It isn't glorious, glittery, or glamorous.  Hard work and empty pockets.  So why do I bother? 

 This is not philosophical, discussing the next generation raised in an agrarian society or any such thing.  This has far more to do with the taste of a real tomato. 

10 reasons I homestead:

1.  Daily life has many sides.  From creativity to accounting, to creative accounting; the need for ingenuity and need for routine,  even ingenious routine…I  actively use both sides of my brain.

2. No one’s egg tastes better than the ones I find under the wheelbarrow or in the playhouse. 

No other apple rivals that from the tops of my own trees.

 3. I have a constant awareness of just how small, minute, and meaningless I am as an individual in comparison to the marvels of Creation.

I have a constant awareness of how much the little things matter.

Both extremes keep everything else in perspective.

4. I know what I am eating.  I can pronounce it.  I can recreate it.  Heck, I probably even named it.

5. Duty.  I am fulfilling a rather joyful obligation to take care of the earth (man’s first directive from God himself). Some do this with a flower box on a balcony, I do this on the side of a hill, but we can all take part in this one.

6. I have something to show for my work at the end of a day.  Often, anyway.

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 7. I have no commute, no big city monthly parking fee, no homeowner’s association & no need for a gym membership.

8. I get to play in the dirt.

 9. I have always loved the combined smell of wet grass and manure, ever since I was a little girl.  Who’s with me on this one?

Alternatively… the smell of the early spring blooms, the buzz and hum of the birds and bees working hard towards that end.  The slightest breeze, the gentle beginnings of a summer rain. The taste of the carrot straight from the ground, the tomato from vine-to-mouth…the happy honking of a goose or the taily-wag of an excited outdoor companion…these are the things that construct my day.

10.  I know where my food comes from, and I know what to do with it!

Chaya

Proviso:

Nothing in this blog constitutes medical advice.  You should consult your own physician before making any dietary changes.  Statements in this blog may or may not be congruent with current USDA or FDA guidance.

Photo Credits:

Unless otherwise stated, all photos are property of Pantry Paratus.  Feel free to share them on your social media, but please keep proper attribution.

Brain:

"lapolab" via photopin cc

www.Hypersmash.com

 Any Way You Slice It

Lunch Meat, Cold Cuts, & the Local Deli: Choosing Quality AND Price

As a family, we (mostly) follow a traditional foods diet.  Living in Montana, we are somewhat meat-heavy in our diet (no apologies—we are far healthier than ever before).  We are busy, and being a bread baker I often look to the quick sandwich to feed my family while on the go. 

I am going to smash the excuse that real food costs more, or that you do not have any choices.  I have already done the hard work (out of necessity for my family’s health) of pricing out each option ounce-for-ounce and I am going to pass along my “aha moment” to you.

The Local Deli Counter

I asked the lady if I could see the ingredients list for the cold cuts on sale.  No verbal answer, but she stared at me with that look on her face that said, “It’s meat.  Meat.”   The manager understood my plight thankfully, and said, “If you cannot have dextrose or cornstarch, we might not have any deli meat for you.”  Label by label by label, we tediously discovered that ultimately, the delicatessen is off-limits.  We discovered that there is one “safe”  and  cornless deli meat, pastrami, which probably isn’t “safe” at all by other standards.  On that particular day, I was just trying to feed my kid on a busy trip into town so I bought it (crazy expensive too, I might add). 

I blame a lot of my “lack of real food choices” on the fact that I live in a small town, but I found that is not true.  On a recent trip to an extremely metropolitan East Coast city, I found the local deli still had only a single non-corn meat…pastrami.  They also had the incredulous look of “It’s meat, Lady” on their faces, and the “safe” choice still had an ingredients list at least 5 items long.

 The Solution

Finding pre-sliced lunch meat without all of the corn syrup, msg, food coloring, preservatives, and other unnamed gunk…it can be done but not easily or cheaply.  We have yet to discuss what the animal was fed, it’s living conditions, the use of antibiotics, or genetic modification!  Lest you feel like giving up before you start, there is a solution that only takes minutes of your day—less if you plan ahead. 

