Monday 3 October 2011

Slow Food.

If you've spent any time online perusing food blogs then you may have noticed there's a food movement travelling around the world called the Slow Food Movement.  From what I have gathered, it officially began in Europe as (you guessed it) an anti-fast food movement in the mid-1980's. I have seen it mentioned on blogs & websites that also discuss the Local Food Movement, the Organic Food Movement, the Traditional Food Movement, the Ethical Food Movement, the Raw Food Movement, etc.

None of these movements are particularly new. My mum was soaking seeds & grains in the seventies.



What I want to know is, when will the Convenient But Still Ridiculously Healthy Food Movement begin?

I have a pantry and shelves full of jars of organic seeds, grains & beans. Each small gem is a power-house of nutrition just waiting to be unlocked though soaking, fermenting & cooking.

But I don't want it tomorrow.  I want it now.

We don't have bread in our house due to wheat allergies.  Toast is off the menu.  Give me half an hour and I can cook for you a nutrient-packed gluten-free Banana Cake, or a warm bowl of roast vegies with quinoa & steamed asparagas and broccolini. You want a roast? No problem, the free-range chook will be ready in two hours, surrounded by organic vegies and stuffed with brown rice. Give me a day's notice and you can pick the flavour of the ice-cream I will churn up for you using farm-fresh raw milk.

Oh, you're hungry NOW?

Of course, there's always fresh fruit & carrot sticks.

And the truth is, if I am baking, preparing and cooking everyday, then there is always something on hand to feed the hungry hoards.

But what if I am tired? Too tired to cook. Too tired from sleepless nights spent with a baby and drained from days spent breast-feeding him?  How many meals can my family stand of avocado & Vegemite on corn-thins, and warmed up left-overs for dinner? If I am not cooking then the frozen left-overs will eventually run out...

So we mix and match food movements around here. I am grateful that there are passionate foodies all over the world. At any time I can hunt the web for inspiration and recipes to match where we're at in our lives but we'll never stick ourselves to one food-philosophy. And it's not that I haven't tried.

I think Jesus summed it up pretty well when He said, "For there is more to life than food, and more to the body than clothing."

Thank you for reading my rambling thoughts. I hope you eat something yummy today that helps your body to grow and heal.

2 comments:

  1. I think Slow Food is as much about the ingredients as the cooking. If you grow a carrot, or buy a local organic carrot from a CSA or farmers market, I think that is slow food, even if you just eat it as raw carrot sticks.

    I think you really need a big freezer so you can batch cook and then reheat dinners.

    Have you tried Mountain Bread? It's fun to make wrap sandwiches and it might make a nice change from corn thins. Some varieties must be gluten-free.

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  2. I completely understand your dilemma, Angela. I think so much of the work I do as a mother is in my head, throughout the day, trying to figure out how to make those meals happen for the hungry monkeys around me (partner and baby). That's the slow food. Then, when there's a moment, the actual cooking has to happen REALLY fast, because little guy is already grumbling with hunger and big guy is still trying to squeeze in another half hour of work...

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