A Healthy Guide to Sustainable Eating
I've been watching the fad of low carb diets with a lot of interest, especially as the Atkins, South Beach, and other low-carb diets reduced bread consumption in the US by 40% in 2003 [USA Today, et al], and even was recently blamed by Krispy Kreme as one of the reasons it posted a loss in its most recent quarterly earnings report.
Around the holiday season last year, a whole flock of people in my office went on South Beach together. They all lost a very impressive amount of weight in a short time, and with limited exception, have all put at least some of it back on again, and none are still on it (or claim they're on a "modified" version of it).
This isn't meant to debunk the low-carb diets out there. A friend of mine on Atkins is doing very well on it (and grumbles that he is consistently about 2 lbs behind me our mutual weight loss - amusingly, between us we've lost about 88% of what his wife weighs). A couple I know have done and continue to follow South Beach and look great.
But when I began my own personal quest for weight loss, fitness, and overall general health improvement, I did some research into some of the more popular plans out there, including Atkins and South Beach, and concluded they weren't for me. Quackwatch had this to say on the subject of low-carb diets "Many promoters of dietary schemes would have us believe that a special substance or combination of foods will automatically result in weight reduction. That's simply not true. To lose weight, you must eat less, or exercise more, or do both." cf. http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/lcd.html.
One of the reasons neither Atkins nor South Beach appealed to me is they both involve denial. In both of their respective induction phases, where most of the weight loss is water (albeit I must admit losing 10-15 lbs in two weeks is very motivating!), you're essentially not allowed to eat any carbohydrates. No bread, rice, pasta, or potatoes. No fruit. Certain vegetables are also out.
I can readily see the psychological appeal of restricted diets - go forth ye sinner, and eat no more of the things that art making thou fat! Not so long ago, fat was the culprit. Today its carbs. Tomorrow... Well, there's already talk that Atkins is going to have an IPO. Low carb is less and less a diet story and more and more a business one. Everywhere you go now, there are low carb options on menus, low carb bread (say what?), even low carb pizza (thank you Panago). Some of these things might even taste good (and from experience, some of them do).
Well, I'm going to stand up and say "I like carbs! Carbs are good!" The development of agriculture and the processes to turn grain into flour and the resultant discovery of bread (and beer! How can we forget beer!) were not the original harbingers of the end of western civilization - after all, in Europe, Italians happily continue to eat pasta (Mmm, pasta!).
Indeed, if you asked the average Italian if they were "watching their carb intake", you'd get "che cosa?" in response.
So, what's was wrong with what I was eating? Generally, nothing - I eat local seasonal fresh as much as possible, I avoid processed, I don't do McD's...
So I consulted with my doctor (he being a very supportive doc) and I came up with what I've dubbed the "Reasonable Food Plan", which runs like so...
The Basic Plan
Breakfast - oatmeal (or cereal, or a bagel). Essentially, something with a lot of complex carbs to keep my metabolism happy and fuelled until lunch.
Between breakfast and lunch - 2-3 pieces of fruit, carrots or other
crunchy veg, nuts, cheese.
Lunch - Lunch is the main meal of day. Pizza, pasta, soup, sandwiches, burgers, fancy salads... This is when I eat them.
After 2pm, nothing til dinner.
Dinner - Dinner consists of a portion protein and vegetables. Too many examples to list, but consider for example an 8oz steak with a nice fresh salad (incluing dressing).
Nothing after 8pm until breakfast the next morning.
Here's why I think it works:
Key - You need lots of energy first thing in the morning and also at lunch to sustain you through the day. In the evenings, not so much. Carbs give tons of energy, so why not have them early and for lunch.
So really what I have achieved is to eat food when my body really needs it, and not when it doesn't. By not eating anything after 2pm, I'm forcing my body to use up what I had for lunch, or to burn fat. In the evenings, a light meal of protein and vegetables satisfies hunger without overdoing portion.
A side benefit of having my main meal at lunch time is I'm usually not very hungry at dinner time. I believe that this more than anything has reduced the amount I eat because seconds don't look as tempting as they once did - I'm already full!
