The Food Groupie Club

Hi my name is Sarah and I'm addicted to food. I have been a chef professionally for about 12 years now and am currently teaching cooking classes at a culinary school. I seriously love to cook and eat good food. The problem with cooking and eating like the professionals though is that it can be kind of intimidating for a home food enthusiast. My goal is to bring good food into every-day homes. Anyone can make healthy, good quality, good tasting, and good looking food with the right know-how. So here you go....cooking made easy by a professional!

I will be featuring some of my favorite chef's recipes in my posts and will note in the post what book was used. Their books that I use will be listed in my must have cookbooks tab.

Thursday, August 25, 2011

We eat a lot of "food"

Ok.....I'll fess up..... I watch Oprah sometimes. I know her show is over, but there's still reee-ruuuuuns!!! {say that last part like how Oprah introduces her guests....its funner that way.}  Anyways, there was an episode on recently that I have seen before and I'm glad it was on again.  Its about how we eat in our country. It features the movie Food Inc. and Michael Pollan, who is the author of "Food Rules". If you have not read that book or watched food inc. you totally should. This is a subject that I feel is really important so I'm pulling out my soap box. Being a chef I'm around food all day. The number one question I am always asked is "how do you stay so skinny".  I usually just shrug and say that there's no time to eat while you work. That's not true though. I may ruffle some feathers with this post, I may have a lot of people agree with me..... but no matter how you feel on the subject this is something every family should assess and I hope I can at least get you thinking about what you eat.  I totally agree with Michael Pollan that we don't eat real food in this country. Everything is pre-made and processed, including all of the food at your favorite restaurants.  Its become way cheaper and easier to eat "food" {I put quotes around that on purpose} than it is to eat healthy, and that's sad.  I am by no means perfect here either. Sometimes I get busy and too tired to cook and cave to the call of the box or the golden arches. {oh that tempting dollar menu} Look at the state of our country... diabeties {in kids too!!}, heart disease, obesity, etc. are all out of control. And the biggest problem is it seems like we have accepted it as part of life and I feel like we're all just ok with it now.  Its ok that your 5th grader weighs 150 pounds. Its normal. That's not normal. I am by no means what I like to call a "granola" {hippies and vegans}.  I love meat. I love cheese. I believe animals were put here to be in my belly.  But I also believe in raising them right so they are healthy and good for us like God intended and not having to have the traditional dinner of meat/veg/potatoes forming a triangle on the plate for every meal.  The thing about eating real food isn't about giving things up. Its about getting back into the kitchen and making things the way grandma used to. I found a website http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/       that is about a family who took on a challenge to eat only natural foods for 100 days that is pretty amazing.  I encourage you all to check it out. Has a lot of good tips and suggestions for actually making the shift to better eating.  She goes a little too far for me and cuts out ALL sweets though. I don't think there's anything wrong with the OCCASIONAL {not every night as a reward for eating dinner like eating dinner is a punishment} dessert. But make it a dessert that is worth eating. Did you know most ice creams are no longer ice cream? For reals..... read the label...its "iced milk' or "frozen dairy product"...in fact you should read the labels on ALL food. Its not hard to make your own cake or ice cream or sorbet or brownie or mousse {i can keep going} from scratch.  We set attitudes in our children early on in life about how they feel about food based on how WE feel about food.  Vegetables and fruits should not be made out to be "bad" or punishing.  Saying kids are only willing to eat chicken nuggets shaped like a dinosaur is insane. If that's all they know, of course that's all they're willing to eat.  As adults we don't know what food should taste like because we're so accustomed to the taste of processing. Its sad. People don't recognize good food anymore because our palates are numbed.  Anything that is labeled as "low fat" "sugar free" "low calorie or carb" is not food.   It is OK to eat butter and cream.  Just not everyday for every meal and 5 servings worth.  Everything in proportion! Anyways...check out the movie, book and linked site. You'll be amazed at what you are eating.  {ok...off the soap box now!}

2 comments:

  1. Love that website.... I made her chicken nuggets this week and we all LOVED them! I have a question though. Have you found a really good whole wheat pasta? I really hate all the ones I've tried.

    Michele

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  2. I haven't really gotten on the whole wheat pasta bandwagon yet, so I don't know what to recommend. I've actually only tried it once and did not like it at all. So glad I'm not the only one! I do want to try making it and see how that tastes. You could try try the pasta recipe I posted but use whole wheat flour instead. Everything always tastes better homemade.

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