My solution was the food slicer (currently $20 off in honor of this blog).  Originally purchased for making our 6-8 gallons of yearly sauerkraut, we find reasons to use it all of the time.  In fact, we find it really helps to make fermented foods like pickles, sauerkraut, and kimchi simpler and thereby, we have increased our intake of those naturally probiotic foods.  I probably use it every bit as often as a companion to my Excalibur dehydrator…zucchini chips, tomatoes, onions, carrots, potatoes…you get the idea.  But back to the meat of the matter.  

I have control over the meat we are eating.  We get our pork semi-locally (2 hours away, and in Montana that is “local”); they even deliver it twice a year.  Grass-fed, no hormones, humanely butchered, and unlike any other pork I have ever eaten in my life.  Try to find those options in your community. 

For comparison’s sake, I will be talking only of ham so that we have a baseline.

Option 1: The Local Producer

Very often, your local producer is using locally-grown feed.  You can usually go to the farm yourself to see the condition of the livestock.  You can ask questions, walk around, smell the roses (so to speak).  There are generally different package deals; if you have adequate freezer space you can even buy ½ an animal, or a whole animal.  Find someone else to split the meat with to get the best deal of all.  

If I buy just a ham a la carte, it will cost $7.49/ lb.   That’s 47¢ an ounce.  A bit too high, but if I buy in bulk, I can bring that cost all the way down to 19¢ an ounce!  As an aside, our local producer will sell sliced ham to you for $1.50 more per pound.  That food slicer is paying for itself.

Option 2:  The Wholesale Box Store

I recently talked to a friend who lives in the Washington DC area who said that the Costco/Sam’s Club style store is the “only way we can stay within a food budget around here”.  I know that this is a common way to shop, and so here was my price comparison.

 25¢/oz.  for this smoked ham, cured 4-6 months.  No information whatsoever was given about the farm, farming methods, antibiotics, feed, animal treatment, and so on.  The ingredients list was acceptable (salt, sugar, pepper, that type of thing).  

Option 3: The Local Health Food Grocery Store

Having recently emptied my bi-annual supply of pork, I purchased this one at a large, full-selection health food store.  I was pleased with the ingredients (the lack thereof), the flavor is delicious, and I know that this is a quick, safe meal for a family on-the-go.  I sliced the whole thing and put most of it into the freezer for another day. 

39¢ an ounce.  Your health food store might be cheaper—we live in a food-expensive area because everything must get trucked in over the mountains. 

Conclusion

Plan a family trip out to your local farm (use Farmmatch, Local Harvest, or Farmplate to find one).  Make a day of it, have an experience and reconnect with your food.   Then the next day, slice up your meat and put it all into your freezer for later convenience. 

Oh, and as an aside—here is the ingredients list for a Hillshire Farm product, very typical of everything out there.

Thick Sliced Virginia Brand Ham

Water Added, Caramel Colored ● Made in Kentucky

Ingredients:

CURED WITH WATER, SUGAR, DEXTROSE, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: SODIUM LACTATE, SALT, SODIUM PHOSPHATE, CLOVE, SODIUM DIACETATE, SODIUM ERYTHORBATE, SODIUM NITRITE, CARAMEL COLOR.

Don't forget to make a panini for me,

Chaya 

 P.S.-- The Nesco food slicer is $20 off right now!  No coupon needed; we just want to encourage you to produce, prepare, & preserve--your own lunch meat! 

 Proviso:

Nothing in this blog constitutes medical advice.  You should consult your own physician before making any dietary changes.  Statements in this blog may or may not be congruent with current USDA or FDA guidance

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www.Hypersmash.com

food security, poverty, hunger, starvation, land, water rights, energy . . . it is all connected

 Do you know what it takes to have food security?  Studies suggest a very strong connection between land, water, and energy.  We lay out the cold, hard facts here in an infograph so that we can create a better future for our children, and just maybe we can do a better job helping the rest of the world feed theirs, too.