Another reason it works for me is there's nothing forbidden on the food list. I don't have to cut anything out. Foie gras for lunch? Why not!
Of course, the devil is always in the details. Coffee? Beer? Wine? That fancy dinner invitation at Le Crocodile, (which is hardly a place where the words "low carb" can be uttered with any sincerity)? How much salad dressing?
Let me take you through a relatively representative week.
Breakfast is easy - Tuesday and Thursday I go work out at the Y, and I always go to the Starbucks across the street and have a "grande" skim milk latte (and for the record, I've always had skim milk drinks since I like the flavour better), and once I get to the office, I have oatmeal and a banana. On the mornings I'm home, I have a bowl of cereal, and occasionally a bagel. On the weekends, usually on Sunday, I like to indulge in bacon and eggs or waffles.
Lunch - again, I usually bring my own, and a typical lunch bag has a large sandwich (today it happens to be Montreal smoked meat with cheese on my home baked light rye, cheese, an apple, a banana, a bag of carrots, and yogourt). Once a week, my friend and I go to my favourite diner and I'll have a bowl of soup and the reuben on rye or the monte cristo, or maybe the special of the day will catch my eye. I sometimes even ask for a salad instead of fries.
Dinner - Monday night I made a smoked turkey fritatta (eggs, smoked turkey, leeks, and mushrooms). Tonight will be leftover sauerbraten (a German delicacy for those not in the know) with gravy and probably steamed carrots. Last week I grilled steaks to be served with a salad, and the night before that we had a take out chicken from Costco and broccoli.
Several times a week, I'll have some dark chocolate after dinner. On Saturdays after shopping on the Drive, I go to Cafe Calabria and have a cappucino and an Italian pastry before lunch. I often have coffee in the mornings, especially with my young daughter interrupting my sleep.
Also, one day a week I 'cheat' and eat whatever I want. Right now, my 'cheat' day is Saturday, but if I know I'm going out for a fancy dinner at Le Crocodile then I adjust accordingly.
This food plan is less a restriction diet than shifting when I eat what I eat.
To date, since my birthday in 2003, I've lost 60lbs.
The only exercise I do is I go to the gym 2x a week and do 45-60 minutes of the power pacing (aka spin) class (depending how early I need to be in the office - the class is at 6:15am). As the weight's come off, I've experienced the usual "more energy" and now walk more than I used to. I even go for long bike rides around Stanley Park now.
But that's another essay all on its own.
11 May 2005
In der Bar Zum Krokodil
In der Bar zum Krokodil[1]
[I originally wrote this in May of 2004, but had not yet published this]
Allow me to state my preferences up front – of all the various gastronomic delights it has been my pleasure to experience, the cuisine offered by the Alsace is my absolute favourite. The combination of wines, the best whites in world as far as my palate goes, and the best both German and French influences can provide on the table make it unbeatable in my books.
While I was taking my intermediate certificate in wine and spirits from the Wine Spirit Education Trust earlier in 2004, Mark Davidson told us on the evening we were sampling wines from Alsace that the annual “Festival du Choucroute” would be happening at Le Crocodile very soon. My wife and I made reservations and had one of the finest meals of our lives.
When the opportunity arose to spend an evening at Dubrulle and be entertained by Chef Michel from Le Crocodile, learn some of his tricks and recipes, and have his sommelier match nice Alsace varietal wines with each dish, I had to go of course!
Of the dishes demonstrated that evening, one was a combination I never would have thought of myself – choucroute au poisson. Sauerkraut with fish! Fish! Now, when I think of choucroute, I think of pork hock, sausage, bacon, and smoked pork chops. With fresh water fish, trout, perch, pike, and a little beurre blanc, choucroute becomes a light airy dish.
At the end of the evening, after sampling classic Alsace dishes such as tarte a l’oignon, tarte flambée, terrine de foie gras, the aforementioned choucroute, and for dessert a delicious serving of beignets de pommes, Chef Michel said “I have a large kitchen”, and if anybody were interested we could come visit his restaurant and spend the evening in the kitchen.
