 2011) if you can but put simply his daily menu consists of quinoa for high fibre and amino acids, sweet potatoes for vitamin A, loads of greens, walnuts for Omega 3 fats, tempeh, brown rice, greek yoghurt, salmon, steel cut oats and simply heaps of vegggies and herbs. And he brings us the very good news that raw chocolate (and those darker chocolates with high cocoa solids), coffee, eggs and milk in small qualities are beneficial in moderation! I taught (with others from the Food Forum) an Eat A Rainbow series of lessons at schools last year and would love to roll out a school calendar where we try a new vegetable or fruit each week beginning with A for Aubergine and ending with Z for Zucchini. Each week we would do real live research by examining it, looking at how it grows, finding recipes to try it, and then finally feast on it. The Eat a Rainbow was very successful and we are keen to keep teaching kids the joy of making salads, soups, simple sushi and yummy dips in more schools around the country.
To learn about food we eat should be one of the most important subjects on the cirriculum as we will all be affected by the intense pressure financially and healthwise that Diabetes type 2 will put on our generation and that of our offspring. For the first time ever the United Nations announced that more of us had died through obesity related issues than through famine. Half the world would appear to be eating too much of the wrong sort of foods and becoming ill, unfit and infirm and the other half is going to bed hungry. At the risk of ranting and raving too much I would ask all of you to take time to think about what you are preparing to eat this week and if you could try to sit down with your family and talk about food, famine and the act of sharing good food with love. Above is a simple bulgar salad which can be made with a mix a quinoa and/or chickpeas. This recipe was adapted from my very favourite recipe site – http://www.101cookbooks.com Heidi has a load of gorgeous recipes on her website if you want to start eating Super Natural Every Day (her latest book and lovely it is!).
I love food and am intensely grateful that I have access to an adbundant amount of it. I have almost eliminated shopping at supermarkets instead shopping at the local farmer’s market, small specialist shops and organic shops. I love all sorts of foods and indulge myself with gorgeous cheeses, by making the odd cake but also by attempting to make each meal a celebration even a very simple one. Sit at a table with family, new friends and old, make it slow, make it fun, do what you can be make it human and kind. Talk about food, think about it and love it. Be frugal with it and use all the leftovers or at least compost them! Make memories with your meals, not fast food trash. Can’t cook, oh yes, you can! All of you!
