Getting Started

Although I had heard the title before, I stumbled upon Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon, very recently, with the help of this website. And I am extremely grateful that I did! It has been less than a week, but the benefits of the changes I've made in how we eat are very evident. 

I was raised in a home of good cooking and good eating. Our diets were guided by the sound principle of variety and the intentional application of this had great results. My mom, like her own mom, knows how to cook and to cook well, so our food was always abundant, appealing, and delicious. There were always vegetables on the table, from our garden whenever possible. But something I have learned during recent months has finally been confirmed by Sally's book: 

The quality of food is only as good as the quality of its production. 

We know this intuitively, right? But when a food looks and smells and tastes fine, we ask no questions about what's really inside. By production I do not mean preparation. I'm referring instead to the farming, processing, packaging, and distribution elements that go into the product before it even reaches our pantry. Every decision made at every stage of that process affects the nutritional fitness of the final result. This reality is rough terrain to discuss in some circles, and can be a touchy subject. I can understand the attachment a person has to his own preparation of food, and the desire to be seen as doing well by those eating his food. However, when the fault for nutrient-poor food is not that of its chef, but that of those farther up the chain, who better than that very chef to turn around and fight back with whatever utensil he has in hand?

Better yet, I'm fighting with my wallet. The grocery stores see me less and less. The farmers sell me my food directly... more and more and more. Sorry, Trader Joe, but to me you are the middleman!