Eating In Line With My Values

I’m one of those left coast liberals who shops at Whole Foods, thinks Alice Waters and Michael Pollan are virtual deities when it comes to all things food, and who really, truly believes that organic, free range, wild, and grass-fed tastes better and is better for you. This isn’t to say that I don’t think the occasional guilty pleasure of a fast food meal has its place, but I do think that there’s far too much of it and too little of the healthy stuff on most of our tables.

But here’s the thing, since starting IE, I’ve been in such a rebellious mode. I’ve virtually abandoned my values when it comes to eating. If it’s quick, crappy, and full of empty calories, I’ve been stuffing it in my mouth. Seems I’ve been rebelling not only against diets but also against my own values about what constitutes good food.

Well, this weekend I’m taking a cooking class that’s all about cooking with produce from the farmers market and it’s reminding me of those values that have fallen by the wayside as of late. One of the things about living in California is that it’s really easy to take for granted how lucky we are when it comes to the year-round availability of amazing produce. Farmers markets are prolific in the Bay Area and San Francisco has one of the best in the country, if not the world. I occasionally venture to the farmers markets near my house if I can manage to rouse myself out of bed in time, and those little markets are perfectly good. But the San Francisco Ferry Plaza farmers market is in an entirely different league and I didn’t fully appreciate that until today.

My class started at the Ferry Plaza farmers market and we spent three hours shopping for all the ingredients that we would be cooking over our two-day class. The instructor talked about the different kinds of produce, how to pick and store it, and also had many of the vendors talk to us about the products. I’m a fairly adventurous eater, thankfully. There are definitely things I don’t like, but there aren’t many things I won’t at least try. One of the most amazing things about the class today is that both at the market and later at the class, I kept trying things that I have never cared for and found many that tasted absolutely amazing!

The pluots, which I actually do like, tasted so amazing they almost made me cry. If I could have, I would have bought a bushel of the peaches, which I don’t usually care for all that much. The blue cheese and eggplant, two things that I’ve never liked, were a revelation! In the class, I made a roasted yellow bell pepper soup, which I was certain I would hate, and I almost licked the bowl clean! Seriously, anyone who thinks that conventional produce is just as good as the fresh in-season stuff at the farmers market, is fooling himself. Even Whole Foods, which I love dearly, rarely has stuff that tastes as awesome as everything I tried today. I only wish everyone had access to such beautiful and delicious bounty. I don’t think it’s possible to be a fruit and veggie hater if you could have tasted the stuff I did today.

But that’s not all; the variety of other kinds of vendors at the market was truly impressive. All manner of seafood, meats, cheeses and other dairy products, and baked goods were being sold right alongside the produce. I really could have done almost all my shopping for the week at this market. It sort of made me embarrassed that I have this amazing resource right on my doorstep and that I don’t take advantage of it. Shame on me.

I’m not certain how long this desire to keep eating crappy foods is going to last. I have the feeling that I haven’t quite seen the last of it. But this class has at least revived my desire to eat more of the good stuff and to actually cook it myself (something else that I’ve been avoiding lately). And that’s a very good thing.