 Want to share this infograph to your friends? Great, thanks-- but please do not alter this infograph in anyway, as it is property of Pantry Paratus.

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HyperSmash

Unpronounceable: Azodicarbonamide

A Closer Look at the Ingredients list

Azodicarbonamide.

Say that three times fast.

Who knew modern food would require a degree in chemistry?  I figure that if you cannot pronounce it, you should think twice about putting it into your system.  In fact, it is also known this way: E927. 

They often put   azodicarbonamide in store-bought bread products.  I had never heard of it.  I did not even remember reading the name before Rebecca from DieFoodDye.com mentioned it to me.  She said that children with sensitivities to food coloring often have sensitivity to azodicarbonamide, too.  After she mentioned it, I started label reading store- bought breads and she was right, it is common. 

<Yeah, I’m just keeping the word “Azodicarbonamide” on my clipboard & hitting “paste” on my keyboard when I want to say it. Azodicarbonamide.  Azodicarbonamide.  Much easier.  >

Why They Use It

So azodicarbonamide is an orange powder that supposedly extends shelf life and a bleaching agent.  How does something orange have a bleaching effect?  Azodicarbonamide chemically reacts with the carotene in the bread.

Where & The Where-Not

You will not find azodicarbonamide in your croissant as you sip your cappuccino outside that quaint French café.  Illegal.  Not approved.  You will not have azodicarbonamide in Europe or in Australia. The United States has capped it at 45 ppm.    It is actually a bit worse than this, even, because Europe will not even allow the common use of azodicarbonamide in plastics, due to the respiratory effects on the workers (World Health Organization, 1999).

Bread, With a Side of Carcinogen

According to Wikipedia (yes, I have been reduced to citing Wiki on this one—so sorry), one of the byproducts of azodicarbonamide is the urea.  Urea has a secondary reaction of ethyl carbamate, which is not only a carcinogen, but a “pure carcinogen” that was once thought to have medicinal qualities—until the test rats starting dying.  

You do not have to search out all of the secondary reactions of this chemical to realize it is unnatural and unhealthy (although the FDA claims that it is “GRAS”—“generally regarded as safe”); if the testing overseas is to be believed, it can cause respiratory distress (World Health Organization,  1999).

Because Everything You Read on the Internet is True

While researching this, I found multiple blogs that claimed azodicarbonamide is the same thing as “bromide,” another common filler.  Avoid bromide, too, but they are not the same chemical compound. Someone made the mistake and it has been perpetuated in blogdom until it nearly becomes a known-fact.

The Takeaway Value

If the information on L-Cysteine did not gross you out, if the BTHQ article didn't scare you, or the bleaching process alert you to their tampering,  then maybe learning about one more unpronounceable additive is what it will take to convince you—what you are buying at the store is not whole grain, it is not what grandma fed you, it is not the nourishing bread that is referred to as life-giving in many ancient pieces of literature and the Bible itself.  

I would like to encourage everyone to seriously look at what you purchase—become a label reader.  Not everyone thinks that they can learn bread baking—but I promise that if you are eager to learn and willing to invest some time into it, you can do it!   Your kids will have memories of baking day scents (and of sneaking a piece of raw dough when you weren’t looking).  Your boring morning toast will transform into something nourishing, filling, and delicious.  You will not regret learning to bake your own bread—and forgoing the carcinogenic azodicarbonamide.

Pronounceably Yours,

Chaya

(“kai-yah” –helping you out, there)

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Proviso:

Nothing in this blog constitutes medical advice.  You should consult your own physician before making any dietary changes.  Statements in this blog may or may not be congruent with current USDA or FDA guidance.

Sources:

World Health Organization (1999).  Concise International Chemical Assessment Document (CICAD)#16. Found at: http://www.inchem.org/documents/cicads/cicads/cicad16.htm

 Wikipedia Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azodicarbonamide

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethyl_carbamate

Photo Credits:

Bag of azodicarbonamide

www.Hypersmash.com

A Stinging Nettle Recipe for Homemade Pasta

This is my go to recipe for pasta.

