A community in my kitchen
Posted by kathryn in Blogging
Today I am delighted to have a guest post for you. From the lovely Elaine of Greens & Berries. Over to you Elaine . . .
In late November 2008, Kathryn asked me to write a guest post for her 31-days series. (Thank you for being so patient, Kathryn.) Perhaps procrastinating for more than three months had one benefit: more time for hands-on, taste-tested food experiences that have affirmed my belief that the key practice that helps me eat healthfully, mindfully and sustainably is community (or, in other words, my social network).
My food community consists of my Mom (curator of more than 140 cookbooks – yes, I made her count them before I completed this post) and new friends with whom I regularly connect via blogs and Twitter. These environmentally-conscious foodies inspire, inform, and guide me by generously sharing their nutrition and culinary knowledge and offering friendly encouragement. Although not physically present in my kitchen, my food network exerts positive peer pressure on my menu-planning, pantry-stocking, problem-solving (how can I learn to love parsnips?), cooking, eating and after-dinner reflections.
Lately I’ve never felt alone in the kitchen with an eggplant (or in my case, barley and legumes). While I’m flipping through recipe books or stirring and tasting the simmering stew, I often think about and apply my food community’s wisdom. For example, Kathryn has inspired me to cook using pantry ingredients more often. Sophie creates delicious, healthy meal templates and she’s inspired me to begin trying different mixtures of legumes, grains and vegetables. I plan to eat my way through Cassie’s lovely site and try this stew next. I look to Diana, my newest mentor, for advice on growing kale in the garden and then including it in my favourite stews, soups and casseroles. And when I find a good, basic recipe, I wonder how Kelly would modify it, to make it even better, as well as what story she’d tell about it.
We should look for someone to eat and drink with before looking for something to eat and drink, for dining alone is leading the life of a lion or wolf. – Epicurus
Dinner alone is one of life’s pleasures. Certainly cooking for oneself reveals man at his weirdest. People lie when you ask them what they eat when they are alone. A salad, they tell you. But when you persist, they confess to peanut butter and bacon sandwiches deep-fried and eaten with hot sauce, or spaghetti with butter and grape jam. – Laurie Colwin, ‘Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant’, Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen
I’m somewhere between these two quotations. Some evenings I enjoy my solitude with a warm meal and a Westie (descendant of a wolf?) curled at my feet. On the other hand, I’m writing some of this post before dinner on a rainy, Saturday evening, wishing I could be at Mom’s kitchen table, sharing a meal, rather than in front of a computer, waiting for the beans to finish baking. Oh yes, I went through a period of rebellion (“You aren’t going to use butter, are you?” “I’ll have my salad dressing on the side and please make sure it’s the zero-fat diet version”), but during the last couple of years, I’ve returned to many of Mom’s ways and likewise, she’s evolved to some of mine (eg having fresh greens instead of fries on the side, agreeing to grow a kitchen garden in a bed now occupied by shrubs).
Mom and I live 100 km (90 minutes) apart but we try to spend at least one weekend per month together, when I make the trip to her country home and garden. Our talk and activities revolve around food: cooking, gardening, eating, sharing food stories, planning the next meals, and packaging left-overs so we both eat well for the next few days. On every visit, I try to extract a few secrets from her. Next time we’re in the kitchen together, she’s promised to show me her special techniques for making feather-light angel biscuits, leak-proof holubchi (cabbage rolls), and crumb topping (she calls “kremel”) for kuchen.
As a clinical (therapeutic) dietitian, in my workplace I’m mainly concerned with food as a source of nutrients to promote healing and recovery. A narrow view of food, though, even with the best of intentions, can lead to nutritionism. The good company I keep in real-life and online reminds me food also nourishes mind, soul and body with art, story, history, celebration, ritual, hospitality, gratitude, laughter, healing and love.
The following recipe for Boston baked beans has become my favourite home-alone comfort food during this late winter season. Combined with toasted wholegrain bread and colourful raw vegetables like carrots and sweet peppers it makes a simple, hearty, nutritious supper. The recipe has an interesting back-story with a Limes & Lycopene connection. It wouldn’t be part of my collection if not for Kathryn’s Twitter request last fall for a baked beans recipe for a client. I just happened to be talking to Mom shortly after I saw this and asked her if she had a recipe to fit the bill. She shared this one with me, a meal she had recently made for neighbours who had just returned from vacation. She left a casserole of these beans in their fridge so they could have a warm meal on their first night home.
