My doctor favours Paleo so I’ve been reading that a lot lately. Lots of protein, except dairy. Eggs and meat, except smoked meats. Vegetables, except starchy ones, no potato, corn, kumera. Beets? Best not. Avoid coconut water but cook with coconut oil. Lots of salad, except GMO vegetables. Fish, except farmed fish and those at […]
Category: Food Essays
Essays I wrote about food and eating
Bunya Nuts
A friend introduced me to bunya nuts. They were a traditional food of Aborigines living in South East Queensland, especially in the Bunya Mountains National Park. The nuts mature in summer and hostilities between tribes were suspended, as aborigines travelled long distances to feast on the nuts. When the white man came, many of the […]
Lettuce, Lettuce Everywhere
When I was a kid, salad consisted of lettuce, tomatoes, capsicum and cucumber. There was only one type of lettuce, iceberg lettuce. Salad dressing was made from salt, olive oil and vinegar. I added paprika once because it looked good on the cucumber but had to take it off again when my sister complained. For […]
More than Just Hommos
I always thought the name chickpeas would have some strange village story behind it, perhaps they were fed to chickens in the Middle Ages to fatten them or were brown rather than green and therefore only fit for chickens. Turns out the name comes from the French ‘chiche’, which comes from the Latin ‘cicer’ which […]
The Secret Life of Mushrooms
The mushroom is the fruiting body of a subterranean network of long root-like cells (hyphae) which thread themselves through the soil like neurons in a human brain. Called the mycelium, this network of cells can grow for long periods without fruiting and cover large areas. A single mycelium found in Michigan is said to cover […]
The Sprout from Brussels
Like many, I grew up groaning whenever brussels sprouts were served. They were invariably boiled to destruction and tasted like dirty water. Whenever I hear someone say they enjoy brussels sprouts, I wonder (very politely) where this person was when they were handing out taste buds. Still, there’s a fair whack of the population who […]
White Matter
Cauliflower is a cruciferous vegetable. Cruciferous vegetables, including broccoli, kale, cabbage, collards, bok choy, mustard greens, turnip greens, rocket, horseradish, brussel sprouts, wasabi and watercress, belong to the mustard family. Unlike its cousins, a cauliflower has a white head, though there are light green and purple varieties. The white head is called a curd and […]
Who Needs Refrigeration
The invention of refrigeration was hailed as a major breakthrough in food preservation, especially for the fact that it became possible to keep food fresh long enough to transport it great distances. In an age before aeroplanes, it meant that sailors no longer got scurvy on long voyages. These days it just means that we […]