In my classes we make sure every menu is enhanced by something raw, pickled, cultured or fermented. We refer to this aspect of the meal as the “digestive” because they usually add enzymes or friendly bacteria, as well as flavor. These foods are a part of traditional eating that has been lost and is worth reviving. It’s why we include recipes on Cookus Interruptus like Raita Yogurt Topping.  We have about 400 species of bacteria in our digestive tracts, weighing up to 3.5 pounds. You want to make sure you are housing a friendly population.

To get the big story on why eating fermented and pickled foods make your digestions better, your gut happy and have the potential of healing your immune system, pick up a copy of Sandor Katz’s Wild Fermentation: The Flavor, Nutrition, and Craft of Live-Culture Foods, published in 2003 by Chelsea Green Publishing Company.  Sandor has AIDS and considers fermented foods an important part of his healing.

How many of you make your own sauerkraut? Yogurt? Kim chee? Tempeh? Pickles? If you’d like to liven up your digestion and start making fermented foods in your kitchen, pick up a copy of Sandor’s book or visit his website at  www.wildfermentation.com where you will find convincing evidence, instructions and recipes.  Plus Sandor is a cool guy with a charming writing style.

Cynthia

Earlier this month Alice Waters was interviewed by Leslie Stahl on 60 Minutes. She talked about eating organic food, shopping at farmer’s markets, cooking at home more. Leslie asked her if this way of eating couldn’t be considered elite. Alice defended herself well but if you read the comments online about the show from viewers, Leslie had posed the question on everyone’s mind. Most respondents held fast that the way of eating Waters proposed is definitely elite, way off-base for the budget and lifestyle of most Americans.

This idea of eating well being only for the rich and educated was challenged last year when a chef responded to KFC”s $10 Challenge.  KFC threw down the gauntlet claiming that you couldn’t make cannot create a family meal for less than $10 and Chef Kurt Michael Friese, board member of Slow Food USA, responded. Read his story of how he made a family meal of pan-fried chicken, poultry pan gravy, four buttermilk biscuits and mashed potatoes for $7.94 — and plus he had extra pieces of chicken and a carcass to use for soup.

There are many meals for four on Cookus Interruptus that you can make for under $10 – like Black Bean Stew and  Polenta with Asiago or Chicken Vegetable Teriyaki over Brown Rice.  Granted you have to have some high-quality staples in your cupboard like extra-virgin olive oil, tamari soy sauce, honey. My questions to you guys are – do you think eating well is only for the rich and educated? If not, why not? And what’s your best under $10 family meal? Okay. Discuss.

My best friend always reminds me to bring visual beauty to the mundane parts of daily life.  The eyes enjoy it.  Whenever possible arrange your lunch on a colorful plate in a pleasing fashion.  Add a contrasting garnish to the soup.  Adorn your table with fresh flowers  on top of a brightly patterned piece of oilcloth.

How We Define Ourselves by Our Food Choices

This week one of my students did a presentation where she wrote and read aloud a very thoughtful paper that she had written.  She spoke about her decision to become vegan (no animal or dairy products in the diet) and what had prompted it.  Her father had died of cancer and she experienced a strong desire to take better care of her body.  Changing her diet made her feel remarkably well; weight and fatigue disappeared.  She believes strongly in the healing power of plants and reminded us wisely that we may not be able to afford the caloric density of eating so much animal protein since we are no longer chasing food.  Our food is chasing us.

Now that she has been a vegan for a few years, she is thinking of trying some animal protein.  She read Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions (Sally definitely does NOT advocate veganism) and thought carefully about how ” traditional cultures prize organ meats for their ability to build reserves of strength and vitality. “ Organ meats are extremely rich in fat-soluble Vitamins A and D as well as essential fatty acids.  For the food part of her presentation she made vegetable/calves liver dumplings.  They were quite delicious.

Like any good explorer she didn’t just stop the boat and park. I expect in a few more years she will have carefully thought about some other aspect of healthful food and shifted again.  I honor her gentle, thoughtful approach to eating and her ability to remain open and flexible.

I have a great deal of respect for my vegetarian and vegan friends.   I believe that those who are following a traditional foods diet or are  macrobiotic or refrain from anything with dairy or gluten or who only eat raw foods or foods grown within 100 miles are also onto something wonderful.  What I dislike and disagree with is when those labels become more than just an educated choice about eating and start teetering into dogma.

Even though I make conscientious choices and have limits to my food choices, I no longer know quite how to label myself.  How about you?  Do your food boundaries define you in some way?  If they do, what do you call yourself?

I really enjoy checking in on Marion Nestle’s blog Food Politics.  Marion is our champion of level-headed thinking when it comes to the whole food business. 

