Frozen versus fresh: Will it surprise you to hear that I actually look for frozen vegetables and fruits whenever I intend to use them in a dish where their looks won't matter (for example: soups, smoothies, fruit sauces)? Frozen fruit and vegetables are picked at the height of their sweetness, freshness, and plenty, they are widely available, plus they are reasonably priced and require no cleaning. I throw frozen vegetables into soup (okra, peas, corn, broccoli, string beans, cauliflower, etc.) all the time and get great results. I make smoothies, fruit soups, and fruit sauces with frozen berries and other fruit, even eat them with yogurt and granola.
Frozen fruit and vegetables are picked at the height of their sweetnessUsing all frozen fruit accomplishes several good tasks in one fell swoop: no washing, which is a great plus when we are rushing; no adding sweeteners as they are already so sweet; and no adding ice (for smoothies), leaving their intense flavor undiluted. Granted, they don't look as pristine as their fresh counterparts, but so what, as long as you are not using them for strawberry tart or chocolate dipped fruit? Just make sure they have no sugar added (likewise, make sure your frozen vegetables have no sugar, salt, or other seasonings added). Fruits and vegetables aren't the only frozen foods worth using.
Recently my fish market salesman repeatedly called me to promote a new item on his product list: a slab of frozen vacuum-packed tuna that he assured me was sushi quality and as good as fresh-bought, at less than half the price. I had always used only fresh fish and was quite reticent about trying his frozen product, but he kept raving about it and begged me to give it a chance. He was wrong about only one thing: it was better than fresh. He got me, and quite a few others, totally hooked on the tuna, which requires absolutely nothing but a sprinkling of salt and pepper, and searing one minute on each side. What a treat! I urge you, go for it. Likewise, my friend Georganne recently brought me a most improbable—and unforgettable—souvenir from a family vacation in Alaska: a slab of frozen vacuum-packed Alaskan Salmon. I have never tasted salmon so fabulous before or since!
Reading labels—the whole picture: Manufacturers perceive, correctly it turns out, that we won't take the time to read the whole megillah (affectionate Jewish for "nine yards") on the labels. Good thing too, because if we did, we would probably never buy the products, laden as they are with all sorts of unpronounceable bad-bad-bad-for-you additives, preservatives, supplements and what not. To illustrate, I will take only one example: low carbs. I would hate to add myself to the glut of people who feed you a barrage of information on low-carb foods, which leaves me, for one, confused and not an ounce thinner.
Most manufacturing powers that be, only too happy that hardly anyone reads labels thoroughly if at all, pounce on the diet darling du jour, totally disregard the whole nutrition picture, take each ingredient out of its context, and replace carbs in their products with sugar and emollients, most often making them more caloric and infinitely less tasty. Just try some low-carb peanut butter and you will immediately see what I mean: it tastes revolting and has thirty more, not less, calories per serving. I ask you: who needs it? I just saw a low-carb cookie that listed its nutrition information, "serving size: 1/2 cookie, 180 calories" (promise!) and found it a real chutzpah: Half a cookie? Who eats half a cookie? What reckless manufacturer included 180 calories in half a cookie? Seriously, is the most important quality in a food that it be low in carbs, or even low in fat or high in fiber?
What reckless manufacturer included 180 calories in half a cookie?On the face of it, labels that advertise such things make the product sound like a good deal, that is, until we read on and realize that lower carb or fat or higher fiber was achieved at the cost of whopping quantities of sugar, dangerous artificial fats, enormous amounts of salt and, just as importantly, a great loss of flavor.
Author M.F.K. Fisher wrote the following about commercial bread, circa 1942: "We continue everywhere to buy the packaged monstrosities that lie, all sliced and tasteless, on the bread counters of the nation, and spend money and more money on pills containing the vitamins that have been removed at great cost from the wheat." Sixty-five years later, we only get more of the same in more sophisticated packages. Take a look at the "energy" drinks invading the supermarkets' and health food stores' shelves—energy we could all be getting in endless supply just by eating whole foods and nothing more.
I agree it is too time-consuming to go through the whole ingredient list on every food label (by the way, the longer the list, the further you should stay away from the product), but there are some items you should always look for.
Ideally, we want our food to be low in saturated fat, sodium, cholesterol, calories, and sugar and high in fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Of course, no one single food group will accomplish that, but this is our homework: any food item that has none of these assets (chips, fries, soda, hot dogs, store-bought cookies and cakes, and so on) is simply a waste of your time and calories, and takes the place of something much more enjoyable and profitable (popcorn, black chocolate, nuts, seeds, dried fruit, good fruit juices and teas, fruit, yogurt, good cereal, and so on).
Specialty food stores: Many food items take little or no room in your pantry or refrigerator, and if we have them on hand, will add interest and excitement to many simple dishes: saffron and other spices, un-sliced cheese, black chocolate, natural extracts and flavorings, whole grains and flours, teas (loose or in bags), coffees, whole-grain fat-free crackers, all-fruit jams and spreads, good olives, sun-dried tomatoes, dry wild mushrooms, natural oils, nuts, seeds, nut butters, dry fruit, vinegars, wine, rum, rice noodles. Whereas it would be daunting and expensive to try to get these items in a fancy neighborhood store, it would be much more fun and time and cost-effective to go to a well-stocked health food, specialty, or ethnic foods store where you can get these items in larger amounts, straight out of bins or in generic containers, without the hype of fancy labeling and packaging.
