NO MORE DOUGHNUTS

After the excess of several days of consuming the all too delicious Top Pot doughnuts in Seattle (OMG are they good) I just landed in Phoenix for a visit with my "eats absolutely no food that has been ruined by heat" friend, Jim.

His suburban home in Mesa, AZ had a lovely kitchen complete with that modern contraption called a stove until he had carpenters and assorted workmen come in and rip offending "food destroyer" out and now his lovely suburban home is range-less . I can only heat my morning Buddha's Eyebrow tea on a year's old Mr. Coffee that my friend's out-of-town brother insists he keep on hand for him so he can prepare his morning coffee when he comes to visit. Lucky me. At least my morning warm beverage is still intact.

Actually I like coming to visit Jim because he
renews my interest in raw foods. I always come back to my house with
new recipes and new excitement about raw. 'Course I don't ever see myself becoming a 100 per cent raw food person. I like the warmth of cooked food in winter too much. Spring and summer brings me much more easily to the raw foods table. I'm happy with staying at somewhere in the 60-70 percent raw range. I seem to feel best with that in winter and I like to increase the raw by 10-20 percent in summer.

At a gathering at Jim's house last evening, we had raw burgers, catsup, coleslaw, key lime pie, pumpkin cheesecake, salad, falafel, a couple of sauces and like that. Quite tasty but I've always got to watch eating too much 'cause the food is rich, believe it or not. Some raw foods folks use lots of nuts to prepare their dishes with and it really causes it to be kinda heavy.

Speaking of food, I am enamored with a new book by Michael Pollan in which he "explains it all for you in his new book, "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto" (Penguin, $21.95)."

He was a guest on Science Friday just recently and a statement he made really said something to me. He mentioned that food is not something that we only do for health. While it may be true that that is really the only reason we SHOULD be eating, it's simply not the case. Then I started to think back on old conversations I'd had asking, "what would animals do?" That used to be the end-all and be-all in the conversations about food I had with someone in my past. But I started thinking about animals and their eating habits. Clearly, like us, they eat for social, cultural and pleasurable
reasons. That is what MichaelPollan says and I think that I agree. More things affect our health than the food that goes in our bodies. Much of it social, cultural and having to do with pleasure.

If we could only do what his seven-word phrase suggests, we'd all be
better off..."eat food, not too much, mostly plants." Oh,I can see it on tee shirts now.

It is much more important that we eat food, real food, not processed food-like substances that the manufactures come up with, than that we are vegan or vegetarian. Don't for a moment misunderstand...I do not think eating meat is a healthy practice at all but better to eat a little humanely raised meat than all the vegan chips, crackers or other food-like substances in the world.

I however, remain a vegetarian if for no other reason (and there are others for me) because I do not want to be in support of a very brutal meat producing industry. Wasn't it Isaac Bashevis Singer who said, "to animals, humans are Nazis."? Plus, I simply do not believe that I need meat to feel good, be strong and maintain health. Nor do I need it for cultural, social or pleasurable reasons. Although, I must say, vegetarians, vegans and raw food types do get quite a bit of sh__ for their way of eating so it may effect one's social life. Not mine, however, and that's the only person I can worry about right now.

Well enough today. Tonight another pot luck gathering and I'm gonna make chopped veggies with a modified Gado Gado sauce...a bit of an Indonesian dish. I might even do a dessert of some kind. All so exciting to create new stuff. That always turns me on.

I want to tell you about a new British-based food store open here in Phoenix and other places...next time.

Open your eyes and take it all in today...and thanks for reading.