She revealed a lot of depressing information about just how political our food system is in her book Food Politics and woke us all up.  She followed that with the book What to Eat – a very practical guide about how to shop in the grocery store without getting dizzy trying to understand all the labeling.  She writes frequent posts on her Food Politics blog so those who want to keep in the know about food policy, food news, and how the big corporations are reacting to all of it might want to bookmark.  I’m just sayin’.

Purchasing fish has also become another task where we need to be eco-conscious.  Are farm-raised fish ok?  Or is hook and line wild-caught the only PC thing to buy? How do I tell what’s fresh in the ice case?

To figure out which fish come from sustainably run fisheries, dive into the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Guide. This organization is the watchdog for the seafood industry.  Click on any type of fish name and they’ll give you a complete rundown of what to look for on the label or what questions to ask your fishmonger.  Turns out that some fish farms are doing things in a sustainable way and some are not.  Farm-raised or Atlantic salmon are not a wise purchase. But  they give the farmed trout higher ratings than the wild trout caught from Lake Michigan.

Even if you have your fish facts in a row when you head off to the market, you still need to be alert.  Choose a fish market where you don’t curl up your nose when you walk in.  If the air smells like stinky fish, turn around.  This is an indication that some of their product is not being stored properly.  Instead of coming in with a particular fish purchase in mind, determine what’s fresh.  Ask,” What came in today?”  Yes, ask questions, but also use your eyes.  If you’re buying a whole fish look for red or pink around the gills, protruding, not sunken eyes and a shimmery look to the flash.  If it’s a filet you want, check out the flesh.  Make sure there are no crevices.  You want nice firm tight flesh like 60 year old men dream about.  The flesh should have a nice semi-gloss sheen to it; no yellowing or drying on the edges.  If they’ll allow it, take a whiff of the fish.  You want to smell the scent of ocean breeze, not something that reminds you of old tuna sandwiches.

Usually your purchased fish is wrapped in paper and then put in a plastic bag.  When you get home, store it in the refrigerator in a pan of ice or slip one of those handy ice packs used for lunchboxes in the bag with the fish.  Sometimes refrigerator cold isn’t quite cold enough to maintain freshness, particularly if the fish will not be eaten that day.

Marinating is perfect for fish.  The tender flesh soaks it up and less cooking time is required, particularly if there is something acidic in the marinade, like in our Caribbean Lime Halibut.  Use the Pacific wild-caught halibut for the Fish Tacos with Creamy Cilantro Sauce.  Or liven up your Alaskan sockeye by wrapping it in Nori and Wasabi. Serve it to guests and I swear you won’t need to fish for compliments.

You have to be pretty much of a food nerd to go for this one.  I keep a copy at my desk at home AND  in the kitchen where I teach because it is such a great go-to book. 

I “go to” it a lot when students ask me questions like, what does tutti-frutti mean? The subtitle of Sharon Tyler Herbst’s book Food Lover’s Companion is “Comprehensive Definitions of over 4000 Food, Wine and Culinary Terms”.

It’s a giant glossary; in alphabetical order of course.  You can look up stuff like “cardoon” (a vegetable that’s a cross between artichoke, celery and salsify) or “hard crack stage” if you’re cooking up some candy or who knew “shanogi” was a round Japanese spoon or paddle used to toss rice. Yes!  The book is a great gift for your favorite cook.  Maybe that’s you.

Once or twice a year my friend Holly and I go to a beautiful Korean women’s spa. After the soaking, scrubbing and steaming we have lunch in their small café. The meals are simple; usually rice with egg, tofu, chicken or beef and cooked vegetables.  But the best part is the half-dozen bowls of condiments that arrive with the meal, called banchan.  Each one has raw, pickled or fermented vegetables and sprouts. These unique flavors make the meal come alive.

Not only do these traditional foods add flavor and zip to grains, beans, meats and cooked vegetables, they are helpful for the gut. Two major food components that aid digestion are enzymes and probiotics (or friendly bacteria). These are found in foods that are raw, pickled, fermented or cultured. Most traditional cuisines include these as a traditional part of the meal. The standard green salad served before or after the meal is a familiar example though somewhat ho-hum.  More scintillating examples include  pickled ginger, miso, aged vinegars, traditionally-brewed soy sauces, beer, sour cream, kim chee, slaws and salsas.

Enzymes are present in food that has not been heated to over 116 degrees F (or is too hot to touch). The enzymes from raw or lightly heated foods can stimulate the release of digestive enzymes in the mouth and continue activating digestion in the stomach. Raw foods also tend to contain more bacteria and microorganisms than cooked food which may stimulate the immune system and help populate the gut with beneficial flora.

