Happy Chinese New Year! In the words of Nicky’s Mum, Ursula Gray: ‘May the year of the Black Dragon be a prosperous and healthy one.’ (image: The Guardian)
I recently put together a few words in support of an application to The Observer’s ‘Britain’s New Radicals’ competition. It has helped to articulate what is going on with this website. There is a vision behind it, which I’d like to share with you.
We are part of a social revolution. Where is this revolution taking place? At home, in the (wholefood) kitchen.
Our intention is to help facilitate this revolution through an exploration of our relationship with food and engagement with wholefood cooking. Our vision is for a return to traditional values and ways of being, where the kitchen and the cooking and sharing of food regains its place at the heart of our lives. Where food, and our relationship with food, becomes a source of inspiration, joy and creativity, and provides a foundation for personal, family and community health and wellbeing.
what is wholefood kitchen all about?
The wholefood kitchen website is a place for conversation about wholefood cooking. It provides insights from pioneers in the field, and connects people with cooking as an activity which supports personal growth and transformation, by facilitating a reconnection with our own biological integrity. The website was set up to support this proposition, challenge some beliefs and assumptions about food and nutrition, and inspire others to engage more fully with their relationship with food.
who is it for?
The website is for people who are interested in exploring their relationship with food, discovering the joy and magic of wholefood cooking and the power it has to transform our lives. Above all, it is for people who would like food to support them to fulfill their potential.
what is the purpose of wholefood kitchen?
To bring an understanding of a integral approach to nutrition to a wider audience. To reflect cooking’s importance as a daily act of creation, a celebration of life, family and community. To provide a place for wholefood and macrobiotic cooking pioneers and enthusiasts to connect. To provide avenues for people to develop a relationship with food and cooking which supports their health and wellbeing.
Image of a pataka, or storehouse, taken during a visit to the ‘Maori: Leurs trésors ont une âme’ (Their treasures have a Soul) exhibition currently on at Musée du Quai Branly in Paris, until January 22.
‘Extra food was stored in a ‘pataka’ (storehouse), generally decorated with carvings which made reference to fertility, or to a generous food supply. The pataka was mounted on piles, usually several feet from the ground, and situated within the marae area. Within the pataka were stocked preserved goods – dried fish, flesh, and also weapons or mats. It symbolised the rich resources of the tribal chief, and was a source of great mana (prestige) to the tribe. Only war canoes were second to the pataka in prestigious ranking. The pataka was usually tapu (under sacred protection).’ Source: NZ history site
Farewell to a remarkable woman. Kateia Burrows was laid to rest yesterday at a service in Aotearoa. (Te Karere) I was blessed to meet her in London almost eight years ago, and spend time with her over these past years, benefiting from her enormous knowledge and spirit. She helped awaken a deep connection with my homeland for myself and countless others. She was a driving force behind Manaia, Ngati Ranana, Maramara Totara, Kohanga Reo, Arte Toi. She was a true natural leader, in the rare, effortless form which combined strength with absolute grace and humility. At a memorial service at New Zealand House this week, a Ngati Ranana elder spoke eloquently of her, as a weaver of people. She wove threads between many of us, and planted seeds in many different ways. Invitations to learn and embrace Te Reo, Kapa Haka, roles as leaders, professionals, with family and community at the core. He spoke of the understanding in Maori culture, that we are here to acquire knowledge, and then pass it on. When this is done, it is time for us to leave, and enter a new realm. It is now Kateia’s time to leave us, but she lives on, in the taonga (treasures) she has so generously given. Kua takoto ana ki te rangimarie ia. (May she rest in peace)
‘The Harvard School of Public Health sent a strong message to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and nutrition experts everywhere with the recent release of its ‘Healthy Eating Plate’ food guide. The university was responding to the USDA’s new MyPlate guide for healthy eating, which replaced the outdated and misguided food pyramid.
Article ‘Harvard Declares Dairy NOT part of Healthy Diet’ from Care2.com, adapted from World’s Healthiest News by Michelle Schoffro Cook, PhD. Thanks to Mutsuko Johnson for passing on the link.
