The Food Journal: Part I
I have decided I want to start documenting a bit of our journey with food. I’ve had a lot of discussions with various people and it seems prudent to begin sharing why and how we’ve made changes so far.
Harry & my first big shift with food came as a result of a year of very limited income. We did not want to sacrifice quality or health and live off Top Ramen and mac & cheese, so to help stretch our food budget we either eliminated or significantly reduced consumption of meat, juice, alcohol, and other unhealthy foods. We also stopped eating out or buying coffee and pastries (one of our favorite weekend traditions), apart from special or rare occasions.
Through that year we got quite used to eating this way and maintained many of the habits once Harry had a full-time job. I don’t enjoy handling nor cooking most meat so the only forms I began incorporating semi-regularly were ground buffalo and wild salmon. Additionally, I learned much more about gardening, had a huge amount of bed space to do so, and quickly fell in love with growing food. Last summer and fall I barely ever bought vegetables at the market because our garden produced enough for our family, and often enough to share or store. This perpetuated our mostly vegetarian diet because it was the most convenient, healthy and economical way for us to eat. I also believe this helped me become a much better, more flexible cook. I had to learn new ways to use the same vegetable without us going crazy at the sight of it or how to incorporate a bunch of random veggies into a dish before they went bad. I now have several meals that I can cook without following a recipe that work as great vehicles for leftover produce (homemade pizza, pasta dishes, salads, enchiladas, frittatas, etc…)
The next steps we took came because of articles, books, and discussions about the food industry. Not fast food (we’d watched SupersizeMe years prior and have successfully avoided McDs, as well as most of it’s equals, since), but the major players behind most “food” products on the USA grocery stores shelves. Food, Inc. was probably the most powerful catalyst for change, but Pollan’s articles/books and other key players in the slow food movement have all contributed to our baby steps. Each bit of knowledge has led to either a softening towards change or immediate change. It’s definitely a bit like peeling an onion-layer after layer reveals something new, usually equally pungent. Sometimes we’re ready to digest what we learn, other times we’re not.
We have found the process extremely rewarding. I am really enjoying providing healthier, more sustainable food options for our family that are balanced out by delicious treats. (In our home, very little sugar in the three big meals a day leaves plenty of room for some sweet treats as snacks!) I am definitely doing a lot more dishes, pots & pans nearly every meal, but the truth is that only adds about 5 minutes of clean-up per meal. I have grown very accustomed to the bulk food sections of stores and now know which stores I can no longer shop at for just about anything. Recently, several grocery store clerks looked at me like I was crazy after asking if they had spelt flour. One questioned whether it truly existed and followed up that question with “Is it for Passover?” So funny. Also, none of us are missing our old breakfast staples like I anticipated. We are enjoying our oatmeal, granola, pancakes or eggs for breakfast. Charlie has stopped asking for boxed mac & cheese unless he sees it in the grocery store. He got it as a treat with a babysitter one night and we’ve decided it’ll be saved for just that occasion for two reasons, to please the child’s palate and help us get out the door without tears. I have seen substantial improvement in his willingness to try new foods and eat what’s put before him. This has probably been a big enough reward in itself to keep us motivated.
It’s an exciting time for us with the baby on the way but I feel like these changes are sustainable. Additionally, we will probably have groceries delivered to home for awhile, which along with buying a bit more time and keeping healthy foods coming our way, will probably lower our grocery bill because there won’t be any impulse purchases. I’ve also stocked our freezer with lots of beans, soups and breads that we can pull out as needed. (To help prevent us from going to the grocery store and buying a frozen pizza, for example…but again, there’s room for grace. There will undoubtedly be those days.) There are no vegetables growing in pots on our front porch, like I’d hoped to have, and at this point I wonder if I’d have any chance of keeping them alive. (I think we’ll be ready for summer veggies but missed the cool weather spring veggie window.) I am sad I won’t be able to rely on my own produce like I could last year, but hey, at least we’re in Seattle surrounded by farmer’s markets in every neighborhood come May! And the year-long Ballard market is so fantastic. It helps tremendously to be in a community filled with believers in the importance of changing our food system, and even moreso to have close friends walking the same path, sharing recipes and meals with us. (Have you watched Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution? Such a great start…)
Harry and I are not black and white about this, and Harry’s particularly good at keeping me gray given my tendency to be all-or-nothing about choices. We’re going to eat whatever meals people share with us and be thankful for that time of fellowship and food. We’re going to enjoy meals at restaurants. And while we’d like to support restaurants that avoid factory farmed meat, it won’t always happen or be possible. (We are discovering that vegetarian options at restaurants often taste better, though!) We’re striving to do our best but there’s plenty of room for grace. This is a journey. We understand that others may not agree, are at different spots in their own journey, or don’t know about the situation. It is all relatively new to us, too, and we’re very aware of how much more we have to learn. We love to dialogue about it and have gleaned tremendous amounts of insight from those further along this road, as well as from those who aren’t on it at all.
There is so much more to write about, but I’ll end with a little of what has been required to make this happen: careful time management and planning of social events during the week, a definite dedication to cooking, reading more recipes to expand my repertoire, and initially, more trips to grocery stores because I couldn’t find things I needed at certain ones. It all requires a mindfulness that wasn’t necessary when I knew I had some packaged item in the freezer we could cook up. In a crunch, stovetop oatmeal or plain whole wheat pasta just isn’t as appealing as potstickers and frozen pizza.
