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May 21, 2005
What's Your Favorite Color Food?
Fruitgirl raised an interesting point off-blog this morning... what color food are you attracted to? It was in the context of mentioning the Orange One, whom she abbreviated as OO. Made me think of the first time I read the abbreviation "evoo" and thought Kenton was talking about some kind of Star Wars creature. It was about twenty-four hours before I figured out that he was referring to extra virgin olive oil.
For those of you who don't know, the Orange One (aka Genius Boy, MR, and a few others that are none of your business... the Orange One has many god names) has a slightly orange tint to his skin because he's very pale to begin with and eats a whole lot of natural beta carotene in vegetables. He eats quite a bit of orange, and there's also beta carotene in green veggies like kale.
Fruitgirl says she's attracted to green foods, for the chlorophyll. It got me thinking about how powerful color is in our food choices, at least for those of us who aren't color blind.
I am attracted to red foods, but I wonder if that's just a function of the fact that I'm obsessed with tomatoes. I would eat tomato foods for every meal if I could, and I often do. A pint of grape tomatoes, barbeque sauce on my eggwhites, a can of stewed tomatoes in my evening soup, etc. I also love red peppers, both raw and roasted. When I was a kid, like most kids, I liked the cherry and strawberry candies. I also like red Twizzlers.
My step-brother used to only like white foods. Mashed potatoes, vanilla ice cream, white bread... you get the idea. For his birthday my step-mother would make him a white cake with vanilla icing. I liked devil's food cakes, even though I was not a huge chocolate person. I think I just liked the name. I was such a good kid that I had to express my bad girl tendancies through the name of my birthday cake flavor.
The associate pastor of the church where I grew up would eat nothing green. No green vegetables. Not even lime jello. That can't be healthy... I mean the lack of green vegetables, not the lack of lime jello. One can live without lime jello, though I'll admit I did enjoy the 10 calories of sugar free lime jello MR made for us last time I was visiting.
The now retiring president of my union will eat salads and green vegetables, but she won't eat anything green and creamy. She is viscerally horrified by anything green and creamy. Guacamole, cream of broccoli soup, etc. She can't even watch someone else eat it.
She says there's a story behind this, but that if she told us we would be grossed out forever. When a nurse says that something is too gross to tell you, do not push her further. She's right.
Remember the story of how I was making dinner for MR and turned the cauliflower soup light pink? He didn't mind at all, but I was horrified. Food, it seems, should not be pink. Even those sheet cakes with strawberry icing are kinda scary.
Some people avoid black foods. They don't like licorice, won't eat black olives, etc.
Presentation is so important in the way we perceive our food. I often think that people taste the presentation more than they taste the flavor. When I'm serving a meal, I really enjoy messing around with different dishes and garnishes and pretty things. I love to light candles, get out the pretty dishes and the linen napkins, and serve a beautiful meal.
When I was a vegan and hanging out with a whole lot of anarchists who used to have potlucks, I lived with a man who was an amazing vegan cook. He had this theory that you should never take a stew to a potluck, because people associate vegan stews with tastelessness. He called it "vegan slop" and carefully avoided bringing anything vaguely like that to a potluck. No matter how good it tastes, the second people are confronted with a pot of vegan stew at a potluck, they want to run to the nearest McDonald's.
I really like to serve and eat soups and stews, so I've worked at how to present them such that they don't seem like slop. I often serve a colorful soup in a pretty mug in the middle of a white plate full of colorful vegetables.
One of MR's regular meals has a bunch of colorful side dishes: homemade pickles, eggwhites, blood oranges, hazelnuts. It's fun to work around the plate eating the little goodies up. It's also entertaining when he makes this dinner to see his giant portions and my little baby portions. Watching MR eat vegetables makes me understand how giraffes can eat tons and tons of leaves and stay so thin and gorgeous. There's something naturally graceful about critters that are tall and skinny... giraffes, fashion models, tall men who do hardcore CR. They can also reach things on high shelves, which is useful to those of us who are under 5'2". I mean, the tall men and fashion models can. Giraffes, as far as I know, don't have hands, and therefore might be perplexed by a request that they remove the Vitamix from the top shelf in the kitchen. Of course by that time the question would be, what is a giraffe doing in the kitchen? But I digress.
I'm sure there's an evolutionary reason why we're attracted to phytochemical filled yummy foods that are good for us. It's sad that so many people have been brainwashed into avoiding these foods in favor of processed white gak. In fact, there are whole diets based on the idea that you should eat nothing white. People are such cheaters though... I can imagine dieters using food coloring to turn their pasta blue and claiming that they were following the rules, then complaining that the diet doesn't work.
