By Laura Stec
E-mail Laura Stec
About this blog: I've been attracted to food for good and bad reasons for many years. From eating disorder to east coast culinary school, food has been my passion, profession & nemesis. I've been a sugar addict, a 17-year vegetarian, a food and en...
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About this blog: I've been attracted to food for good and bad reasons for many years. From eating disorder to east coast culinary school, food has been my passion, profession & nemesis. I've been a sugar addict, a 17-year vegetarian, a food and environment pioneer, macrobiotic, Master Cleanser, ayurvedic, and officially-designated health-nut or party-girl (depending on the year). Professionally, I've worn many industry hats including: line cook, corporate chef, Food Coach, caterer, product developer, restaurant reviewer, culinary school teacher, corporate wellness educator, food co-op clerk, author, and even Cirque-du-Soleil lead popcorn concessioner! For years I managed an outdoor kitchen, deep in the bear-infested woods of Tahoe, and also for hospitals (the most unhealthy kitchen I ever worked in?), Singapore high-rises, mule-pack trips, Canadian catholic rectories, and more events than I could ever recall. Yet I still keep discovering. Actually, I adapt everyday by new lessons learned from teachers, customers and students. However there is one food truth I now hold sacrosanct: Eaters are motivated by pleasure. So no matter what we discuss here - recipes or restaurants, food politics or pairings, local events, food as art, or even as God, I will always come from a high-vibe, party perspective. Oh I do still long to change the world with great tasting food, but know in my heart, "If it ain't fun, it don't get done!" So - wanna come to the Food Party? By the way - it's a potluck.
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I've been having conversations on and off line about last week's blog, Eat Anything You Want Except For Two Days A Week,* and realize it can be approached in one of two ways:
Fast vs. Fill
The fasting approach means 1-2 days a week your eating style is one of not. With this perspective, eating mostly fruits and veggies means not eating much at all, because without all the other "crap," what else is there to eat besides raw carrot and celery sticks? Listen, fasting sucks. I should know, I've tried everything: Master Cleanse, Atkins, juice fasting, South Beach, Peanut Butter Fast. I've cut it all out in the name of God of Health and Goddess of Skinny.
But no longer ? it doesn't work for me. Now, I FILL. As a dedicated Food Partier, I have finally accepted my inner hedonist.
I hereby admit to:
Overeating Onions
Pigging out on Pumpkin
Filling on Fennel
Gorging Courgettes
Feasting Figs
Attacking Aubergine
Binging on Broccoli
Actually, we should eat too many veggies
everyday, but we are a society surrounded by quick-to-get protein and carbs, so that's what most of us eat, most of the time.
But you can rise above the fray.
EAYWEF2DAW* means you commit to going the extra mile and insure a variety of veggies. It's kind of like Just Do It, but with vegetables and fruits. Don't not eat. Gorge with gusto.
How 'bout it? Join me in a vegetable g' orgy? Plates await you... filled with the raw, the cooked, and the pickled. Different styles, seasoned with sweet, salty, spicy, sour, bitter, & savory umami. Smell it. Taste it. Come on, let me feed you.
Once you get the hang of that, we'll move to Lesson #2:
The Law of Signatures
what a vegetable looks like is what it is good for.
Yes, yup, zucchini, cauliflower too....Secrets revealed only to those who do the homework. Start thinking about it now.