We moved last week, into a tidy little house up the canyon. Our new space spot is twice the size of our old one, with a kitchen, views and a backyard in proportion. And, the house was built in the 1950s making it almost 5-times as old. It’s been an adventurous week of packing, hefting, assembling, rearranging, cleaning, and frankly – not reeeallly cooking in the still-evolving space.
It’s a good thing that the Salad Days are finally here.
And yes, I do mean the Shakesperean idiomatic salad days, calling upon a youthful, idealistic, enthusiastic and innocent time. Moving into this new space makes me feel like I’m 25 years old all over again, filled with fresh exuberance. But I ALSO mean the days when eating salad – and salad straight is the RIGHT (clap) THING (clap) TO (clap) DO!!!!
If you’ve been here for a while, you’ve probably already picked up on my loving and yet cautionary relationship with salads. If you’re new here – welcome! Because I’m a chef that works predominantly in the sport/fitness and wellness spaces, people make a few assumptions about me. The first being that I would burn my bra for plant-based. (Ahem. I would actually burn my bra for plant predominance.) They assume that my recipes are “healthy.” (Ahem again: healthy as a word is pretty much dead to me. But of nature, un-processed and in-tune mean the world.) These assumers also are surprised to hear that I don’t recommend eating a big fat salad for every meal. The truth is that eating big salads isn’t always what your body wants or needs. Only SOMETIMES is that the case.
And this is one of those sometimes. It’s hot, salads are cool. Nature is bursting at the seams with greens and perky leaves. And because a quest for “health” and “fitness” are nothing without trying to tune our bodies to the natural world we’re trying to navigate, eating for the weather, with the ingredients the Earth provides is ALL THAT.
Right now, unless you’re reading this in the Southern Hemisphere (which if so, HI! So rad! Where?) the greens are going off where you live. The farmer’s fields are bursting with beautiful tender lettuces, with tons of bitter, astringent flavors. The leaves are perky, and they taste like all of the spinach-y, arugula-y, mizuna-y, mustard-y, and even kale-y flavors they’re meant to taste like.
And note that I’m not including just how fresh and delicious the salad greens from a box are. Because they really aren’t, if I’m honest. And if you’ve eaten a tender piece of lettuce from your own garden, or from a farm stand, you know what I’m talking about.
Not to hate on boxed lettuce, but I’m going to do it for a second (recognizing that in the past week, with all of this moving, I myself have had to go pick up a box instead of going to the market.) As soon as this Saturday’s market rolls around, I’m headed straight there to stock up our greens stash, and THEN I’ll go for a bike ride, without compromise. Here’s why:
The farmer’s market is so much more expensive than the grocery store…?
What do I do about it?
This isn’t really a question, and yes. You’re right. It is more expensive. Sometimes, significantly more so. And the answer is, you choose. I’ve never met a farmer offering a sale on their hard earned produce and I personally am ok with that. The lettuces that are grown for grocery stores are typically grown on fields and farms owned by big corporations, tended by hands making minimum wage in very trying conditions . Your farmer is a person in your community, who needs to pay rent, feed kids and buy shoes just like we all do. I also am ok with the idea that my health is the only real wealth I care to amass. Without it, I can’t live my life vibrantly, or enjoy any of those other material objects that I think I want + need to save pennies for. Paying more for produce from my local farmer is more expensive, and understandably so. It’s a priority for me. You get to choose what it means to you.
The greens that I buy from the grocery store are organic, and I don’t see the organic seal on the foods at the farmer’s market. I thought organic was better?
This is confusing, I know. Organic is great. But it’s also just a stamp that is meaning less and less these days. It’s true that organic produce at the grocery store is being raised in soil that hasn’t been sprayed with the same toxic pesticides as conventional, but it’s still probably grown on the same massive farms, using the same inexpensive labor, and in soils that have been depleted by mass-scale farming. These kinds of farms can afford the expensive price tag on one of those USDA Organic certification stickers. The little guys – namely your local farmer – probably can’t. But chances are, if he’s farming and selling at your local market, he really cares about great food and growing it. Chances are he’s growing organic produce, and it’s probably even regenerative as well. Strike up a conversation with him the next time you’re at the market and ask. : )
Why salads now, and not in the middle of the winter?
In each season, our bodies need different things to adjust our internal environment to the outdoor environment. Just like if you’re inside your house, when it’s cold outside, you put on cozy clothing, pour yourself some tea and start a fire. In the spring, you shed a layer, enjoy soups for dinner and always take a rain jacket. In the fall, we overdose on pumpkin, crave soothing warming spices and dream of cozy, bundly walks in the woods. In each of those times, our internal weather – and the foods that we crave – shifts with the seasons. Dropping an ice cold salad into those times may be what fitness magazines have touted for years, but is a big cold salad really what you’re craving on a cold day? Unlikely. We *think* we crave it because we still want to be light, and healthful through all of those seasons. But as it turns out, salads are REALLY tough for us to digest. This is neither good, nor bad, but is something to be considered. Eating a rough tough salad on a challenging day is….not going to lead to a really big challenging day for your gut, mind and body.
Right now, it makes sense to fixate on salad. It’s hot, our bodies need cooling, and all of us will want to avoid overheating as we navigate and play through our days. Salads are light, and keep our bodies light, vibrant and topped up with the best of the season.
Can you believe that there are more rules to salad than just EAT ONE? I know. It’s crazy. But a few things to consider before you swan dive into a big bowl of these beautiful goods:
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