Idea sex. Today I listened to an interview with Jason Silva, short shooting philosopher de you tube, whose “shots of awe” videos, offer people a glimmer of existentialism in a 3 minute quip. He’s a passionate dude, you can tell, this is what he lives for, spreading novel ideas to help our society transcend the murky and rise to our true potential. In this particular interview, he was talking about this concept of ideas having sex and forming new creations, this is modern day creativity. We aren’t forming new ideas, we’re simply remixing old ones and making them new again. I find this to really ring true when it comes to creating recipes. Sometimes I think I need to create things which no one has done before. Isn’t it interesting that at this point in our evolution, there is less species diversity than ever before on the planet, yet, more than ever, there are also more people attempting to create new dishes that will set them apart. This is part of the reason why I’m passionate about learning wildcrafting and attaining wild meat. Just because we can drive our cars to the store and get whatever we want, doesn’t mean it isn’t wildly rewarding to know what we can eat from our local environment.
Our fridge is just brimming with vegetables, it’s hard to keep up to all the abundance. Right now there are so many delicious, delicate greens and crunchy radishes sprouting forth. I love how easy it is to eat fresh salads all the time. We hardly eat salad in the winter, it just doesn’t make sense to buy these plastic sealed salad mixes which take so much energy to package and ship across the world. Of course, it’s a nice luxury to be able to eat spinach in the middle of december, but something about it feels a bit odd. Eating with the seasons enables us to stay connected to our nourishment. Delighting in the arrival of treasured vitamin packed spring greens, instead of just assuming they are always going to be available. There’s nothing like the freshness of vegetables that were just plucked out of the ground, your ground, the ground you walk on everyday. (more…)
It is truly mind boggling how MSG is added to so many products on the market. Endless pseudonyms and confusing labels that claim to have ‘no added msg’, yet somehow they still get away with having it in there (because if it is 99% pure msg or less, labelling is not required). For anyone trying to stay away from this cretin breed of food additive, labels must be read and deciphered appropriately. There are over 50 commonly used ingredients listed on labels which all mean the same thing- monosodium glutamate. The flavour enhancer from hell! So many people are experiencing ill health thanks to an overload of this neuro-toxin in 95% of all processed foods, organic or not. I’d like to give you some strategies on how to avoid MSG and give you the down low on what it really is.
Happy Solstice everyone! I can hear the drums pounding at a nearby local gathering as people celebrate the longest day, the coming of summer. Oh how we look forward to this day on those barren winter nights, they pass so slowly, summer seems to zip by. Before we know it the forests will be awash with ripe berries and hungry bears. Soon the river will be just warm enough to relish in for a plentiful 2 months.
Yesterday our friends gave us a tour of their huge, epic garden. I couldn’t believe the rows of radishes, compared to my little teensy garden space. Then they brought us over to a little nook where wild asparagus was growing. Asparagus is a regal and mighty plant which grows furiously amidst a mash of strong willed weeds. If I had a vegetable puppet show, asparagus would play the intellectual, savvy friend that everybody needs to have.
Hey I'm Chantelle, my alter ego would be a mermaid if I wasn't such a terrible swimmer. I love writing authentically and cooking in my pyjamas. My favourite pastimes include eating avocados, travelling the world and hanging out with a toddler.