This was an opportunity not to be missed. I have always been curious about how a restaurant kitchen operates. With the opportunity and personal invitation of Michel after class, (“ne vous gêné pas!”), I had no excuses. Two weeks later, after making arrangements with my beautiful wife and two week old daughter to indulge my gastronomic hobby, I arrived at Le Crocodile at 6pm.
I was introduced to Frank, who is the head chef. He has been working there for ten years and claims to have never eaten in the restaurant. “When the restaurant is open, I am working in the kitchen.” Frank runs the kitchen at lunch and is Michel’s right hand man during dinner. Frank procured me a chef’s jacket and then introduced me around and gave me a tour.
The kitchen is darker than I expected, although quite adequately lit for the work that will be done that evening. There are nine people working that evening, and three guests visiting including myself. Saturday evenings are busy and roughly 110 people will be dining in the restaurant tonight.
The kitchen is reasonably sized, and there is no wasted space. Counters run along all four walls and there are two long cooking areas in the central area. The one closest to the dining room is the final plating and pick up area. It also has the small printer that spits out the orders the waiters enter on the terminal outside.
The other cooking area has the grill and cook top for sauces on one side, and the hot entrée and deep-frying area on the other. The walk-in refrigerator and the door to one of the wine storage rooms are beyond that. In the corner is the freezer where the ice cream and other frozen items are kept.
Kelly is one of two hot entrée cooks.
Julie is the pastry chef. Frank does the sauces.
The restaurant business is hard. The working conditions are physically demanding. The kitchen, especially in summer, is unbearably hot.
Michel is a genial host and we were served with a Kir, which is a drink made from white wine with a few drops of cassis. Not long after, we were given a little amuse-bouche to tempt our palates, a foie gras tart. As Kelly said, “these things are pure fat. Your taste buds love you but your arteries hate you.”
A professional kitchen never wastes anything. Since foie gras does not come in convenient uniform sizes that let you make rounds and rounds of it, there are inevitably a few end pieces left. So the surplus pieces were used to make the tarts.
Tartelettes au Foie Gras
6 egg yolks
1 litre of cream
100g foie gras
The pace at the beginning of the evening is slow. Everyone in the kitchen is happy to talk to us – it is obvious that they have had visitors before and that they even enjoy it, especially since it is pretty easy to stay out of the way.
8:30 was the peak busy time and nobody was talking anymore. Chef Michel and Frank would call out orders and the various folks would call the order back and start preparing them. Even though everyone was now working quickly, it was very orderly.
A second round of Kir arrived, as well as a sample of tomato-gin soup. I am fond neither of gin, nor in general of tomato soup, but the combination was fabulous – I would happily order it any time.
A third round of Kir magically appeared, as well as some escargots.
A fourth (and final) round of Kir was served to us, and we were invited to have a table in the dining room. By then I was quite full, but I ordered the white asparagus with seared foie gras with morel sauce, one of the entrée[2] specials that evening, and asked the waiter to have Julie to pick a dessert for me. She sent out the mille feuille de bananes flambé au rhum[3]. Delicious.
Le Crocodile is not an inexpensive restaurant. However, it is excellent value for the money. http://www.lecrocodilerestaurant.com/
[1] I cannot resist a good pun. The Alsace was “traded” between Germany and France for a significant part of its history, Le Crocodile has a bar, and the Comedian Harmonists have a song called “In der Bar zum Krokodil”.
[2] Entrée in this case means appetizer.
[3] Warm Sauteed Banana Mille Feuille Flambeed with Cuban Rum
The Magazine Seven
The Magnificent Seven
I enjoy cooking. A lot. I've even considered becoming a professional chef but the harsh reality is the people who prepare food in restaurants make very little money for what's ultimately very demanding physical labour. I have spent some time in professional kitchens (as a visitor) and culinary schools (as a participant). I'm reminded every time I dine out that when food arrives at my table not only at the same time as everyone else I'm dining with but also that it is indeed what I ordered, that it's quite the achievement.
As much as I enjoy cooking though, I enjoy reading about all things gastronomical every bit as much. In addition to several shelves filled with cookery books in all three languages I can read, I recently came to the realization that I have subscriptions to no less than seven culinary periodicals! So, in order to assuage my conscience about spending so much money on magazines, here is my review of the seven I subscribe to.
