My Foodie Revolution

I'm slowly going through a foodie revolution.  Up until recent days I have not been one to spend too much time in the kitchen.  I rarely bake, barely cook, and think of food mostly as a necessary evil. 

But in the last month a series of events have unfolded that make me believe I am becoming someone who could potentially enjoy thinking about how food is produced, mixed together, and eventually served to provide not only sustenance for the body but also therapy for the home and soul.

I am quickly approaching my 30th birthday and have been waking up in the early hours of the morning contemplating what type of mommy I want to be.  I remember adoring my mother between the ages of 3 and 12, and since my oldest daughter will be turning 3 soon, I've been wondering what my girls will remember about their childhood as it relates to their mommy and how creative, attentive, relaxed, fun-loving, and grace-filled she was.  In the food area I have high aspirations of changing my family tree and helping them to see food for what it is and what it's not.

In addition to that, I was able to read In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan over Christmas break.  (Having young children makes reading books for pleasure nearly impossible, so I was super excited when the only book I've read in two years turned out to be thought-provoking, encouraging, and basically awesome.)  I love hearing a new perspective on ideas that seems obvious and dogmatic to the population at large, and Pollan's book gave me a hefty helping of thoughts to ponder.  We are now eating more real food, more plants, and I'm beginning to consider the idea of eating not too much, as Pollan would say.  We are buying milk in glass jars from a relatively local dairy, and I've even searched online for CSA's in the area.  Winters in South Dakota put a bit of a dent in the farmer's market market, but come spring, the girls and I will be traipsing through them to find food grown by people we can shake hands with.  (Traipse is one of my favorite words; I love the word itself and the image of the word.)

Along with wanting to make things right for my daughters and reading a book that scares me not to change, I have also been subscribing to E-mealz for about six months now.  If Dave Ramsey endorses it, I don't need a lot of convincing, but I have been surprised by how confident I feel in the grocery store and in the kitchen because of a weekly menu and grocery list I print off the computer.  It's like I'm afraid to make cooking mistakes but somehow knowing that the Mealtime Makeover ladies "got my back" makes me feel like a cooking superhero.

I would be remiss if I didn't add the fact that my aunt, Elizabeth, bought me a year's subscription to Martha Stewart's Living.  Having been so anti-home etc. for so long, I'm almost embarrassed to reveal the giddiness I feel when the magazine arrives and the fervor at which I comb each article and photo.  Over a couple of snow days, I used one of her recipes to bake bread...from scratch!  I don't know who was more shocked, me or my husband.

The final factor in this perfect storm was reading Michael Ruhlman's blog post asking if Americans are too stupid to cook.  Reading his thesis made me think:  My grandma can whip up anything from practically nothing, and unless I do some changing, that skill will die with her.  I plan to keep you updated on the status of my foodie revolution as new and exciting breakthroughs occur.