Riviera Presbyterian Church

By Barbara Overton

I’ve never understood those people who say they were too tired to eat, or too happy, or too sad, or too tense, busy, whatever. There’s never a time WHEN I’m not ready to eat.

In the past year or so, though, I’ve tried to be more intentional about WHAT I eat – and why I eat it. Much to my family’s dismay, I recently read several books about food production and its impact on our planet. The most notable were Michael Pollan’s In Defense of Food, in which he lays out a plan for eating you’ll find in the seven word title of this note, and Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which details her family’s attempt to spend a year eating only what they grew or bought from people they knew. Both books decry the impact of large scale animal raising factories and stress the importance of local, organic food production. The theme that resonated the most with me was the overuse of petroleum in our food production – whether in the fertilizer to grow the plants, the trucks to transport it or the chemicals in the food itself.

The result? I try to buy food that is not processed, meat that is raised humanely and produce that comes from local farmers. There is less meat on my family’s plates and more vegetables; fewer cookies and more fruit. We try to find a seasonality to our food, especially loving the first Florida strawberry of the season. I’m spending more time cooking and shopping. These are goals, not rules, though and I have been known to step in the Five Guys for a burger and fries. My family generally comes along with me on this food journey¹ – - although requests for “non-organic ketchup” show up on the shopping list.

One of our favorite recipes is this super easy Bruschetta. It’s fresh, it can be local and it is tasty! Eat in when you’re happy, or sad, or tense, or….you get the idea!

Bruschetta

1. Chop up 2 or 3 tomatoes. I like to use red, orange and yellow ones to give extra eye appeal to the salad.
2. Toss with equal parts of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. I start with a capful of each.
3. Add a smashed clove of garlic if you have some handy
4. A little salt and pepper.
5. Let it sit a few hours or overnight. You want it to get juicy.
6. Slice up a baguette of Italian or French bread into rounds. Brush with olive oil and toast.
7. Scoop some tomatoes on the toast – be sure to get some of that juice!
8. Enjoy!

Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me, the NPR News Quiz

Paula meets Pollan:

Michael Pollan: It’s very hard now for us to know what food is. Because there are all these edible food-like substances now that compete with food in the supermarket. So a lot of the book is helping people distinguish between the edible food-like substances and the real food.
Paula Poundstone: But let me ask you something. One of the things that has made my live worth living is Ring Dings. And I feel that it is food. Are you going to tell me that’s not food?
Michael Pollan: There’s a few simple tests to figure out if a Ring Ding is food or not. How many ingredients does a Ring Ding have? [Note – Pollan uses 5 ingredients as the test for “food”]
Paula Poundstone: Devil’s Food Cake — one. A creamy filling — two. And a rich chocolate outer coating. What’s the matter with you?
Michael Pollan: I would look at the package next time, that creamy — CREAMY — is not cream.
Paula Poundstone: C-R-E-A-M-E-Y. Creamy. What the hell’s the matter with you?
Michael Pollan: But… but but but but… There are special occasion foods.
Paula Poundstone: What do you mean special occasion? I said it’s what makes my life worth living. Are you suggesting I save it for one day a year?
Michael Pollan: I wouldn’t want to deprive you of your…
Paula Poundstone: You know, you may know a lot about food, but you don’t know the first thing about living, buddy.