Photo taken on my cell phone at one of our many, many, many stops at Rest Areas. |
Monday, February 20, 2012
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
Labels:
Arizona,
Book Club,
Book Review,
Books,
Food,
From Left to Write
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my mom wishes we only needed a pill too! i love food as much as you do...
ReplyDeleteI hate the thought of a pill only because food is soooo delicious, but it would be nice to be able to take a pill and have our tummies and our minds completely satisfied plus our bodies completely fulfilled. That would probably be one really expensive pill tho...lol.
DeleteWhen growing organic food and doing all the prep and canning and cleaning and etc etc...it probably is helpful to have some huge royalty checks rolling in from all your novels so that you don't have to worry with those basic economic realities that the rest of us are swamped with.
ReplyDeleteWonderfully put Sextant.
DeleteI think we too often are forced to feel guilty for not living up to certain standards. For example...Martha Stewart, and I don't mean her little stint in prison, but we watch her show and see her making her own soap and lip gloss and we feel bad that we're so unorganized and lazy that we don't do the same thing while working a full time job.
Then we see someone like the Kardashians that are always immaculately dressed, makeup and hair perfect, gorgeous figures and we think that we need to eat less and work out more and we too can look like them.
But their lives, both Martha's and the Kardashians consist of doing nothing but promoting their public persona, while our lives are just a struggle to get through each day.
Do I feel bad eating chicken strips from McDonalds rather that raising my own hens and butchering them and defeathering them and cutting them up and making my own home made chicken strips whilst using all the bones and other scraps to make home made chicken stock and the feathers to create elaborate down pillows or feathered head-dresses to decorate my home? Hell no, give me McDonalds chicken strips anytime and the time to watch Martha and the Kardashian's on TV! Plus the time to read a blog here and there as well as write one!
Wonderfully put Alicia! More wonderfully so than I!
DeleteWhen considering the lives of the rich and famous, remember one thing, you have something they will never be able to buy with all their zillions...anonymity. How would like to have your own flock of paparazzi stalking your every move?
Boy Howdy are you ever right. Anonymity I have in spades...lol. Seriously, no...I would not like to have someone following me around with cameras all the time. Heck, sometimes I get irritated just having family and co-workers around me all the time!
DeleteMy parents are farmers. Both sides of my family, my grandparents were farmers. And although I appreciate it, I can fully accept that I will never be a farmer. It's not what I love. Fortunately, there are others who do! I've considered getting a bread maker, (and I may still in the future), but your post makes me thankful that we get bread that will mold if you don't eat it in a week-- I even had to check and lo and behold! It's even advertised as preservative free. Woohoo! Doing something right and I didn't even know (; Thank you for sharing this post, because it helps me feel like I don't have to feel guilty for not wanting to give it -all- up.
ReplyDeleteI come from a long line of farmers too! But it's not my thing either, but I so admire and appreciate those that love to farm and garden.
DeleteI've baked bread before, but I bought the frozen loaves in the freezer section. Then you thaw them out and place them under a dish towel in your car for warmth to rise, then you bake them! I find when I do this I eat more bread, so that's why I don't do it often!
I refuse to feel guilty for eating oranges from Florida, Strawberries from California or dates from who-knows-where. There are people who make a religion out of the local food movement. I like to support local farmers and always buy at the farmers' market in summertime, but it's just not possible to do that year round. My grandmother would have given her eye teeth for the variety of healthy food we take for granted. We're so lucky!
ReplyDeleteAmen Sista! I totally agree. I think there is just too much "shame, shame, shame" going on. We have to feel guilty about everything we do and say and eat and want. I know that when I was a child I didn't know what an artichoke was, or an asparugus or a cantaloupe or honey dew or mandarin orange. I grew up a poor farmers child in Arizona! I knew what cactus and beans were....lol. It's sad to deprive a child of not knowing what a pomegranite or a banana tastes like just because they aren't grown locally! We are very lucky to have such a wide variety of foods to choose from. I'm not gonna spend time feel guilty!
DeleteI'm glad that my mom made me try all those new foods. Being a picky eater is hard! I hope my kids grow out of their pickiness.
ReplyDeleteMy son was pretty picky and my sister has a son that is picky. My co-worker has a daughter that is very picky too. A long time ago, after my kids were grown up I think it was a Dr. Phil show that I was watching and a lady was complaining about how her son would only eat Pizza, Chicken Nuggets and Cereal. So Dr. Phil asked her how the son got this food? The mom said, well I buy it because he won't eat anything else. And he said...if you don't buy it won't he have to eat what you feed him? Eventually he's going to get hungry enough that he's going to eat that baked chicken with broccoli or salad right? And that's true. We as parents have to be the ones to make sure our kids eat right. Of course that's easy for me to say cause my kids are 25 and 30...lol. I wish I had watched that Dr. Phil program when they were little, they might have grown up to be healthier young adults now.
DeleteMy friend who doesn't work grows an incredible garden and he and his wife are able to eat from it nearly year round. I think it would be pretty difficult for the average person who has to work to be able to eat 100% local food.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't mind reading that book. I'm sure I'd find it pretty interesting.
I sometimes sit and fantasize about all the things I could do if I didn't have to be at work 8 hours a day plus having a 25 to 30 minute commute to and back from work each day.
DeleteI see all these bloggers that cook and photograph these beautiful meals and set gorgeous tables filled with the fruits of their labors in gardens, and I'm just racked with guilt that sometimes I barely have the energy to fix a quick salad and sit in front of the tv or computer to eat it...lol.
Imagine all the time we would have if we never had to work or eat, and all the money we would have if we never had to eat. But...would you want to live without ever eating a warm slice of peach pie with a scoop of cold vanilla ice cream on top?
Alicia-I loved your write-up and unapologetic attitude. Its honest and genuine. While we might not share the same view on food-the dialogue is what gets people talking and I think that's what's important with such a complicated issue. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!
ReplyDeleteAlison
Thanks Alison, I enjoyed your post too about the difference in how we eat and what foods you can find in India. We are very lucky to be able to enjoy so much fresh fruit, produce and meats here even if they aren't locally grown.
DeleteMany people love gardening and preparing fresh meals, just like many people love riding their bikes or walking to work to save gas. I guess we all have to do our part, however small and contribute to reduce our carbon footprint.
I can't imagine not liking food. I just love it so much... Maybe it was because I was raised in a house where my mom cooked everything and grew up in a culture where food was meant to be shared and enjoyed in abundance. I love cooking and try to create as much from scratch as I can, but it's not for everyone.
ReplyDeleteI can't imagine not liking food either. My mom will tell me she is hungry but nothing appeals to her so I tell her, "Well then you aren't hungry cause when someone is hungry everything sounds good to them!" It's very frustrating, trust me. Plus mom eats like a little bird but she eats every couple of hours and she invites me to join her. 40 pounds ago I decided to put a stop to that...lol. But it's not easy.
DeleteI can't recall meeting an adult who hates food; your mother is a special lady in this respect too. Anyway, I think there are 'food' pills on the market, but these are used in emergency cases of anorexia.
ReplyDeleteShe just has no appetite DUTA, and food has never been a big part of her life. I've not heard of these food pills before. While they might have all the vitamins and ingredients she needs to keep her healthy I doubt they would fill her tummy, small as it is. She does drink a nutrition supplement called Boost once per day which is good as it does provide many nutrients that refried beans and tortillas do not.
Delete