Yes,  you get flour on the counter.  Maybe a dusting of it on the floor, too.  

You can, however, have a gourmet meal with little more than egg, water, and flour, and the investment of perhaps 15 minutes.  

 To children, it is like mom sanctioned play-dough--and no one yells at you for eating it!  For dad, it is a comfort food that provides the smell of garlic throughout the house when he arrives home hungry and ready for family time.

 For mom, you know that you are feeding your family the freshest (and most economical) meal of the week.  You can even sneak in those otherwise-slimy green vegetables the kids will not eat.  This time, I added Stinging Nettle for a serious boost of nutrition.  Stay tuned for the next blog on cooking with Stinging Nettle! 

 In our house, Mom, Dad, and the children all participate in making batches of homemade pasta.

 Sometimes we put it into the dehydrator for a quick meal another day...but we must always plan to cook a batch right away for that instant gratification.  I have not always found a lot of ways to enjoyably eat Stinging Nettle, but this is one Stinging Nettle recipe that is kid approved.

Homemade Pasta Recipe 

 (serves 4)

4 eggs

1 cup water

4-4.5 cups freshly milled flour (soft white, hard white or durum wheat)

Spinach, Stinging Nettle, or other vegetables (optional)

Step 1:  Beat eggs.

Step 2: Add 1 cup water

Step 3:  Add 1 cup flour and stir well

Step 4:  Add in chopped greens or other vegetable as desired.

Step 5:  Add in the remainder of flour until pasta is very malleable like bread dough.  Knead for approximately 5 minutes until a smooth texture.

Step 6:  Roll out with rolling pin and feed through Atlas pasta machine.

Step 7:  Let pasta rest on counter as long as desired.  Boil for approximately 3 minutes.

Step 8: Serve with either butter and garlic or a sauce of your choice.

Enjoy--

Chaya

Looking for other fresh-milled bread recipes and help?

High Altitude Bread Baking and Recipe

 Homemade Bread Recipe--Pantry Paratus Style

 What I Put In My Bread--The Why

 Basics of Bread Baking--An Interview with Chaya's Mentor

 Pantry Paratus Pita Bread Recipe

 Is Home-Ground Flour "Processed" Food?

Whole Wheat vs. Hole Wheat 

Proviso:

Nothing in this blog constitutes medical advice.  You should consult your own physician before making any dietary changes.  Statements in this blog may or may not be congruent with current USDA or FDA guidance.

We respect your privacy.

www.HyperSmash.com

The Science and a Recipe

I was focused on using the water spigot and I did not pay attention to what was growing beneath. Ouch.  I was thankful that it was me that found the Stinging Nettle and not my son who uses this spigot for many things.  I asked if he knew what the plant was growing beneath it and he did not.  I barely touched it; a small child would be in misery like no other. 

What is Stinging Nettle?  This perennial plant is also called Urtica Dioica and if you have ever been as unfortunate as I had been to find it in this manner you probably already know why it is called Stinging Nettle. 

Do you know what to do if you get the associated rash, the burning, or itching from Stinging Nettle?  The cure for Stinging Nettle that we use if we are around the house (the best method I have found) is warm water and baking soda, blended into a thick paste and apply to the site. 

You may not always have that luxury though; if you are out in a field with baking soda out-of-reach, try splitting open the stem of a dandelion and cooling the burn with the “juice”.  This is an excellent remedy for any minor cut or mild skin irritation while in the field, until you can get home and do something more effective.  If the injury is on a finger, it’s easy to “tie” the dandelion stem into a bandage around the finger.  Some people say to “spit on it” because human saliva can begin to break down the acidic formic acid (which is the same thing fire ants have) and it dilutes it if nothing else, but honestly—I do not find this works with any noticable effect at all. 

