When I list off the things I or my wife won't or can't eat I get asked "So what DO you eat?" There seems to be this idea that food is static and inflexible. This blog is going to be about food, a variety of real food. My recipes reflect my experimentation with different forms ,different cultures of people I know. frustrating allergies,a very small budget, access to a whole lot of great small groceries, a deep love of vegetables , tofu and random whole grains,sweet tooths, ethical quandaries about consumption, environment and labor issues. There's also a whole list of stuff my wife won't eat like cherries for example . My avoidance of water chestnuts on the basis of being "not food" , however, is justified and completely reasonable.
Food speaks to us in sounds and smells that remind us of our history , our friends, family, old lovers or next door neighbors. Food is about culture, about artistry , about survival. Food is one of the basic ways we provide for our families. Food is also about how we connect and build communities or destroy them. When talking about food I am always reminded that I am my mother's daughter. She is the woman who made sure I knew how to cook in era when most city dwellers had resort to packaged food or takeout, and how to scrounge and to think about food.
Here's where my food comes from. I grew up in a working class family on the north side of Chicago. My mother was trying to feed 2 (sometimes 3) kids on a nurse's salary in a very expensive city. She was busy, like most single parents so we all helped out in meal preparation. Keeping expenses down meant that we always tried to keep a small garden in the back of our building, on a balcony or on the easement. In addition, she was/is a very ethical person and was concerned about the labor conditions our food was produced and sold under so that informed a lot of choices too. Being in a large city also gave us access to recipes and condiments from every corner of the earth. I got to taste everything-Around Channukah Mrs. Feldman liked feeding me latkes and cookies, I went to Vickie's upstairs for tea and papaya salad, or fried fresh caught smelt on the BBQ with my brothers.
Being broke for our family meant that meat was considered a condiment. This last factor was very lucky as we later found out that mom has a rare genetic kidney disorder which causes the body to do very bad things with certain proteins including all quadrupeds, most game fowl, mushrooms and spinach. I would now be very sad without my beloved mushrooms but I also got the lesson that meals can be planned around economics and allergies with a little creativity. It really came in handy when I couldn't breathe around most cleaners and again last year when I found out I've been allergic to wheat this whole time.
Eventually we left and moved to Nebraska in the 90's where I had to learn how to be even more creative because there was less access to certain ingredients (like gojuchang, tapioca or rice noodles )and a greater access as well as much lower costs on produce from local farms. Around the time we moved to Nebraska I became a vegetarian and found it a lot easier than many people my age who did the same because we'd always eaten very little meat. Gradually more diverse ingredients came into the stores there and I gradually learned where the small ethnic groceries were hiding and learned to cook there too. Throughout high school we had a little more money so I got to play with more ingredients and experiment with some pretty outlandish combinations. Some of them worked. Cranberry fudge sauce anyone? Some of them ended up with scorch marks on the ceiling and hiding mutilated cheese under newspaper in the trashcan. I have loved to cook my whole life but it really took off then.
Five years ago we were living in KS. I still miss the prevalence of biscuits and gravy even though I know now I'm not supposed to eat wheat. I also miss the guy who charged us 10-15$ for a few bushels of veg every week at the farmers market. Sometimes this means I make baked beans, collards and barley biscuits for a week. About 10 years ago I had a year long vegan period which mostly has amounted to knowing how to bake without dairy or eggs- a handy skill for people who want to keep a small budget and avoid factory farming or excessive cholesterol. I also have friends who are allergic to things. I like to accommodate so I will be including recipes for GF stuff, oatfree, cornfree, low/no sugar things, recipes for cleaners for people with chemical sensitivities, etc... Just after being vegan I started eating fish again, although I'm pretty picky about what kind for environmental and labor politics reasons so it ends up being once or twice a month when we're feeling financially flush now.
We've usually been pretty broke and like a lot of people during this really scary economic climate we still are very broke. In some ways this helps with a quest to eat healthier stuff and in some ways it doesn't. 1$ a lb for organic oats plus a penny for salt, maybe an apple, cinnamon and ginger plus almost nothing for water is a far cheaper than a box of cereal with milk. It's arguably healthier. What it isn't is fast or convenient. Research and thought are required. Sometimes land or food really isn't there to use. Sometimes we go out to eat more frequently than we intend. Sometimes we trust the guy who lives less than a hundred miles away who raises chickens in his yard, or grows apples rather than spending thousands on a USDA cert the farm can't afford. Sometimes spending time with your family is more pressing than cooking from scratch. Sometimes we really can't afford that extra 20cents a lb for organic potatoes, and carrots. I think that's ok. We do what we can with what we have, you know? There are some places where I'm a bit rigid-usually on animal protein. I'd rather go without eggs than buy ones where the chicken had no outdoor access, I eat fish and shellfish rarely because I don't like how fishermen are treated in most large scale operations but I have been known to be more flexible than I'm ethically comfortable with in order to have cheese. Sometimes I'd rather buy a bottle of hard cider than a dozen eggs despite the nutritional benefits of egg vs the questionable nutritive deficit involved in fruit-booze. We all have our faults and our limits. In any case, I plan on making my experiments and time tested recipes available here and I encourage you to email me and do the same.
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