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Becoming an In-Season Eater

July 7, 2009

I know you’ve read the advice as much as I have; in a book, a magazine article. I’ve even shared the advice a time or two. Eat in-season.

On the surface it is easy to determine what this term means. Eat foods when they are at their freshest, when they are harvested in your particular part of the country or world. Why? Well, because this is when they are at their flavor and nutritional peak. So we strive to eat asparagus and berries in the spring, squash and green beans as the summer rolls on and sweet potatoes in the autumn.

If you live in an area with access to CSAs and farmer’s markets it is easy to shoot for this goal of eating in-season, but it is likely that we eat in season in combination with eating out of season. There is likely something we pick up from the supermarket during an off season just to create a particular recipe.

However, what if one chose to eat only in-season? What exactly would this mean, and more importantly how would it affect one from a nutritional and health standpoint?

This is something that has been on my mind a lot lately. I really admire those people I follow who get a CSA box all summer and eat only from that box creating wonderful recipes. That is truly part of the eating in-season equation. And let me say this first off, the idea of eating in-season where I live now is a bit of a joke. While specific fruits like mangos and guava, and veggies such as corn do have a distinct season here, most everything else grows year around. Eating in-season in southern Brazil involves no sacrifice.

I’m looking at choosing this eating style when I return to the US though. I will be back in a place that has 4 seasons and the availability of fresh foods varies widely to the point of becoming non-existent in the winter. However, my belief in the importance of eating in-season is growing by the day. It is often better for the environment and honestly a bit of a challenge when it comes to cooking; one which I am up for.

As someone who cares a whole lot about nutrition though, this is where my concern lies whether it is well grounded concern or not. That is what I’m trying to figure out. In the summer, an in-season diet is obviously full of produce. Those recommendations to eat a variety of fruits and veggies in a variety of colors is easy fulfilled, but as months linger on what will happen?

Eating in season for me, in my area, will likely mean berries as a major fruit source in the spring and summer followed by lots of apples in the autumn. In addition, through autumn and winter long lasting potatoes, sweet potatoes, pomegranates, cranberries and squash will be the main produce sources, in addition to anything frozen from fresh throughout the summer. Yes, I do feel that self- frozen from fresh is an option with in-season eating, but even then you don’t have access to all of summer’s produce selection.

Can the body sustain itself nutritionally on only what is offered in-season? Well, I’m not sure what science would say with all its recommendations, but my gut tells me yes. I’m beginning to believe that this is what we were meant to do, and while I don’t believe that all advancements when it comes to food (regarding its growth and distribution) has been bad, maybe I’d be better off sticking to an in-season schedule.

I’m not saying I won’t ever buy a bland tasting strawberry in autumn again for a recipe, but it will not happen very often. This idea of true in-season eating and only in-seasoning is becoming more appealing to me. I’m not sure if it is an issue of the environment, health or just a challenge, but it is something I’m planning to focus on in a few months when we leave Brazil and return to the US.

How do you feel about only in-season eating?

Why Eating Real Food Is Important to Me

June 3, 2009

I went for a family visit today. My mom and I stopped by to see my Great Aunt and two of my Great Uncles. They still live in and near the house of my Great Grandparents and although they are in their 80s we drove up to find them working in the yard and nearby garden.

As we talked about the family and looked through some old pictures I was reminded that much of my roots reside there – the recipes I ate through my childhood and have since learned how to make in my adulthood as well as using the land for food and keeping it plentiful during the winter months through canning. My mom tells me stories about collecting the chicken eggs and watching cows being milked as a child.

While I didn’t have exposure to such extreme farm life during my own childhood, I was exposed to extensive gardening through my Dad and home cooking through my Mom. This visit brought memories of days passed which always bring me to the present and how I currently feel about food.

Getting to the point of supporting the growth, cooking and consumption of real food was a long journey for me, but here I am. Days like today get me thinking about why I’ve evolved into this person, this place. I realize again and again that it really isn’t about health for me. My interest in health made me take the path in my life that I have traveled, but my real reason for supporting natural, sustainable foods is memories.