Because of young children playing, I would prefer that no stinging nettle grew in my yard immediately around the house.  Stinging Nettle does pull nutrients up from deep within the soil, so I will keep my complaints to a minimum.  Since I have it, I need to make use of it.  I looked it up in my “Prescription for Nutritional Healing” guide and I found that it is full of phytochemicals such as:

acetic acid                             beta-carotene 

betaine                                   caffeic acid

ferulic acid                             lecithin

lycopene                                p-coumaric acid 

scopoletin

                                    Here’s a list of nutrients:

calcium                                 copper                           fatty acids

 folate                                    iron                                magnesium

 manganese                         phosphorus                   potassium

 selenium                              sulfur                              zinc

                      and the vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, C, and E

WOW—what a list!   It is used for a crazy list of ailments, basically due to the high level of nutrients in this plant.  Anything from allergies to inflammatory conditions, hair care products (because it helps stimulate hair follicles and regulates scalp oil buildup), and it’s even used as a pain reliever.  Pain reliever?  Pain causer may be, I know this firsthand. 

Trying to figure out what to do with my “electric grass”, I decided to go for cuisine instead of any medicinal applications this time.  This much nutrition should not be lost to a slimy green that my kids refuse to eat!  As with all nutritional greens, I slip them into a Stinging Nettle pasta and no one is the wiser.

I chose to make pasta with it and it was wonderful, try this Stinging Nettle recipe: 

Step 1:  Wearing work gloves, pull the Stinging Nettle from the bottom of the plant.  Since it is a perennial, it will likely reappear next year.  Pull a lot of it, as it shrinks like spinach when cooked. 

 Step 2:  Boil for about 3-5 minutes.  You can simply “wilt” it but I recommend more (for texture). 

Step 3:  Have a bowl of ice water ready to give it an ice bath; this preserves the vibrant color.

Step 4: Strain and wring out.  Some people save the water for tea but I thought it tasted “grassy”. 

Step 5: Set aside and use in recipes as desired.  You could dehydrate it for future teas, pastas, casseroles etc.

Fettuccini Alla Carrettiera  (Pasta with Onions & Bread Crumbs)  

1 batch of Chaya's basic pasta recipe

 Fresh parsley

Onion  

2 cloves

garlic (or substitute garlic salt, omitting salt)

1 ½  Tbs Oregano  

Salt, Pepper to taste  

1 cup Bread Crumbs (always keep your homemade bread scraps in freezer!)  

Olive Oil

Step 1:  While pasta is boiling, heat olive oil in large skillet with garlic, onion, and fresh parsley, until onions caramelized. 

Step 2:  (Add more olive oil if necessary). Add homemade bread crumbs to skillet until slightly browned. 

Step 3:  Drain finished pasta and dump into skillet, sautee’ for approximately 2 minutes, stirring, until pasta absorbs the flavors. 

Serve with a sprig of fresh parsley. 

Enjoy!  Leave a comment to let me know how you like it.

--Chaya

P.S. Here is a video recipe from our friend Paul Wheaton over at Permies.com on making stinging nettle pasta (lasagna):

Sources:

Balch, P. (2006). Prescription for nutritional healing. (4 ed.). New York, NY: Avery.

All photos by Pantry Paratus

Proviso:

Nothing in this blog constitutes medical advice.  You should consult your own physician before making any dietary changes.  Statements in this blog may or may not be congruent with current USDA or FDA guidance.

 We respect Your Privacy.

www.HyperSmash.com

Book Preview

I can spend a day in the solitude of my mind, with the gentle buzzing of others doing the same in the local bookstore. You tend to gravitate towards certain categories, some books disappoint...others are a very pleasant surprise indeed. We have a hand-picked selection of books at Pantry Paratus. We are readers and learners by nature; we only pass along those books that we believe are the highest quality of information--and they are real page-turners, too!  In fact, we love this book so much that Wilson wrote his review of it here.

The "Backyard Homestead" is the perfect get-started guide for someone in the suburbs or with a small little chunk of earth to tend.  You can have animals and gardens in the most humble circumstances (people keep bees and gardens on apartment balconies).  If you think you do not have the space, this is the place for you to start looking. 

