Tracy and I are heading off to the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market this morning, to explore Pollan’s Rule #2 – Don’t eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.
We used to be able to look toward our grandmothers for a healthier example of what to eat; but during the past 60 years, heavily processed foods have become more of a mainstay on our dining tables, to the degree that we have to look further back to our great-grandmothers (or great-great-grandmothers!) to imagine what they would consider real food.
In Food Rules, Pollan writes, “Imagine your great-grandmother…at your side as you roll down the aisles of the supermarket. You’re standing together in front of the dairy case. She picks up a package of Go-GURT Portable Yogurt tubes—and hasn’t a clue what this plastic cylinder of colored and flavored gel could possibly be. Is it a food or is it toothpaste?” (p.7)
Colin Dunn, a friend in Austin, commented yesterday that he calls these heavily processed, food-like substances “FrankenFoods.” Tracy and I got a good laugh at that; but, as it’s probably a more accurate name, FrankenFoods should scare all of us enough to make us run quickly from the supermarket to the local farmers’ market.
What would our great-grandmothers eat? Food in-season, dried fruits and vegetables, and summer/fall vegetables they had canned (without lots of salt and sugar!). That leads us back to the farmers’ market for food in-season.
As Tracy is much younger than I, she remarked yesterday, “I bet most young adults today don’t even know what foods ARE in season. Grocery stores have most vegetables year-round.”
We used to be able to look toward our grandmothers for a healthier example of what to eat; but during the past 60 years, heavily processed foods have become more of a mainstay on our dining tables, to the degree that we have to look further back to our great-grandmothers (or great-great-grandmothers!) to imagine what they would consider real food.
In Food Rules, Pollan writes, “Imagine your great-grandmother…at your side as you roll down the aisles of the supermarket. You’re standing together in front of the dairy case. She picks up a package of Go-GURT Portable Yogurt tubes—and hasn’t a clue what this plastic cylinder of colored and flavored gel could possibly be. Is it a food or is it toothpaste?” (p.7)
Colin Dunn, a friend in Austin, commented yesterday that he calls these heavily processed, food-like substances “FrankenFoods.” Tracy and I got a good laugh at that; but, as it’s probably a more accurate name, FrankenFoods should scare all of us enough to make us run quickly from the supermarket to the local farmers’ market.
What would our great-grandmothers eat? Food in-season, dried fruits and vegetables, and summer/fall vegetables they had canned (without lots of salt and sugar!). That leads us back to the farmers’ market for food in-season.
As Tracy is much younger than I, she remarked yesterday, “I bet most young adults today don’t even know what foods ARE in season. Grocery stores have most vegetables year-round.”
Hmm…she’s probably right. If we truly want to be in touch with the earth, in touch with the seasonal cycle of nature, and in touch with each other, we must begin with understanding our intrinsic relationship with nature and the natural order.
So, #1 -eat real food and #2 choose foods your great-grandmother would have eaten. I think roasted root vegetables are on the menu for tonight’s dinner. Off to the market!
So, #1 -eat real food and #2 choose foods your great-grandmother would have eaten. I think roasted root vegetables are on the menu for tonight’s dinner. Off to the market!
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