DROP : Simple Pleasures

YOU ARE HOW YOU EAT

There is always the saying: you are what you eat. Though, I like to say: You are how you eat. We mustn't forget that food, as much as it is a noun, is also a verb. Cooking and eating is about experiencing pleasure. That's how I like to look at it.

Sure, some people interact with food methodically, down to a science almost. Like professional runners for instance use food as utility, in scientific senses: 6 raw eggs, 5 mornings, before a 10 mile morning run gives me "x" amount of fuel. Still, not all people need to act with food as fuel like this. Some people act like how food is consumed has no meaning at all. For instance, impulsive bouts of eating at odd hours, overeating until one feels sick, fast food consumption, multi-taking eating while engaging in other activities, and consuming quantity rather than quality of food is of great concern to me. Why? Because in life we must be decisive about our actions, their meanings and consequences. If you are how you eat, if you are how you treat food, then what does that say about how you're living?

FOOD IS ALIVE and YOU ARE ALIVE

Food is alive and so are you. Packaged food, which has been sitting in plastic for weeks or months is like packaged minds and packages that seal immediate gratification for sale. Before agricultural practices spread through the world as the mans by which food would be processed, and before industrial and farming technologies overtook us, people would hunt and gather, which took effort, strength, time, and strategy. Today, the open lands and thickets where once we foraged and killed, are replaced with markets, grocers, and personal gardens, places where we can compactly pick our food with some sense of ease. Yet, how we prepare the food once we bring it into our homes often takes effort, strength, time, and strategy. How to prepare a butternut squash from it's oblong gourd into the oven, into the stew, into the pie, or into the soup? It's no easy feat for folks who want everything fast. Thankfully, the internet now stores millions of recipes that are just a click away. Still, why are people taking short cuts, buying packaged and pre-made foods?

The highest grossing item in the produce section of markets across America today are items that are pre-packaged, pre-cut, pre-cooked, pre-everything. What gives? I point to "Time" and to American history.

Time is a concept that Americans misunderstand the most. Americans reason that by buying "ready-made" foods it will cut down preparation and cooking time, so that meals are done faster and families have more time around the table to enjoy themselves. It might very well save time in some moments, but looked at over a longer period of time it cuts down the quality of life in other moments. Cutting, boiling, baking, seasoning, and garnishing is a process sure, but it adds a lot of value to life in those moments, especially when done as a family. Becoming closer to the process of preparing, cooking, and presenting food collectively as a family adds to the richness of the meal and the level of gratitude and understanding when eating. If, for example, children/families don't know the work that goes into planting a vegetable garden, tending to a vegetable garden, harvesting, and cooking vegetables, why should a child or family understand the pleasure and the satisfaction that vegetables bring to the senses, the body and taste buds? Time, then, is valuable only when it is spent and allocated smartly, wholly, and beautifully. Time is not always "saved" when pre-packaged, frozen peas served for supper cause children to throw protests against peas. Don't hate the game (peas), hate the player (frozen peas). Overall, we can do better with our time, I think, and better with our meals. That is if we remain reciprocal with food: The energy (preparation) I put in, Is the energy (quality calorie) I get out.

Besides Time, American history offers a lens by which we can view how we eat, and why. In the history of American society there is only one reality that hasn't failed to touch EVERY sector of American life, especially, Americans and their relationship to food. That reality is War. WWI was the first war to present the army with new technologies in food preservation that would keep the soldiers fed and fighting. Foods were canned and processed in large factories using hydrogenated oils and other complex chemical additives that kept food on the shelves longer so that the coast of shipping food to soldiers could be kept to a minimum. After the war "ended" military foods maintained available in supermarkets across the country for purchase. These canned and lasting foods, such as SPAM, were then advertised to wives as products that would make dinners quick and delicious, and save wives trips to the supermarket for their long lasting shelf lives. For a generation of women who were stuck in the home and in kitchens for most of the day, cooking, baking, and trips to the supermarket became tiring and repetitive. Canned foods, packaged foods, TV-dinners, were the way of the future, and for most wives of the 1950's a mass "solution" to hurry their expected tasks along.

In modern times we have a wealth of knowledge about the past and we can track our personal and national relationship with foods and consumption patterns. Today I find that my relationship depends on my ability to be aware of not only what I am eating, but how I am eating, and why. Today, we have more time (it seems) with the advent of technology than we ever had before. Historically, trade is the most open and food companies are the most transparent than ever before about what their adding and subtracting.

So, it's important to ask oneself to imagine a future with food: Where am I going with food?