Here is the online book preview, go ahead and flip a few pages.

Happy Perusing,

Chaya

I just found this (posted Aug 2011 as a guest on "Pioneer Living")  and, like seeing my 1st grade t-ball picture, it made me laugh in that "did I ever look like that?" kind of way.  Laugh along with me as I retell my first butchering experience.

Chickens & Childcare

A 1st Time Homesteading Story

Home team: 34, Chickens 2.

We knew-of-a-guy-who-knew-of-a-guy.  I think every great story ought to start that way.  This one certainly does.  The said-guy (the second one, the one who was known by the first guy) happened to have a rather large flock of chickens that were past their prime; some were still laying but at some point it is not economical to fund their retirement.  A hen can live up to 14 years old, laying 7-10 of those years, according to Carla Emery in “The Encyclopedia of Country Living”.  However, she’s at her peak production just those first few years.  So this “guy” decided it was time to cull the herd.  He would give up to 60 hens away for free to anyone willing to get hands dirty with the butchering.

Continue Reading...

 Looking for Books to help you get the nerve up for your first butchering experience?  We've got a few!

The Encyclopedia of Country Living

Storey's Basic Country Skills

The Backyard Homestead

Raising a Calf for Beef

Creating a Safe Pantry

Eating out is a difficult chore for our family as it is for many families with a food allergy like ours (corn, food coloring), and it is somewhat a point of contention and compromise.  We will sacrifice our beliefs about GMO, vegetable oils, pasteurization, and unethically harvested meats for the occasional guilty pleasure IF we can even find a guilty pleasure that does not first contain food coloring,  corn syrup, cornstarch, or the corn allergen list of 184 common food ingredients!  

 It is just not worth it anymore.  I was nervous for two days before a church potluck, and when we paid the price afterwards for an allergic reaction I decided that I will either never take my family to one again or will brown-bag it only to watch that gut-wrenching pain in my children’s eyes when everyone else is eating from the dessert table but them. 

I found my answer, by the Authority of Wikipedia, I am not a foodie.  It is not about food sensation for me.  It is not about the rustic wood table and the perfectly laid napkin.  No food stylist required.   It is not about the restaurant lighting or stars on their review.  It is not about trend or the buzz or the latest write-up. 

It is about nourishing my healthy, happy family.  It is about having something I produced, prepared, and preserved myself—knowing where our food comes from and knowing what to do with it for myself. 

When the corn allergy first emerged in one child, the reality of what that meant hit my dad, who has been known to indulge in an occasional bowl of ice cream or bag of potato chips.  He said, “Does this mean that none of your children can ever have corn? Are you keeping it from everyone?”  His question was certainly well-meaning, as I—up to that point—was attempting to navigate this difficult allergy and thought perhaps we could make some compromises for the other kids.  There was something about hearing my own question verbalized through him, though, which set my mind firmly.  I responded,

“I need my pantry to be a safe place.  My child needs to know that if Mommy serves it, it is safe, healthy, and nourishing. It needs to be that way for everyone in our house.“ 

You see, the world is a dangerous and scary place and there will be a lifetime of navigating through mistakes and problems, through dangers and pitfalls.  Everyone needs somewhere to call safe and I want that place to be home.  If I have poison labeled as food, if the very foundational level in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (the physical subsistence of life) is called into question, will not every other thing I ever tell my children?  Will my kids believe my code of morality, ethics, justice, or faith, if I compromise on that most fundamental level?

I am not a “food nazi”—well, wait, maybe I am…<elevator music while I search “food Nazi” on Wikipedia—HA!  No such thing as a “food Nazi”!>  Food is a very personal struggle—while we cannot do corn, someone else may not be able to gluten or eggs…the list goes on.  I do not pretend that you and I have the same food concerns or struggles and I am not trying to win you over to my way of menu-planning or to my shopping habits.  I do hope, though, that you are deliberate and conscientious in your choices—I would love to see everyone research what they choose to eat or to avoid.  I would love to see everyone source their food closer to home, have a little extra set aside for a rainy day or a friend in need, and to be self sufficient in the kitchen!