Today I'm going to have a beautiful colorful dinner because I'm taking my mom to the Ruby Tuesday's salad bar! It's just amazing... the mind boggles at the number and quality of gorgeous veggies, beans and fruits. I'm having a light day today in preparation, and also to wash out the side effects of that high calorie day on Wednesday that seems to still be messing with me. I had my breakfast late (you know what I ate for breakfast, there's no point in telling you for the zillionth time) and we're going for dinner at five, before it gets crowded, so I won't be eating lunch. I was planning to go to an event and potluck at the home of some new friends tonight, but the plan changed so I get a quiet evening that I hadn't planned on. I'm sad that my event got cancelled... was really looking forward to hanging out with my new friends and also to showing off my potluck cooking skills (no vegan slop!) but truth be told, I probably need the rest. It's been a very busy week, and next week will be brutal. We're down to the wire in contract negotiations, and I'll be making approximately 400 phone calls to nurses to keep them updated on what's going on, in addition to helping out in negotiations and doing anything that needs to be done.
Did I tell you guys about my new shoes? VLC decided that I was no longer allowed to wear those square toed Mary Jane type shoes I'd been wearing since the CRS conference... they were too beat up and just not cool enough... so we went to DSW shoe warehouse and I got a pair of nice black pointy toe pumps. They are so cool. I feel very fashionable with pointy toes. And get this... I've lost half a shoe size! I used to be a 6.5 - 7... now I'm a 6 - 6.5! My mom lost a whole shoe size when she lost 70 pounds, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I've lost 35 pounds and a half size. Still, it's an unexpected and entertaining side effect. I wonder if MR lost any shoe sizes when he started CR... I'll have to ask. I'm thinking not because he often wears these shiny black Canadian army boots that I think are really cool, and I know he's had them since pre-CR.
I almost forgot to tell you that I never ended up going to the restaurant last night! I had to pick up my mom from the airport and her plane was very late, so I couldn't go! But thanks for all the suggestions... wasn't that a fun game??? My plan was to eat the mushrooms stuffed with lump crab meat and an insalata gardenia (garden salad, I presume, though my Italian is rusty) with just vinegar. Alas, I didn't get to try out my choices. It was tons of fun to read all your suggestions... thanks to all!
Okay now I'm just chatting, running the clock to put off doing the laundry and trying to come up with a clever last line.
How about this:
Eat fewer Calories.
And don't dye your pasta blue.
Posted by april at May 21, 2005 12:59 PM
Comments
check out gabriel cousens RAINBOW DIET book.
first real book i ever read about food values.
i'd imagine red tomatoes, pointy shoes and your
hair all makes an inspiring vision. besides red is love.
have to attend potluck tonight. lettuce eat lettuce.
xo,the G.O. (FKA fruitgirl)
Posted by: fruitgirl at May 21, 2005 10:35 AM
Blueberries! I can't seem to go an hour without eating blueberries any more. Just can't get enough navy blue.
But my recent color fetish is not one color, but the brilliant summery combination of four: blueberries, strawberries, apricots, and kiwi fruit. They're just so beeyootiful together.
Now this is an embarrassing confession, so just as well it's hidden back in the comments section of your log instead of on the front page of mine: I own a horrid kitschy coloring book called something like "The Great Masters Paint By Number Book." I've been using the pages as templates and summer fruit as my paints (actually more like mosaics) to create salads that look like famous works of art. I've tried a Van Gough and a Rousseau, though frankly they both looked more like a myopic Monet that got dropped into the Seine.
I know this is probably really neurotic, and I probably ought to seek help. But first I want to try the Last Supper. Can't you just imagine a festive, tropical, slightly psychedelic rendition of The Last supper done only in red, golden yellow, navy blue, and charteuse? Maybe I'll add some bing cherries. I wonder if I could sell these on eBay.
Anyway, this is one of the benefits of being a grownup: there's nobody to tell me to stop playing with my food.
-Elizabeth
Posted by: Elizabeth at May 21, 2005 11:29 AM
My friend Diana cooks by colors more than taste. She'll come to work and tell me about a "wonderful dish" and it's all about color, not flavor.
I love red and orange. I have Fiestaware and like to make orange meals every now and then - tangerine Fiesta plate, salmon, carrots, and sweet potatoes.
Posted by: Mary at May 21, 2005 5:08 PM
I LOVE colorful plates. It adds so much to a meal. The Zone menus are really attentive to this. Some combinations that are easy and stunning are boiled shrimp,spinach with Indian spices and moong dal (bright yellow lentils); grilled salmon, side of sweet potato and side of kale; caprese, tomatoes alternated with fresh mozzarella and chiffonade of basil; I also adore cucumbers next to roasted yellow peppers. Tonight's menu is looking like a fruit salad of mango, kiwi, and purple grapes with cottage cheese (Mardi Gras!)
By the way, my feet are more narrow now. I bet MR is just wearing thicker socks with those army boots -- that's my trick!
Laura Leigh
Posted by: Laura at May 21, 2005 6:04 PM
I get somewhat obsessive about meals needing to be balanced with all colors of foods. :)
I have a question -- and I'm sure the answer is somewhere in your blog here, but I got behind by a few months (used to read you every day a while back!) and am trying to catch up here -- you mentioned that you had gotten a great new food scale, what type/brand/model is it?
Thanks. It's good to be back reading your inspiring words and following your adventures.
Posted by: Stephanie at May 21, 2005 8:40 PM