The seven fall into three broad categories - general interest including food and travel and the odd serious article (Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, and Gourmet), culinary arts (Fine Cooking), and gastronomy in the academic sense of the word (Gastronomica, Slow).
BON APPETIT (12 issues a year)
Bon Appetit is a magazine I have subscribed to on and off over the years. My current subscription was prompted by an offer from the publisher of the "professional rate" of $24 a year. The writing is decent and the articles in general are a nice mix of restaurant reviews and travel articles (more on that later).
However, the very nice thing about Bon Appetit is they are geared for people who like to entertain and every issue will have several set menus for various sized groups. For instance, they might have a Sunday brunch for six, a summer babecue party for ten, and a formal dinner for eight, all in the same issue. For $2 an issue, it's worth getting.
Bon Appetit and its sister publication Gourmet are both on the web at http://www.epicurious.com.
FINE COOKING (6 issues a year)
Fine Cooking is published by Taunton Press, who have an entire line of Fine [insert here] publications.
This magazine is like subscribing to a cookbook. Every issue has tips and tricks, talks about how to prepare the various dishes presented, and at the back there's even a pull out section pre-perforated to pull out and add to your three ring personal cookbook binder.
Fine Cooking also publishes a compendium of the previous year's issues in one nice hardcover volume, but I enjoy the regular arrivals in my mailbox too much to only buy something once a year. Consider too that what's in season will be reflected in the current issue, so it wouldn't do me any good to read all about everything I can do with strawberries in the middle of winter!
Fine Cooking's web site is http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/index.asp
FOOD & WINE (12 issues a year)
I subscribe to Food & Wine mainly for two reasons - Lettie Teague's monthly wine column, and the monthly food and wine pairing. Lettie Teague writes well and from month to month you can expect anything from the current serial on educating someone in the art of wine appreciation to sampling home brew wines in California to the latest wines from Tuscany or New Zealand or Australia.
The monthly food and wine pairing is always a fun read. Couscous stuffed chicken breasts with a pinot noir, anyone? One of the challenges with wine is often what to pair it with, and vice versa. It's always nice to get some good ideas.
The recipes in Food & Wine are usually quite good too. Most recently I made a Turkish eggplant and lentil stew. Each issue also has a very nice recipe index including colour coded dots to indicate for example if the recipe is something you can make ahead.
There is also enough miscellany and interesting articles to keep me entertained each month.
If there's a quibble with Food & Wine it's that the editor, Dana Corwin, is forever having some party or attending some gala event, and uses the magazine to give her a lot of "face time" in the pages of each issue.
Every year, Food & Wine publishes a cookbook containing all the prevoius years recipes from the magazine (e.g. Food & Wine 2004 has all the recipes from the 2003 issues) and a cookbook called "The Best of the Best [year]" which has a seletion of recipes from the best cookbooks published in the previous year as selected by the editors.
On the web at http://www.foodandwine.com.
GASTRONOMICA (4 issues a year)
Published quarterly by the University of California Davis, Gastronomica is a peer reviewed journal of food and culture. The content varies from issue to issue, but I happened to buy an issue at Barbara Jo's about two years ago and have been hooked ever since. Indeed, since the issue I bought was only the fourth one ever, I bought the three back issues I was missing and now have a complete (and ongoing) set.
So what made me buy the first issue? An article about Smuckers and their patent application for frozen crustless peanut butter and jam sandwiches of all things.
In general, the magazine has all manner of interesting topics on food and culture. Articles on etymology of food words, art exhibits that are about or incorporate food, art history of food related tableauxs, general articles about food in history from both technical scientific and ethnographic perspectives. Some of the articles are about current issues, such as the consumption of "bush food" including great apes and chimps in Africa and the increased poaching of same made easy by the construction of logging roads in their traditional habitats.
One of the most fascinating articles was about eating clay, a practice that is still widespread in parts of the world, including the northern Andes where potatoes, the original kind that are very high in alkalis unlike the more bland and palatable ones we find on our grocery store shelves, are eaten with a clay slurry.