It would be much more cost-effective to go to a well-stocked health food, specialty, or ethnic foods storeSome unprocessed or minimally processed canned or bottled products are good and very useful to have on hand: all-fruit jams, beans, tomatoes, coffee, roasted peppers, beets, tuna, sardines, anchovies, and lemon juice, to name a few. Dry herbs are acceptable when fresh are not at hand (all but garlic and onion, which are acceptable only in their original fresh form).
Imitation flavorings: I have the dubious distinction of living on top of a diner that is open 24/7. Yet in all the years I've lived here, I can't remember once being drawn by the smells emanating from it. However, it does throw me back, albeit unwittingly, to an earlier period of my life when I lived near a bakery whose constant heavenly emanations made me weak at the knees. The little doggy in me (and, I'll bet, in all of us) is very attracted to aromas and sights first and to flavors second. What's there to get excited about in the diner's concoctions? Eggs and fries spewing noxious smells of rancid shortenings, melted fake cheese, neon-colored drinks, and mushy hot cereal…
The bakery of my childhood, by contrast, positively vibrated with the aromas of real chocolate, real vanilla, real coffee, real butter, real lemon. Just thinking about it makes my tongue smile even after all these years. Nothing, nothing, replaces the real thing. Same goes for real versus imitation cheese, wine versus cooking wine, black chocolate versus commercial chocolate bars, to name just a few. Why, you might ask? Because they contain only trace amounts of cheese, wine, or chocolate, and the rest is a long tedious list of hideous things you should never put in your mouth.
The difference in price between the real thing and its lackluster commercial counterpart, if any, is negligible, but the rewards are infinite; we are satisfied after a reasonable helping of something genuine and wholesome and, having hit the spot, we stop searching. Why eat globs of some mediocre institutional ice cream if you can have one perfect scoop and be happy? Why eat a dozen institutional cookies in just a few minutes, when you can make four dozen perfect cookies, store them in a tin, and eat a couple at a time? Those muffins we buy with such abandon, thinking we are doing the healthy thing, often come from an insipid mix and have about 700 calories apiece. How about whipping up a dozen from-scratch muffins in five minutes, eating one (about 300 calories) and freezing the rest for later use?
We are satisfied after a reasonable helping of something genuine and wholesomeNaturally less addictive because it contains much less sugar, fat, and salt, homemade is much superior in every way imaginable. Remember, a finished homemade product made from real ingredients is always much greater than the sum of its parts, however modest.
Mixed spreads: I recently spotted at the supermarket a big box of little boxes containing a mixture of peanut butter and jelly. The selling point, printed in bright bold letters, was that you need not bother to spread both peanut butter and jelly. Plus, it was portion controlled so you would not be tempted to eat more. As if, Heaven forbid, I was too disabled to spread some peanut butter on a piece of toast, then take another five seconds and spread jam over it. Besides, what would prevent anyone from wiping out the whole big box of little boxes? For this great service the manufacturer was providing, I did the math and found that the mixture cost, ounce for ounce, was about eight times the price of peanut butter and jelly sold in separate containers.
I can name many such examples, but I will keep the list short and I have no doubt you will catch my drift: a carton of egg whites is about six times the price of its whole egg counterpart and saves you only the time it would take to separate the egg whites from the yolks (say, one minute). You can buy granola yogurt, a container of yogurt topped with a tiny container of granola, for about double what it would cost to stir a little granola from your cupboard into a container of yogurt. The latest innovation is an open-and-squeeze Ziplock bag of tuna which costs more than double its canned counterpart, all because it affords me the luxury of not having to use a can opener: how nice! Then comes the pre-soaped steel wool pads, the pre-sprayed polishing cloths, and many more; I throw up my hands! It just has to go, period.
Getting prepared meals delivered: Many diet programs make extravagant promises no one ever seems to cash in on, or at least not for very long, or else why do so many of us keep gaining all those unsightly pounds? Their appeal is roughly, "Lose weight on our diet, the delicious and inexpensive way, without ever cooking or doing the math or doing anything at all. Our talented chefs and expert nutritionists will do it all for you, and you will soon be joining the club of happy, attractive men and women."
The single greatest diet and nutrition tool is behavior modificationIt seems to me this is bound to set back our relationship with food even further. None of us has one solitary example of acquiring something without doing anything to earn it (even those fortunate few who hit the jackpot had to buy a lottery ticket!). The very few diet plans that call for our personal involvement in the preparation and consumption of our food are the most successful and get us the most lasting results. Plus, we have fun doing it and eating with our family and friends. No, we don't need to open our door and find a bag containing our daily food supply, unless we are old and incapacitated. (Which reminds me—thank goodness for all those wonderful volunteer organizations which keep the elderly well provided for and preserve their dignity at a nominal price. Incidentally, these are the very people who could use soap-soaked pads, nut butter and jam spreads and so on, but who unfortunately most often cannot afford these costly commodities.)
The single greatest diet and nutrition tool is behavior modification, and the single greatest behavior modification tool consists in acquiring a better knowledge of—and establishing a relationship with—what we are ingesting, for our sake as well as that of everyone entrusted in our care. Why not learn to relate to food, since we use it all day long, every day of our lives? Understanding our food is easy, fun, and liberating, and the health rewards are endless and permanent.
LOGIN
ASK THE RABBI
Comment