Boston Slow-Baked Beans
Serves 4 to 6
1 pound dried navy beans, soaked for a minimum of 8 hours
2 tablespoons soft brown sugar
4-6 tablespoons dark molasses
1 tablespoon dry mustard
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic
4 tablespoons vegetarian Worcestershire sauce
4 tablespoons tomato puree
1-&-3/4 cup vegetable stock
2 cups tomato juice
salt and pepper to taste.
- Drain the beans and place them in large, flame-proof casserole with enough water to cover them.
- Bring to a boil and boil rapidly for 10 minutes.
- Simmer, covered, for 45 minutes.
- Drain the beans and return them to the casserole with the remaining ingredients.
- Mix thoroughly. Season with salt & pepper to taste.
- Cover and bake in the over at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for 4 hours until the beans are tender.
- Check and stir the beans occasionally during cooking and add a little water if necessary to prevent them from drying out.
- Taste and adjust the seasonings if necessary before serving.
(Suggested modifications: If you like your beans less sweet, don’t add brown sugar at the beginning and go light with the molasses. Then, if the beans aren’t sweet enough after cooking, add brown sugar to taste at the end.)
For more about Elaine, take a look at her blog "Greens & Berries":http://greensandberries.squarespace.com/about/.
24 March, 2009
Comments
Elaine, thank you for the lovely, thoughtful piece you’ve written. Since you first mentioned this topic I’ve been thinking more and more about how blogging and contact with others from around the world have expanded my cooking knowledge and experiences.
My mum and I talk food a lot and she’s my source of information on all more traditional dishes and cooking. On my next visit down to my my parent’s house I’ve already booked a meringue making masterclass!
However, here in Sydney, while most of my friends enjoy food and eating out, not a lot of them cook. So discussing ingredients and cooking online has been wonderfully enriching for me.
When I just think back over the last seven days, I can see the influence of my online community – through the recipes I’ve cooked, the ingredients I’ve used and the combinations of food I’ve come up with.
So I agree with you – my community also helps me to eat well.
Thanks for the link to the article about nutritionism. That was fascinating and confirms some ideas about food I’ve had myself.
It’s so true that you cook strange things alone. I’m certainly much lazier when it’s only me home. Other food bloggers are an inspiration for me too, and I’ll often be braver about trying new things if I’ve read how other people use them. Thanks for all the new blogs to try. Hopefully they’ll be an inspiration for some healthy meals.
this was a great read with lots of “head nodding” moments.
thank you for sharing!!
Lovely article Elaine. I was trying to explain the appeal of Twitter to some friends the other day and said it was “like Facebook but with people you have stuff in common with”. I think my remark came out a bit wrong (lol), but this article highlights what I was trying to say in a much more eloquent way. Much as I love my real life friends to bits, most of them aren’t that into cooking and it’s amazing being able to connect with such a wonderful community of like minded people and chatter away about the best way to cook beans etc.
The beans look delicious and comforting – now I know what to do with the huge jar of molasses I bought!
You see, Elaine, I tracked you down! Lovely guest post, and I’m going to add the Boston Beans recipe to my collection – this would be great in my slowcooker crockpot as well. Sophie, your “Facebook” comment really made me laugh.
Ohhh what a lovely post. Internet Group Hug! I’m definitely going to give those beans a try.
What a lovely article, Elaine. I had a bowl of beans soaking on my counter for something else, and I was sorely tempted to ditch my recipe and make yours instead.
I am definitely trying that baked bean recipe! You and your mom are very lucky to have such a nourishing passion in common.
I also meant to say – how wonderfully thoughtful of your mum to leave the beans for her friends. I was thinking about the tiredness and slight depression you feel when you get home from a holiday – a pot of something beautiful and home-made would really lift your spirits.
