Nourishing Traditions
I'm sharing about a
huge book today called Nourishing
Traditions, because it's been such a help for me. By "huge," I mean HUGE, almost 700 pages and large to hold.
First off, I have to say that I resisted buying it for a
long time. To begin with, I don't care for the cover as it has a sort of creepy
"Eastern religious" feel to it. (Some people actually like that
Eastern thing, but as a Christian I am of course wary of anything based upon
eastern religious traditions.) So, even though I'd seen the book, I had no
thought of purchasing a copy.
Then, in January, my sister Christine stayed with us for two
weeks and she had a copy. She taught me how to ferment oatmeal using a method
found in the book. (Which I've already
shared with you. See this post for details.)
Then, when I found out about a small organic foods market in
my area, I browsed the store, and, despite it being owned and operated by
Christians, they displayed a copy of Nourishing
Traditions on a shelf.
And when I was with a bunch of moms from my church one
night, my friend Steph mentioned that she was using this book for recipes
on fermenting vegetables and other neat stuff. I realized that it affirms the food ideology of the Weston-Price Foundation--ie., natural food and food preparation. That was enough: I caved. I got
a copy.
I started reading.
The first section of the book, almost 80 pages, is general
information on the food and cooking traditions that are truly nourishing, as
opposed to current trends of fast food and artificial foodstuffs you find
in boxes and cans and all sorts of packages in the supermarket. The subheading of Nourishing Traditions is "The
Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats,"
and it does this with a vengeance. Frankly, it is fascinating and compelling to
see how easily the authors debunk the current "health" food fads,
such as avoiding fats and keeping cholesterol very low. I read page after page, happily underlining as
I went. Some of it was nothing new to me: I know about how bad modern day
"fake" food is for the human body. But I also learned new things as well as finding
affirmation and renewed motivation to maintain the dietary changes I've already
embraced.
There are in-depth explanations of all the major food groups
as well as minerals, enzymes, vitamins, spices, and beverages. There are tips
on selecting food, on choosing the best equipment for the kitchen (and what not
to use) and literally tons of references and appendixes with links and more
resources. And it's interesting! It's
not boring like a textbook.
Let the Recipes Begin
Once the recipes begin, each page is sandwiched between
excerpts from all kinds of literature: historical, periodicals, fiction,
non-fiction, scientific or medical journals, etc. There are well-chosen quotes,
excerpts and more, to give context to the usage of the very foods the recipes
are for, and so these extra features range from fun and sweet to eye-opening or
even amusing. (For example, there was a short excerpt from Willa Cather's Neighbour Rosicky--a surprising pleasure—because
it mentioned how children flourished when fed raw milk and raw milk products.)
I am a great fan of including supplementary references such
as these, and so I find this is a book after my own heart—except for:
One Concern
One thing has stood out to me as lacking regarding the traditional
"wisdom" in this book, (and it is common to most Paleo-food websites
and cookbooks, too), which is, the
authors are ready to embrace all ancient wisdom, it seems, except for that of biblical
origin. Now, having said, that, it remains true that most ancient food "wisdom"
is affirmed by Scripture; but they never go there. This is a great mistake, and
an error.
First of all, no book EXCEPT the Bible goes as far back in time as
the beginning of man, of agriculture, of food history. They talk freely of our "hunter and
gatherer" ancestors, ignoring the fact that agriculture is not a new
development—after all, Cain killed Abel because his "fruit of the field"
was not accepted by God the way Abel's animal sacrifice was. This is revealing
for two reasons:
One. Since Cain offered produce he had farmed, it shows that planting and sowing is as old as mankind after the Fall;
and,
Two. Even God turned his nose up to plant food when compared to animal sacrifice!
(OK, that's sort of a joke. The point of Abel's sacrifice being "superior"
to Cain's was that Cain was proud of what HE'D cultivated, but Abel offered a blood
sacrifice—necessary for the atonement of sin—and having nothing to do with his
own ability. It was the humbler sacrifice. And it was according to God's
revealed word on what a sacrifice should be. Later on, in Deuteronomy, we see
that grain sacrifices are implemented, but Deuteronomy hadn't been written,
yet, at this time.)
Now, the point could be made that many indigenous peoples lost the knowledge of how to use agriculture to support their food needs; or didn't have the right environment, soil, etc. (It only takes ONE generation to lose some truth.) In any case, it is ludicrous to exclude the God who created
ALL food, and our human bodies. The garden of Eden was no doubt a great model
of successful planting, as well as having good pasture for cattle. God walked
with Adam, the Bible says, and only an idiot would fail to see that He, the Creator of the earth, shared
lots of the secrets that gave ancient man this "wisdom."
Sally Fallon, the primary author of Nourishing Traditions, says, "Each person's ideal diet is
usually discovered through a combination of study, observation and intuition, a
process designed to replace that
mysterious infallible instinct that guided primitive man to the foods he needed
to keep him healthy and strong." (Italics mine.)
Ahem.
A "mysterious infallible instinct?" I don't
think so.
Despite this weakness, I am nevertheless enjoying the
discovery of the almost lost art of providing truly nourishing food for my
family, as opposed to stuff that fills the body but doesn’t nourish the cells. (Now you know what I'm doing instead of working on my next novel!) As one documentary on American dietary habits says, "Americans are
overfed, but undernourished. We feed the body full of calories but there is little
nourishment for the cells. ["Hungry for Change"--available on Netflix.]
The recipes here, by contrast, are for making basic foods
that really nourish as they feed. Different than your typical cook book! It also happens to be an excellent value, if you get it from a discount seller such as Amazon.
What about you? Are you trying to wean yourself or your family from fake food? Feel hopeless about making the effort? Share your thoughts.
UPCOMING NEXT WEEK: I'll share my homemade foaming hand soap recipe with you. It's a cinch to make and works as good as the commercial stuff!