These memories I have are not all that common anymore and growing rarer by the day, especially for upcoming generations. I know that everyone can’t live on a farm, but everyone from toddlers to adults can take a break from this multi-media reality we live in and experience a portion of this old fashioned life. We just have to make a bit more of an effort. It can be growing your own garden, supporting a local agribusiness through a u-pick adventure or simply walking through a farmer’s market and talking with local producers.

When I think about my family who lived long before I showed up I realize that this wasn’t a choice for them. It was a necessity. In addition, when they were my age those now popular fast food and soda companies were just coming into view. However, as opposed to being known for their greedy efforts to take over the world that now seem so prominent, they were still viewed as entrepreneurial endeavors, part of the American dream.

Oh how things have changed, for the worse of course, but lately I also think they are changing for the better. Why? Just take a look through all the fabulous food blogs out there using natural, nourishing ingredients eliminating our need for processed ingredients.

I’m fortunate to have these memories because they are what keep me wanting to learn more about real food, to make the extra effort to prepare it and to share that with others. I know we can’t go back in time completely, but we can pull those positive things from the past to our present way of living.

Why is eating real food important to you?

This post has been submitted to Food Renegade’s Fight Back Friday.

Falling for Goat Cheese

May 27, 2009

I’ll be honest. The first time I had goat cheese I did not care for it. There was something about the tart and tangy taste that would take some getting used to for me. After my somewhat negative flavor experience I began to find myself sifting through beautiful recipes in the food blogging world and feeling like a bit of an outcast because I wasn’t crazy about goat cheese.

After a little research I’ve realized that my first encounter was with chevre – the fresh, soft, French-style. I haven’t had it in a long while so I can’t be sure my tastes haven’t changed, but because of this experience I’ve stayed away from goat cheeses.

Well, until a couple weeks ago.

At that time I was in the middle of my visit to Lexington, KY, where I lived prior to my move abroad. I was scheduled to run a 5K that Saturday morning, but I got up early just so I could make a round at the Farmer’s Market before heading out to the event. As I was walking down the street I noticed a cheese vendor out of the corner of my eye.

The gentleman manning the booth was in the process of setting out samples as he was speaking to a customer about his product. I overheard the conversation and quickly learned that it was goat cheese. But wait. It didn’t look anything like the goat cheese I had before.

It was sliced in wedges from a round wheel of cheese and had a beautiful molded rind around the exterior. I could smell the intoxicating aroma as he pulled the different varieties out of the box. After their conversation ended I took the opportunity to learn more about this goat cheese.

Well, first of all, it is a local Kentucky product from a company called Sapori D’Italia. Second, they are Artisan Cheese Makers producing authentic “old world” Italian cheeses. How authentic? Well, the Cheese Master is from Napoli. Who knew we had such wonderful Italian culture in good ol’ Kentucky!

I was given a sample, and remembering my past experience, I gave it a chance but was expecting the worst. The final call – I had some of the most amazing cheese I have ever tasted! I am not exaggerating. It was fantastic!

He had carefully removed the rind and you might expect that the flavor would go with it, but the herbs that encrusted the outside had seeped into the cheese giving it the most amazing flavor. The texture was somewhat crumbly like a feta, but the moment it hit your tongue it became creamy and smooth.

I later learned that I had sampled the Caciotta Alpina al Erbe, a variety encrusted and aged in Italian herbs. This is only one of six types they make, according their web-site.

After talking a bit about my work and food blogging I was given a generous sample of a wedge to enjoy later. Since I was in a hotel at the time I don’t have any fabulous recipes to share with you using it, but honestly this cheese needs no co-star.

I ate it by itself and enjoyed every bite. I can only imagine how wonderful it would be with some sweet fruit or atop a leafy green salad.