For people interested in a diverse array of food and culture related topics, highly recomended.
On the web at http://www.gastronomica.org.
GOURMET (12 issues a year)
Gourmet has long been one of my favourites. It has its ups and downs, but especially since Ruth Reichl took over the helm as editor, the writing has been excellent; about three or four times a year they have articles about food science, such as the recent one about trans fats.
Gourmet strikes the right balance between travel articles and food articles, and the recipes are generally all a lot of fun. Some of them are quite challenging, but there's also a section for fast cooking and of the "five ingredients and 30 minutes" variety.
Gourmet publishes a "best of" cookbook every year.
As with its sister publication Bon Appetit, can be found on the web at http://www.epicurious.com.
NORTHWEST PALATE (8 issues a year)
Northwest Palate is a regional magazine covering BC, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Most of each issue is devoted to listing events happening in this part of the world, but there is a fair amount of coverage for local new restaurants, wine reviews, profiles of tourist destinations, what's in season now, and of course, some recipes.
Here's a small sample of the kind of thing you'll find in Northwest Palate - for a local, seasonal, and fresh perspective on fast food, try Burgerville, which only uses ingredients sourced in the Pacific Northwest and has different milkshakes depending on the time of year and Walla Walla onion rings in the summer.
On the web at http://www.nwpalate.com
SLOW (4 issues a year)
Slow is a strange one. It comes with my membership in Slow Food International. Some issues I wonder what this strange publication that's arrived in my house is. Other issues I find I want to read cover to cover. More often it's the former.
On the web at http://www.slowfood.com and locally at http://www.slowfoodvancouver.com.
So which one's my favourite? Gastronomica. I read every issue cover to cover.
I enjoy cooking. A lot. I've even considered becoming a professional chef but the harsh reality is the people who prepare food in restaurants make very little money for what's ultimately very demanding physical labour. I have spent some time in professional kitchens (as a visitor) and culinary schools (as a participant). I'm reminded every time I dine out that when food arrives at my table not only at the same time as everyone else I'm dining with but also that it is indeed what I ordered, that it's quite the achievement.
As much as I enjoy cooking though, I enjoy reading about all things gastronomical every bit as much. In addition to several shelves filled with cookery books in all three languages I can read, I recently came to the realization that I have subscriptions to no less than seven culinary periodicals! So, in order to assuage my conscience about spending so much money on magazines, here is my review of the seven I subscribe to.
The seven fall into three broad categories - general interest including food and travel and the odd serious article (Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, and Gourmet), culinary arts (Fine Cooking), and gastronomy in the academic sense of the word (Gastronomica, Slow).
BON APPETIT (12 issues a year)
Bon Appetit is a magazine I have subscribed to on and off over the years. My current subscription was prompted by an offer from the publisher of the "professional rate" of $24 a year. The writing is decent and the articles in general are a nice mix of restaurant reviews and travel articles (more on that later).
However, the very nice thing about Bon Appetit is they are geared for people who like to entertain and every issue will have several set menus for various sized groups. For instance, they might have a Sunday brunch for six, a summer babecue party for ten, and a formal dinner for eight, all in the same issue. For $2 an issue, it's worth getting.
Bon Appetit and its sister publication Gourmet are both on the web at http://www.epicurious.com.
FINE COOKING (6 issues a year)
Fine Cooking is published by Taunton Press, who have an entire line of Fine [insert here] publications.
This magazine is like subscribing to a cookbook. Every issue has tips and tricks, talks about how to prepare the various dishes presented, and at the back there's even a pull out section pre-perforated to pull out and add to your three ring personal cookbook binder.
Fine Cooking also publishes a compendium of the previous year's issues in one nice hardcover volume, but I enjoy the regular arrivals in my mailbox too much to only buy something once a year. Consider too that what's in season will be reflected in the current issue, so it wouldn't do me any good to read all about everything I can do with strawberries in the middle of winter!