Be nourished,

Chaya

Proviso:

Nothing in this blog constitutes medical advice.  You should consult your own physician before making any dietary changes.  Statements in this blog may or may not be congruent with current USDA or FDA guidance.

Photo Credits:

Potluck Plate:

Tobyotter via photopin cc

Food Coloring: 

 pvera via photopin cc

Junk Food:

gruntzooki via photopin cc

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs:

 purpleslog via photopin cc

What Is Nourishing?  I Choose That.

Within the last few years, my enjoyment of blogs and books that self-identify with the “foodie” phenomenon (sometimes spelled "foody") has led me to believe that I, also, am one.  But am I?  One of the occupational hazards of running Pantry Paratus is Twitter.  A real liability, if you ask me (I have read more sanitary bathroom walls).  However, it is one of those necessary evils everyone always talks about, but then again, so are high heels but I will not do those either.  Regardless, this flats-wearing, food science geek keeps a #foodie tab open through my Twitter Feed.  Wow, do I feel lonely on there. 

Here is my style of #foodie tweet:  

<Do you "preferment" the flour for your #bread?So easy, & here is the why. ow.ly/k3HW5 #foodie #baking #wholefood

— Pantry Paratus (@PantryParatus) April 15, 2013

 

Here is the average tweet I see on the foodie hashtag (#):

This particular feed (#foodie)  often contains pictures taken on cell phones of the greasy pizza from the chain restaurant, and they often carry a caption like “1 of the 5 things I will eat off of the McDonald’s menu”. 

 My gut hurts just thinking of it.

 Feeling alone in my quest for good nutrition and self-sufficiency, I decided to refer to the informational hub of the universe to define for me what a true “foodie” really is—I went to the seat of all knowledge to find myself and where I belong.  I went to Wikipedia.   

The basic foodie definition is that it refers to a food hobbyist who seeks food sensation for reasons other than hunger, and eating out for more than just the convenience.

I found my answer, by the Authority of Wikipedia, that I am not a foodie.  It is not about food sensation for me.  It is not about the rustic wood table and the perfectly laid napkin.  No food stylist required.   It is not about the restaurant lighting or stars on their review.  It is not about trend or the buzz or the latest write-up.

It is about nourishing my healthy, happy family.  It is about having something I produced, prepared, and preserved myself.  I want to know where our food comes from and know what to do with it for myself. 

Our world is anything but simple, in the name of convenience.  The more “convenient” things become, the more complex.  No, I cannot operate the VCR independently so I barely qualify to write this paragraph of this blog—I cannot even name the latest electronic devices (Are iPads still cool?  I am pretty sure PS2's are out, right?)…but I think you get my point. 

When I advocate baking your own bread or slicing and dehydrating peaches, I am advocating a simpler time in life when you knew what was going into your mouth—the gas tank that determines the health of your future.  A “foodie” might order off of the menu, snap a picture, and send a tweet.  You might have a sink of dishes left from bread baking day, and a garden to weed.  It is not glamorous, it is not convenient, but it is simple, nourishing, and whole. 

When you see an entire society sick with food-related illnesses (heart disease, diabetes, cancers even), you hope that in the game of roulette the ball does not drop on your number.  But what if it is not a game entirely of chance and some terminal illness outcomes can be known?  And what if the ball drops on the number of your mom, your sister, your best friend?  What if you could make choices that would increase your “odds” (if this were a game of chance after all) of living a full, healthy, and productive life?  Would that be worth it to you?

Here is to Your Nourished Family,

Chaya

Photo Credits:

Internet Search: ntr23 via photopin cc

Food Styling: andyburnfield via photopin cc

Proviso:

Nothing in this blog constitutes medical advice.  You should consult your own physician before making any dietary changes.  Statements in this blog may or may not be congruent with current USDA or FDA guidance.

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