The good news is the availability of this goat cheese is spreading quite rapidly. In addition to the Lexington Farmer’s Market it can be found in many stores in Lexington and Louisville, KY as well as stores in Ohio including some Whole Foods. It is also served in a variety of restaurants in the area. You can find out more about availability here.

If you have the opportunity to get your hands on some of this cheese I would highly recommend it. I am happy to say that I am now truly a lover of goat cheese.

For the record that is my parent’s goat. Non-dairy, but she’s darn cute!

Setting My Own Guidelines

April 21, 2009

Lately my leisure reading time has been focused on the book Food Politics by Marion Nestle. The book is incredibly informative and revealing which is why I tend to cringe a bit each time I pick it up and progress through yet another chapter.

I have to admit that learning more and more about how food companies influence our government and the research which guides our nutritional guidelines as a country is discouraging. I would argue that it is even more discouraging to someone like me.

Why? Well, because I spent seven years of my life studying this very information; learning it backward and forward so that I could guide others in eating well and improving their personal wellness.

I wasn’t oblivious to the influences of corporations and food producers while in school. To be familiar with the USDA or work for them (indirectly) like I did, you know that food is an incredibly political topic which is influenced by many different powerful forces and talking dollars.

Marion Nestle’s book just takes things a step further for me and page after page I am continuously amazed by the fact that what we are told to eat is largely controlled, in one way or another, by food companies.

Don’t worry. I haven’t given up complete hope. I’ve known enough researchers at the university level to trust that there are people in this world who are focused on nutrition for the good of people despite the funding influences of companies.

I still think general dietary guidelines are a good place to start. I speak specifically of eating more fruits and veggies, whole grains and healthy fats. Those are all good things. What does bother me is the fact that some of the servings and suggestions of nutrients we need have ever so slightly been increased a bit to please the companies who produce such foods with those nutrients.

I’ve often felt that standards are bit high when it comes to nutrients. We seem to have reached a point where people feel they cannot get the nutrients they need without taking a fiber supplement or a vitamin of some sort. I get so disgusted with a certain fiber supplement commercial which suggests that the actor can’t possible get enough fiber from food alone or they would be forced to eat all day.

Aren’t we eating all day anyway? I think it is more the fact that we are eating the wrong foods.

I refuse to believe that we cannot get the nutrients we need from food alone. I don’t feel our bodies were designed to rely on artificial sources. It is about eating real food in the form and from the development that nature intended.

So I started thinking, since I’m having all these concerns about what other people are telling me to eat, perhaps I should come up with a set of guidelines for myself; things that I should strive to do when it comes to eating.

So here you have my personal dietary guidelines.

Reduce (preferably eliminate) all artificial and chemical sweeteners.

Use natural sweeteners most often such as honey and maple syrup.

Choose meats and dairy from humanely treated animals who consume the foods that nature intended them to eat. Don’t be afraid of the fats that come from these animals.

Choose local and in-season, naturally grown produce. Garden if you can.

Savor each bite. No excuses.

Celebrate food. It is meant to be enjoyed with others and represent family. There is nothing wrong with sharing in this practice together.

Make time to make your own food. Your health depends on it. Simplify your life to create more time for your health.

Eat from a variety of cultures and be adventurous with your food. Some countries have had it right for decades. Learn about their foods and see what you have been missing.

Avoid obsessing about guidelines. If you eat a variety of real foods from natural sources your body will get all of the nutrients it needs.

What are your personal guidelines? Have any to add?

This post has been submitted to Fight Back Fridays at Food Renegade.

Photo credit goes to my nature-loving niece, Abigail

Lovely Limes

April 10, 2009

If you give me the choice of a lemon or a lime, I’ll likely choose the lime every time. This goes for the twist I put in my sparkling water as well as for flavors in desserts.

I just happen to be in the world’s most perfect place for a lime lover. I might mention that this is a good thing since there are no lemons where we live in Brazil.

