food for the soul

as i learn more and more about organic food and farming and our country's industrial food system, i become more and more impassioned about eating whole, healthy, natural foods, and so shopping at a farmers market, which was always appealing and feel-good to me, has become nourishing in a totally different and ever-evolving way. i feel like moving to the country and living and working in a way that honors the sun and the soil and the water and animals and plants and farm workers as well as the consumers and the society that supports it. but alas, there are billions of words written on those exact thoughts and feelings, and in some ways i take comfort in knowing there's a certain universality to those values and feelings. the best i can do is to live my non-country life in a way that honors those values, and so i've begun to do that in the very large majority of the way i shop and eat - farmers markets, whole foods, trader joe's, organic when possible, fresh and local almost always. see my ode to tomatoes from yesterday, which were in utter explosion mode at the farmers market today. of course there are a few straggling processed foods i still support - sweet and low (my main source of guilt and shame in life), sugar free foods, protein shakes and bars, etc. 

ANYWAY...i had an almost out-of-body happiness this morning at the farmers market near my office as i inhaled the sights, sounds and scents of a bustling market filled with gorgeous, fresh produce and dairy, the people who grow and pick and transport them, and a disparate collection of people who value the whole cycle. i was walking around smiling strangely, perusing all the items and deciding what i'd buy and from which stand. 

one of the things that's really lovely about having a very small stomach is that i don't need much food (sounds funny, doesn't it?), so i can buy really high quality foods in small quantities. this works out emotionally too, because i feel really good about buying the best food i can afford. one of the strange points made in one of the documentaries i've been watching (i think it was this one, though it could have been this one too, both of which should be on your queue immediately) is that americans spend much less on our food than other countries...which is sort of ridiculous since it's what we're putting in our bodies, and we only get one body. 

 

so i spent $12, and i got a real abundance of things to use over the next several days. i tried to buy some a little less ripe after confirming with the seller that they would ripen on the countertop...this way, i don't feel produce pressure immediately and can use them in waves, though all in the next couple days so i don't defeat the purpose of buying fresh and local. i got 2 beautiful green peppers and a white pepper (first time i've seen those!) which are supposed to be sweet, like red and yellow ones. i also got a bunch of radishes to dice up into salads, inspired by the healthy 8 from trader joe's. then i got a 1/4 pound of salad mix which i'm going to try adding to my lettuce-less shrimp and chicken salads, 2 teeny tiny plums, 2 donut peaches, an apple, a container of amazing looking cherry tomatoes in many colors, and a no sugar apple muffin...sweetened not with chemicals or sugar, but with apples and a touch of organic agave nectar. if it's good, and if i feel okay after eating a piece of it, it could be a great alternative to junky sugar free snacks that make me feel guilty (and sometimes gassy) because they're made of things that are not, or should not be, food.

the thing that made me smile the most was the sight of little babies, sleeping in strollers being walked around the farmers market. they're too young to make their own choices obviously, but the people making their choices for them seem to be doing it thoughtfully just by being at the market and not at the bodega or the grocery store around the corner, and they're doing something wonderful by bringing them there...even if they're sleeping, even if it's years before they know what arugula is or how to pronounce radicchio. it means something, even at their early age, to be there and be involved in the process. if you like this idea, read this inspiring interview. 


i'm hopeful that values about how and what we eat can sink in through a form of childhood osmosis, because it's something i really want to pass on to my own eventual children one day. the thing that leaves me wondering is why it didn't happen earlier on for me, someone who was lucky enough to have healthy-living parents with a sense of moderation and balance, who always worked hard at their own fitness and bodies...they did everything right in that regard. wow, that just became a downer. nah, not really a downer...it's all an evolution and i'm happy to be where i am, today.