I believe in serving digestive-friendly condiments with every meal.  In fact, when my students design menus they are required to include something raw, pickled, fermented or cultured in each meal composition.  We have a bunch of snappy condiments featured on Cookus Interruptus, including Raita, Sweet Pepper Relish, Lemon Tahini Sauce, Parsley Pumpkin Seed Garnish and Mango Lime Salsa.  They are easy to make and most can be kept in the refrigerator and used for several days.

C’mon.  What do you like to plop on your soup, salad, fish, tofu that gets your juices going?  What makes your tacos dance?

One day, I thought I’d like to write a cookbook on dark leafy greens.  Like a good writer should, I searched Amazon to see what was already out there.  I found the book of my imagination already in print.  You might think I was disappointed, but you’re wrong.  I was elated.  Now I could let that nagging idea go and move on to other nagging ideas.

So let me share a wonderful cookbook with you called Greens Glorious Greens by Johnna Albi and Catherine Walthers (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1996). It’s organized by – you guessed – GREENS.  Telling a little something something about each one and then offering a dozen or so recipes using the bok choy, kale, collards, mustard greens or whatever.  It is not vegetarian though there are ample vegetarian recipes.  Here’s an extraordinarily good recipe from their book that I sometimes use in my cooking classes.
Poached Salmon Salad with Gremolata

½ cup vegetarian soup stock
2 tablespoons mirin
1 pound fresh salmon fillet
1 ½ cups sliced green beans
¼ medium red onion, sliced into thin crescents
6 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, drained and cut into 1/2” strips
Gremolata:
1 garlic clove
4 tablespoons minced parsley
Grated rind of 1 organic lemon
Dressing:
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons maple syrup
½  teaspoon of sea salt

3 cups salad greens, washed and spun dry

1.  Put soup stock and mirin in bottom of pot or skillet large enough to hold salmon.  Bring liquid to boil, reduce heat, and lay salmon on top, skin side down.  Poach, covered, for 5-8 minutes.  Test with fork and knife by cutting into flesh; it should flake easily but not seem dry.  Let cool.  Remove skin and cut fish into 1-inch chunks.  Set aside.

2.  Trim ends off green beans and cut at an angle.  Blanch until tender, green but crisp (about 30 – 60 seconds) in boiling water.  Plunge into cold water to stop cooking.  Drain.

3.  Place red onion, sun-dried tomatoes, and drained green beans in a large salad bowl.  Add cooled salmon pieces.

4.  To make gremolata, combine garlic, parsley, and lemon rind.  Chop together to help flavors mingle.  Set aside.

5.  To make dressing, whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, vinegar, and maple syrup in a small bowl.  Pour over vegetables and salmon and toss gently with your hands.  Sprinkle gremolata over all.  Serve immediately on a bed of fresh spinach.

Serves 2-3
Preparation time: 20 minutes

Our featured recipe video this week, Massaged Kale Salad, was created by Jennifer Adler M.S., C.N.  Jennifer  and I have been colleagues for many years as teachers at Bastyr University.  She has a private practice in Seattle (Realize Health) as a clinical nutritionist and she specializes in patients with eating disorders.  I asked her to tell me what bells and whistles are an indication that someone would benefit from seeing a nutritionist.  Here’s the short list:

BLOATING AND TOOTING
When your digestion speaks up – gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhea - your body is asking for attention, telling you that something is off with the way you are digesting food.  Running to Walgreens for a Tums may help in the short term but if these problems are persistent, it’s time to call up Jennifer.

FOOD IS THE BOGEYMAN
Has eating become an event that evokes shame or guilt?  Do you eat differently when you’re alone compared to when others are around?  Constant nagging thoughts about body image, weight and food are an excellent reason to make an appointment with Jennifer.

I’M A COUCH POTATO
Lethargy, depression and susceptibility to every bug going around are indications that your immune system may lack efficiency.  Did you know that the lining of the gut is the first level of immunity in your body.  That means, what you eat has a direct affect on your day-today health.  If you don’t believe me, ask Jennifer.

Big lifestyle changes like becoming pregnant or going from a physical job to a more sedentary one are other good reasons to check in with a nutritionist.  But you want to be sure and see someone who is knowledgeable about food and cooking, not just micronutrients.  Also look for someone like Jennifer who has experience and expertise in the emotional underpinnings of food decisions.  Feelings and eating are woven together like good macramé (is there such a thing?).  Most important, don’t do that thing where you tell yourself – oh I can figure this out on my own.  There is nothing more valuable than a fresh perspective from someone that is not inside your head.

Have any of you ever visited a nutritionist and enjoyed the benefits? Do tell.