I’m not sure about other areas of the country, but most people here really aren’t familiar with lemon. Many of the (Brazilian) English teachers we have met translate limão to lemon, but this is not correct. Limão is a lime, not a lemon so we try to clear up this confusion when we get the chance.

My appreciation for the lovely limes here came to mind on Wednesday night as I shopped at the local farmer’s market in town. Many of the vendors there sell a variety of items. For example, a booth that has lettuce will also have carrots and herbs. However, there is this one particular booth manned by an older couple and the product they offer is limes, just limes.

These are some of the largest, brightest limes I’ve ever come across. I buy from them every week and I am amazed each time they place my bag on the scale and tell me the price. This week I paid 30 centavos for these limes. That is less than fifteen cents. Fifteen cents for five beautiful limes! That is a far cry from the 44 cents each I saw on my last trip in the US.

I’m typically a lover of rich and heavy desserts, but I have found since being around all this fresh lime juice my dessert preferences here in Brazil are very different. I love the variety of desserts using lime and my favorite is the Torta de Limão, Lime Pie. It’s sort of like a Key Lime pie, yet that still doesn’t adequately describe it. It is something that I will likely always associate with Brazil.

There is a catch, though. I have had Torta de Limão that I didn’t care for. As you probably guessed, this dessert calls for sweetened condensed milk (what would a dessert in Brazil be without it?). Some varieties use too much milk and not enough lime for my tastes. I like that tart, almost bitter flavor and prefer that the sweet flavor doesn’t take over.

One of my favorites has been the one I’m picturing here. An individual serving we picked up at a local bakery. So no, I didn’t make this, but I did take the photo. Isn’t it beautiful?

The truth is, I’ve never made Torta de Limão, or at least I haven’t yet. I do, however, have the recipe.

After just a few months of living here a girl in town contacted me through my ex-pat blog. She taught at an English school, it was Thanksgiving time and she wanted a recipe for pumpkin pie. I was happy to help, but secretly wanted something of my own out of the deal. I asked her for a recipe for Torta de Limão.

She shared with me her recipe for Lime Mousse. This is the filling for the pie and can be eaten by itself if you so desire. To turn it into pie form, use your favorite pie crust and bake it through. Add this filling, and then you can top it with meringue. Pop it in the oven to brown or dry the meringue and there you have it. It is similar to any meringue topped pie although served room temperature or cold.

I should mention that here, they often use a packaged whipping cream instead of the beaten egg whites. This browns up nicely and is creamier, but I really don’t know what the equivalent would be in the US. I’m not sure if whipped cream would brown up/harden or not.

Also, aside from this little one I’ve showed you, the torta I have come across here don’t resemble pie in the US. The crust is typically made in a tart pan so the whole dessert is rather flat and thin, not like our deep dish pies in the States.

Mousse de Limão

1 can of sweetened milk
1 can of creme de leite (Her description: “It’s like sour cream but less sour.” I’m not sure we have an equivalent in the States. Maybe crème fraiche?)
1 cup of fresh lime juice (about 4 limes)

Mix in a blender until gains a firm appearance. It can be refrigerated before eaten or use it to put together your own Torta de Limão.

Kind of Like a Cherry

October 24, 2008

I got something interesting at our farmer’s market this week so I thought I’d go back to my “foods of Brazil” for this post. This week, many of the booths had bags toppling over, full of these little red fruits – acerola.

I’ve had acerola before in the juice form at the hotel breakfast here in town. Did I mention we lived in a hotel of a few months before getting into our apartment? Man, that breakfast got old!

Anyway, I had never ventured to try the actual fruit. I’ve only seen it at the market a few times and considering how fast they are going in my fridge right now, they aren’t the most stable of fruits.

Acerola appears to be pretty popular in the supplement world and is often sold in a powdered form. Its popularity comes from its utterly amazing amount of vitamin C content.

In a cup of the fruit there is 1644 mg of vitamin C! Compare that to 63 mg in an average-sized Florida orange. Wow!

How lucky am I to get to eat the actual fruit and drink the juice instead of sucking down a supplement!