An insight into the Macrobiotic philosophy provided by Bill Tara. To follow are a few snippets, but the whole video is worth a watch. ‘If we are part of nature, and want to create a human ecology which really works, how do we create a diet which will feed everyone on the planet?’ To close, Bill offers a taste of the vision behind Macrobiotics. ‘Macrobiotics is a conversation which looks at our relationship with the world that we live in. How we can become healthy, and how we can become a creative part of this world, so that we all move forward together. That’s an important part of the Macrobiotic dream, and the Macrobiotic vision.’
The proposition of a less meat and dairy infused diet continues to gain momentum, and creep into public consciousness. This, a piece by the New York Times food columnist, recommends swapping at least one meaty meal for a plant-based equivalent, and provides a few recipes for the ‘semi-vegan.’ It’s a good start. Not just a step towards personal health, but the planets’ too. Thanks to Mutsuko Johnson for the article link.
A recent Telegraph article reports on Heston Blumenthal’s recommendation to add Seaweed in NHS meals, to make food more flavoursome without using additional salt. The additional minerals would also go down a treat too, I suspect. Initial taste tests on seaweed-enhanced mince dishes were ‘fantastic.’
A thought-provoking Observer article on the weekend by Steven Poole. It’s Christmas time, the season for Celebrity Chefs to peddle their wares, and trumpet their particular take on Christmas food and trimmings. On the cover of a recent Stylist magazine Nigella Lawson is once again presented in her well-honed ‘chef-as-temptress’ guise, prompting Poole to comment on the sexualisation of food in our culture and society. In respect to the commodification of food, of cooking, of celebrity chefdom, I share some of his views. But in crucial areas, I beg to differ. He suggests Modern Britain is food crazed, and suggests that we would be better served devoting our energies on something else, more worthwhile. In fact, I believe we are only just beginning to explore our relationship with food, and consider a deeper form of nourishment which may be available. Unfortunately, reflecting on the simple pleasures of the rhythm and seasonality of food goes against the media’s lust for the latest thing. Our connection with life force, which is available to us all, every day, in our gardens, homes and kitchens, is an expression of love (and yes, of sex) which does not come dressed up in suspenders or covered in salted caramel. It may not sell many papers or magazines. But my word, it gets the juices flowing.
‘Slow eaters think they are morally superior. But they’ve lost their appetite for life. They will claim it makes them healthier. But that’s absurd.’
So begins an article in the Observer by Restaurant Critic Jay Rayner, decrying people who eat too slowly. Jay, a self-proclaimed fast eater, claims that ‘we like life more than slow eaters like life. Slow eaters aren’t just doing something they love more slowly than others. They simply don’t like food, not enough. No one with a real instinct to feed can ever eat slowly.’ I’m sorry Jay, but I beg to differ. The health benefits of slow eating are simple and common-sensical. It was put to me once by Michael Rossoff that the single most effective thing you can do to improve your eating behaviour is to just chew your food more. Breaking down your mouthfuls helps to reduce the workload on your digestive tract. People often throw ‘optimum numbers of chews’ at you (30, 50, 100 chews) but don’t be put off. I suspect the main intention behind this idea is to create space for yourself, and your body, to reflect on your food, become open to appreciation and nourishment. Ultimately, this is not just about ‘eating for health.’ This is about enjoyment, and the nourishment that we obtain from food, in our Being. But I have some sympathy for Jay. I am also in the habit of bolting my food. I suffer from a gluttonous streak. It’s more apparent when I’m alone, and not in the company of others, when my more socially-acceptable eating behaviours kick in. But I know that when I do slow down, and take a moment to take in what is in front of me, I am filled with appreciation and gratitude. I am struck by the colours, the shapes, the smells on the plate. I sometimes reflect on the journey this food has taken to get to me. I recall the people who produced the food, or the exchange we had when I bought it from them. There are sometimes items I’ve collected on that day, partnered with ingredients from my cupboard, and contributions from others. In doing this, my body softens and my appetite is fed, before I even take a bite, and it continues, as I enjoy my meal, with real appreciation. Slowly, attentively. An opportunity is provided to not just feed myself, but to nourish myself fully.
Jay, I understand your aversion to slow eaters. They make you uncomfortable. Perhaps they give you the suspicion that despite your obvious love and appreciation of food, you might be missing out on something richer and more satisfying.