DAILY RITUALS

How we eat. How we do anything at all. It has to do with rituals. Scheduling is a ritual. "To-do" listing is a ritual. Eating is a ritual. The best way to have a healthy and beautiful body you're proud of is to make daily rituals that reflect health and beauty. The income meets the outcome.

MY DAILY RITUALS

Here are 5 of my daily rituals that make a positive effect on my mentality and food consumption, health, and beauty.

1. TEA

I drink tea every morning. I gave up daily coffee consumption two months ago, and I'm never going back. I drink black tea in the morning, one or two cups (early grey, english breakfast, etc). I find that having black tea in the morning lets me "wake-up" smoothly, rather than jolting myself with coffee or espresso. Of course I have an occasional espresso, but only if I decided I am in the mood for a treat, and only when I am out somewhere that serves delicious coffee with a barista who looks like he or she knows how to create something divine. After meals I drink herbal tea to settle my stomach and calm the nerves. I enjoy Ginger, Chamomile, Nettle, and Rose bud. Having a daily ritual of tea drinking is also an excuse for taking breaks in ones day, for taking time out for oneself, and for enjoying time with others- good for those who tend to keep to themselves, forget about slowing down, or have a trouble sleeping. Tea is great before bed.

2. COCONUT OIL

Natural, raw, coconut oil is good for the body all around. I use it to cook with (instead of olive oil or seed oils) and to put on my body after bathing. It makes your skin glow whether you ingest it through cooking or apply topically. Try it!

3.) GETTING EXPERIMENTAL

I try not to stick to buying the same things at the market week after week. I find that my body and my mind is happier if I think outside of the box and cook foods i'm not familiar with. For example, instead of going through the internet searching for recipes I have never cooked before and then going to the sore, I usually go to my favorite market first and search in the produce section for the most beautiful or intriguing vegetable I can find. Then I buy that vegetable. I bring it home and then I look up the various ways it can be prepared AND (important) I do some light research on what that particular plant adds to my health and wellbeing. Sometimes you find that the plant you chose is high in a certain vitamin or mineral. It makes it all that more special when consuming what you found knowing that it's not only delicious and new, but rooted in some positive addition to your health and wellbeing. I try to remember that experimentation is about keeping an open mind and being somewhat fearless. Even if I don't cook something experimental every single day I at least try to do one thing that is out of my "normal" consumption habit.

4. TEND TO ALIVE FOOD

My good friend Maeve's home is nestled in an area of Northern California called San Geronimo Valley, south of Napa and north of San Francisco. Her home sits on a gorgeous plot of land between towering hillsides. Her mother, who passed away two years ago, tended to their home garden since Maeve was a little girl. Today, Maeve continues to keep her mother's garden healthy and alive, producing beautiful herbs, vegetables, and flowers. Since I don't have the land at the moment, I have to find my own ways to invest in my daily ritual of tending to alive foods. When I visit Maeve I always go into the garden and pick tomatoes that are ripe, and tear off dead leaves where I can. At my house I have one living food that I tend to every day, a small Basil plant that sits in a blue pot. Everyday I go to my basil plant, give it water, and make sure the California sun isn't burning it's leaves too much. I think it is extremely important to tend to alive foods, especially for children to understand where food on the plate comes from. No matter if you are in an urban setting with no space for a garden, at least buy yourself an herb plant (Basil, Rosemary, Sage, etc), and tend to it to keep it alive! The Basil plant that I bought from my local market cost less money that it would have been to buy a large bundle of basil, a fabulous investment, your live plant will bring you more abundance for longer time!

(below: my little Basil plant)

5. SEDUCE YOURSELF

Selecting, preparing, cooking, and serving foods for group of friends or family is always about seduction. The right combinations, the right wine, or the right flavors can really set it off! I truly love hosting dinner parties and being a guest at dinner parties. So, why should I let go of the pleasurable experience of seducing with food when I am in the company of myself...party of one? One of the best rituals I feed into (no pun intended) is to try and seduce myself with food as if I were trying to seduce friends and family. For instance I love to prepare a delicious breakfast, use beautiful dishes, set the table, and put a flower in a vase on the table...even if i'm the only one eating. It's important to make yourself feel good in relationship to food, so that being single or eating alone doesn't stay lacking of pleasure or enjoyment. Just because your eating alone doesn't mean you need to eat quickly or in unhealthy ways. Or the opposite, just because you are cooking for your five children doesn't mean Macaroni and cheese is the only possibility on the menu! To remedy this I try and go out of my way to treat myself, cook with my own desires in mind, and make the food experience as delicious as possible. I try and choose foods that are colorful, in season, tasty, and foods that make me feel good. Try it!

A MORNING BREAKFAST IN PICTURES

Power-Greek-Yogurt and Fruits