Acerola is in the cherry family, but different than many fresh cherries I’ve had before. It is available in many other places in addition to Brazil. I saw some info that it is grown in California.

The texture to me was like a cross between a cherry and a peach. The flavor isn’t very distinctive. It isn’t overly sour or sweet, kind of bland. Each of the cherries has 3 seeds in it which makes it difficult to get to any of the flesh. I solved that problem by throwing it in the juicer.

It made a thick pulp to which I added water. It needed just a tiny bit of sugar to enhance the flavor and ended up being a great snack. I’ve still got a couple more cups in the fridge to finish. I’m stocked with vitamin C and ready to fight any infection that may arise!

Transport Dilemma

August 6, 2008

With all the efforts around to maintain more environmentally conscious habits, I’ve had food transport on my mind a lot lately.

I read this post last week on Tonic News Network which talks about some recent research and the energy consumed through food production and transport.

It provides even more support for reducing consumption of processed foods, but that is not why it has me thinking.

Buying local is becoming more and more important to me as I gain knowledge about its benefits to both health and the environment. However, there are a lot of healthy, real foods I love which are not local. These foods I love must be transported to my local supermarket or even Farmer’s Market.

I enjoy eating in season, as it is often referred to, but what happens when a specific food is never in season near you.

Many of you know I live abroad right now so I have access to a lot of unique fruits and veggies. However, when I travel back, and in less than a year, move back the transport issue poses a huge problem.

Here are a few things I enjoy that won’t be growing in my neck of the woods in the US any time soon.

Oranges
Pineapple
Limes
Lemons
Peaches
Cranberries
Bananas

I mean, do I make the decision to never eat these foods again because of the amount of energy it takes to get them to me? Not only do I like these foods, but they offer many nutritional benefits.

I have to say, I would really be sad to see them go, especially the cranberries at holiday time. I love cranberries. But I also want to be environmentally friendly at the same time.

I am sure there are efforts out there to figure out a way to transport using less energy. I hope so anyway.

I am just wondering if anyone else is feeling like this. What is the solution to the dilemma of buying local, being green, yet still enjoying some pretty great foods that are great for you?

Photo by mconnors, morguefile.com

Are You a Locavore?

June 4, 2008

I was thumbing through my Metropolitan Home magazine this past weekend. I still question why I read this at times because most of the sofas featured cost half my salary. However, I got the subscription for free and I like to try to recreate the things I see in it for a more realistic price.

Every now and then there are some short blurbs about topics that are interesting with links to some new web-sites. This weekend there was an ‘every now and then’ event.

Maybe I’ve been completely out of it, but I have never heard the term Locavore. According to the magazine a Locavore is someone who tries to eat foods that are grown or produced locally. From the limited research I’ve done, it looks like it was started in San Francisco. Big surprise there. I think all physical and environmental health movements began somewhere in that area.

The important word here for me is ‘tries’. It is almost impossible to get all of your food locally depending on where you live, but I definitely think it is important to put forth an effort.

Right now I am living abroad in Brazil and I think I can claim to be a true Locavore. I buy my foods from the farmer’s market each week which comes from farmer’s who live in and outside my town. Between this and my local bakery, I would estimate that 80% of the food I eat is local.

Maintaining my Locavore status will probably prove to be a more difficult task when I move back to the States, but that won’t stop me from trying. It is a great way to reduce fake foods. The more produce and fresh products you eat the less room you have for all those packaged non-food items.

The challenge for me will be the price. Yes, it is worth it, but our local farmer’s market in the US is quite expensive. I want those farmers to have the money they need, but many times I feel like they are cashing in on all the higher society people who have the money to spend there.

Then again, a recent trip to the grocery store in the US showed me that prices for produce have skyrocketed there as well. So maybe there isn’t much of a difference at this point.

Are you a Locavore? What are some of the challenges you face with being or becoming one?

Photo by jeltovski at morguefile.com