Food Thoughts From My Nightstand

I just wrote this for the WE Cooperative CSA newsletter, but wanted to share it with my blog readers as well: Food Thoughts From My Nightstand [linked to WE Cooperative]

I read voraciously. My nightstand looks like the leaning tower of Pisa. No joke. Reading settles my mind and gets me ready for sleep. But it also invigorates me, stretching my mind and presenting me with new ideas. I guess I should specify that I read a lot of non-fiction.

Most of the time, the volumes are food-centric. I love anything by Mark Kurlansky, who has written tomes about salt, cod, oysters, and a fascinating portrait of food in America before we had interstate highways. And I just finished two books about bees and honey while I wrapped up an article about local beekeepers. But it's my latest arrival that I wanted to share with you.

I recently cracked the cover on Mark Bittman's Eat Vegan Before 6:00.

Having been a fan of Bittman's for awhile now, I probably would have bought it anyway. But I was intrigued by his flexible, sort-of vegan stance. I was a vegetarian for a greater part of a decade. But vegans...those people are hard-core. "Sort-of" or "part-time" wouldn't be how I would describe any vegans that I know.

I can never follow a diet. So, to restrict myself to a regimen without meat, eggs, dairy products and all other animal-derived ingredients while avoiding leather and wool, suffice it to say, I'm not that disciplined.

While I can't adhere to a diet like that, I can embrace the message of his book: eat more fruit , vegetables, and whole grains; eat less meat and processed foods; and enjoy your favorite foods occasionally.

That sounds utterly reasonable and do-able. And getting a CSA box definitely helps with that; my veggies for the week are all right there, ready to eat. Now I just need to get my caseophile-driven cravings in check.

What are you reading?

Comments

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