Fine Cooking's web site is http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/index.asp
FOOD & WINE (12 issues a year)
I subscribe to Food & Wine mainly for two reasons - Lettie Teague's monthly wine column, and the monthly food and wine pairing. Lettie Teague writes well and from month to month you can expect anything from the current serial on educating someone in the art of wine appreciation to sampling home brew wines in California to the latest wines from Tuscany or New Zealand or Australia.
The monthly food and wine pairing is always a fun read. Couscous stuffed chicken breasts with a pinot noir, anyone? One of the challenges with wine is often what to pair it with, and vice versa. It's always nice to get some good ideas.
The recipes in Food & Wine are usually quite good too. Most recently I made a Turkish eggplant and lentil stew. Each issue also has a very nice recipe index including colour coded dots to indicate for example if the recipe is something you can make ahead.
There is also enough miscellany and interesting articles to keep me entertained each month.
If there's a quibble with Food & Wine it's that the editor, Dana Corwin, is forever having some party or attending some gala event, and uses the magazine to give her a lot of "face time" in the pages of each issue.
Every year, Food & Wine publishes a cookbook containing all the prevoius years recipes from the magazine (e.g. Food & Wine 2004 has all the recipes from the 2003 issues) and a cookbook called "The Best of the Best [year]" which has a seletion of recipes from the best cookbooks published in the previous year as selected by the editors.
On the web at http://www.foodandwine.com.
GASTRONOMICA (4 issues a year)
Published quarterly by the University of California Davis, Gastronomica is a peer reviewed journal of food and culture. The content varies from issue to issue, but I happened to buy an issue at Barbara Jo's about two years ago and have been hooked ever since. Indeed, since the issue I bought was only the fourth one ever, I bought the three back issues I was missing and now have a complete (and ongoing) set.
So what made me buy the first issue? An article about Smuckers and their patent application for frozen crustless peanut butter and jam sandwiches of all things.
In general, the magazine has all manner of interesting topics on food and culture. Articles on etymology of food words, art exhibits that are about or incorporate food, art history of food related tableauxs, general articles about food in history from both technical scientific and ethnographic perspectives. Some of the articles are about current issues, such as the consumption of "bush food" including great apes and chimps in Africa and the increased poaching of same made easy by the construction of logging roads in their traditional habitats.
One of the most fascinating articles was about eating clay, a practice that is still widespread in parts of the world, including the northern Andes where potatoes, the original kind that are very high in alkalis unlike the more bland and palatable ones we find on our grocery store shelves, are eaten with a clay slurry.
For people interested in a diverse array of food and culture related topics, highly recomended.
On the web at http://www.gastronomica.org.
GOURMET (12 issues a year)
Gourmet has long been one of my favourites. It has its ups and downs, but especially since Ruth Reichl took over the helm as editor, the writing has been excellent; about three or four times a year they have articles about food science, such as the recent one about trans fats.
Gourmet strikes the right balance between travel articles and food articles, and the recipes are generally all a lot of fun. Some of them are quite challenging, but there's also a section for fast cooking and of the "five ingredients and 30 minutes" variety.
Gourmet publishes a "best of" cookbook every year.
As with its sister publication Bon Appetit, can be found on the web at http://www.epicurious.com.
NORTHWEST PALATE (8 issues a year)
Northwest Palate is a regional magazine covering BC, Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Most of each issue is devoted to listing events happening in this part of the world, but there is a fair amount of coverage for local new restaurants, wine reviews, profiles of tourist destinations, what's in season now, and of course, some recipes.
Here's a small sample of the kind of thing you'll find in Northwest Palate - for a local, seasonal, and fresh perspective on fast food, try Burgerville, which only uses ingredients sourced in the Pacific Northwest and has different milkshakes depending on the time of year and Walla Walla onion rings in the summer.
On the web at http://www.nwpalate.com
SLOW (4 issues a year)
Slow is a strange one. It comes with my membership in Slow Food International. Some issues I wonder what this strange publication that's arrived in my house is. Other issues I find I want to read cover to cover. More often it's the former.
On the web at http://www.slowfood.com and locally at http://www.slowfoodvancouver.com.
So which one's my favourite? Gastronomica. I read every issue cover to cover.
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