Oh yes, I believe how you eat and who you eat with is as important as what you eat. Funny, here I am in Boston and have never made baked beans…it’s almost too cliche!
great post – blogging seems proof that food is about more than fuel and I love how this is written about here – there is a great freedom about eating alone but to do it all the time would depress me as I love the sharing of food and ideas about food!
Oh Elaine, this is such a beautiful, beautiful article. And that recipe looks wonderful. I’ve got it marked to try.
Hi everyone. Elaine here. I’m just popping in to say hello & thank you for your comments.
Kathryn – Thank you for trusting me to write a guest post on your excellent blog. I’m so grateful you asked me to think about the one thing that has made the biggest impact on the way I eat. I’ve learned a lot about myself and my relationship to food and others through writing this post.
Virya – I confess I went into Dietetics because nutrition fascinated me, but over the years, my definition of healthy food has broadened. It now includes the joy of eating as well as environmental sustainability.
Arwen – I peeked at your blog last night & I will return. I see many things on it that interest me, including worm composting. I don’t eat spaghetti with grape jam but my food community has pulled me out of the rut of the same old menu cycle of foods, which although healthy, involved minimal preparation time.
Reneeanne – I’m so happy to hear the post resonated with you. I visited your blog briefly and will return to it. I love art as much as I love food. (My other passions are gardening & my Westie. Now I’ve completely revealed myself.)
Sophie – Well, I wouldn’t be at the novice foodie stage if not for you. I can list several new foods and words you’ve added to my “to try” list and vocabulary, the latest being ful masala.
Tess – I’m so glad you found this post. You’re not only in my kitchen, you’re often in my office (virtually speaking of course) while I work on my blog posts. You’re a mentor and friend in many ways.
Shauna – I’m really looking forward to reading about your amazing adventures and learning from your food experiences. I only discovered your blog recently so I have a lot of catch-up reading to do.
Kelly – Hello & welcome home. (I’m pretty sure I’m talking to that Kelly.) You’re one of the key people who started me on my culinary explorations.
Kami Gray – I’m very fortunate to have the Mom I do but confess we didn’t always share the same food passions. I grew up in a meat/potatoes/vegetable/dessert for dinner family.
Michelle – Agree with you 110% about “how” and “who”.
Johanna – Yes to sharing food & ideas about food. It’s why I’m here this evening and will continue to connect with my food network.
Good night, everyone.
Hi Cassie.
Your comment appeared while I was writing mine. Hugs to you. Beans are my favourite cold-weather comfort food to & I’ve marked some recipes on your site to try. OK, I’ve marked ALL the recipes – beans and beyond – on your site as ones I want to eat.
Really beautiful post, Elaine. It’s always nice to connect with people who love food as much as you do, and I also strongly agree with using your food community to prevent nutritionism.
I was definitely the type to have a panic attack if my boyfriend cooked with butter, but I’ve learned to loosen up thanks to him and other food bloggers. It’s been an invaluable learning experience.
Elaine, you’ve summed up – eloquently – why community and food go hand in hand! My mum lives a plane-ride away, but we talk and share food as though we lived next door. I love being in her kitchen, surroundd by her books and her things and her.
Twitter. I must look into it! Gorgeous piece. Just what I want to read on a cool, quiet Friday morning. Happy weekend.
Hi Jessica. I was so impressed & inspired by your food knowledge & culinary skills when I interviewed you last year. Great comment. Yes, we need to show the world dietitians do not promote nutritionism. You are a great exemplar of the profession with your blog Watt’s Cooking.
Hello Lucy. Thank you for your kind words. I discovered your blog a couple of weeks ago when Kathryn mentioned one of your recipes in a twitter update. It is so well named. I do feel nourished by your evocative – can I say lush & juicy? – words, gorgeous images, and mouth-watering recipes. I spent some time on it this evening but unfortunately lost the rather long comment I’d written. Happy 3rd Blog-iversary.
Great site this www.kathrynelliott.com.au and I am really pleased to see you have what I am actually looking for here and this this post is exactly what I am interested in. I shall be pleased to become a regular visitor :)
I don’t know If I said it already but …Cool site, love the info. I do a lot of research online on a daily basis and for the most part, people lack substance but, I just wanted to make a quick comment to say I’m glad I found your blog. Thanks, :)
A definite great read..Tony Brown
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