Pantry Raid

I’m amused at the number of visitors to my home who make a beeline for my kitchen and start opening drawers and doors to eyeball the contents of my pantry, refrigerator and freezer as if I’ve hidden the crown jewels in there. It always ignites looks of amazement, puzzlement and enlightenment. Compared to the contents of your typical mainstream kitchen, mine looks more like a laboratory with live food fermenting in glass jars and of course  there’s the distinct absence of all of the big name labels – such as Palmalat, SAXA, Kraft or Kellogs. School friends muse in absolute disbelief “where’s the [insert ubiquitous processed food eg Vegemite, Milo, Heinz baked beans, flavoured yogurt, soy milk, orange juice, Cadbury chocolate and San Remo pasta??] ”  

Instead we have  home made kefir, sauerkraut, unprocessed milk, goats yogurt, fruit, vegetables in brown paper bags or wrapped in cloths to absorb moisture, meat and various raw cheeses stored in glass containers, pastured eggs, raw cacao powder, maple syrup, and litres and litres of bone broth.  The fridge door houses home-made concoctions of pesto, salsa verde, tomato sauce, spicy coconut dips, mayonaisse and packets of dry kefir starter.

Lately I’ve been asked by a few friends/clients if I can go through their pantry, refrigerators, and freezers to get rid of any unhealthy items and replace with healthier alternatives. If your willing to take up such a challenge – a fridge and pantry raid- I’d be more than willing to oblige. But I will warn you- this not for the faint-hearted I’ve discovered….the emotional attachments people have with “food” can run deep….but I promise to be gentle the first time around……

What I’m currently reading and listening to….on my bookshelf!

Over the past few months I've been enjoying reading the insights of my traditional wholefoods gurus Chris Kresser (www.chriskresser.com), Chris Masterjohn (blog.cholesterol-and-health.com) and  Mark Sisson (www.marksdailyapple.com). If you are enjoying my blog and want to get into some "meatier" stuff I recommend you look at their websites and subscribe to their daily blogs which are a wealth of great info. I’m listening to Chris Kresser’s podcasts in iTunes when driving in the car, walking or working away in the kitchen. On your i-phone go to iTunes, search for Chris Kresser and start listening to various nutrition and health related topics in 25 different podcasts (no downloading required)! Of course you can never go wrong with the www.westonaprice.org website which was my introduction into ancestral eating (just be weary of overdoing the grains/legumes though). I know we live in a world of information overload and it’s impossible to read everything on any given subject (and why would you want to?) but these sites are at the top of my list.

It’s a blog (……finally!!!)

My partner thinks that I’m old-fashioned – not just in nutritional philosophy but also technology.  “Technophobe” is actually the word he uses to describe me. Well, its true that there are some things I’m good at (like crafting recipes, public speaking, and distilling the punch line from mountains of information)  but other things….. like parking in tight spots in Sydney’s Eastern suburbs without graunching the tyres on my car or being an early adopter of technology….well I struggle. But I’m proud to announce that after years of sending out my newsletters in email format and clogging up your inboxes my Gen Y nephew gave me a massive push along by setting up a wordpress blog for me. So this is my first real blog on wordpress (so miracles can happen!). And it’s very much a work in progress. Over time I’ll upload all of my previous newsletters to this site and flesh it out so that it looks and feels like a website. I hope you enjoy the new format and I look forward to your feedback….