Play with Your Food

Did your mother ever tell you to stop playing with your food? I don’t recall my mother ever telling me that. If she did it didn’t stick in my mind. Thank heavens because I still enjoy playing with my food and encouraging you to do the same.

Do a mental dress rehearsal
Tinker with the colors, shapes, and textures of foods, how they go together, and how you arrange them on a plate, in a bowl, on the table. Before assembling a meal do a mental dress rehearsal imagining how the pieces will fit together to make an artful, appetizing presentation.

Do you have something green and leafy or flowering? An orange, yellow, or red vegetable or fruit (or several of these colors)? Do you have something beige, brown, black, or white? Forget monochromatic beige or brown meals! Do you have a contrast of creamy, crunchy, and chewy? Do you  have something sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and pungent...or at least three of these flavors? A mix of flavors will satisfy your taste buds and add to your enjoyment.

Get your hands into it
Get your hands on the food. Try to buy it from as close to home as possible. Pick it up feel it (is it ripe or rock hard?); give it a whiff (does it smell ripe and fruity, green, herbaceous, fresh?).

Although I no longer make bread, I recall the sensuous and satisfying feeling of working the dough into supple submission, noticing when it changed, when it was ready, shaping it, watching it magically rise, and then sinking my teeth into it, later, at the table. Coleslaw that requires kneading and crushing offers a similar pleasure So does artistically arrange blanched vegetables on a platter, toss a colorful assortment of ingredients into a salad bowl.

Catch it on camera
This might not appeal to you, but I like to take pictures of what I eat––at home, at the farmers’ market (before I eat it), in restaurants, and at friend’s homes. I enjoy capturing the beauty of the food and being able to share it with others. To make a great food photo requires a playful attitude and, often, some degree of fiddling with the food, the place setting, the camera angle, and the lighting. I like taking photographs and turning them into custom-made greeting cards for friends, clients, and colleagues… and of course, sharing them with you on this blog!

 So where am I going with this?
I think healthy eating should be an enjoyable act, something that brings pleasure to all of your senses (and mine too!). Eating healthy food shouldn’t be some kind of austere sacrificial act, something to suffer through for the sake of meeting your daily nutritional needs.

I'll admit it, I take a strange pleasure in knowing that my meals and desserts provide vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants, protein, fats with a favorable fatty acid profile, etc., but when the meal is over and the dishes have been cleared away, what matters even more is that I feel  deeply satisfied. I think having a playful attitude about food helps.

Are you playing? Every day in some way?
Play is so important to our health (you know this, right?) We all need activities that bring out the childlike spirit we may have lost, repressed, or suppressed. We need to do things that fully engage us and make us lose track of time and to do lists, that make us laugh and lighten up.

What can you do to play with your food? How can you bring a more playful attitude to the acts of shopping, cooking, serving, eating, and sharing food? What can you do today, tomorrow, this week, this weekend, or this month to have more fun with your food? What are you willing to commit to doing differently? 

Take a cooking class or a series of cooking classes? Buy a new fruit or vegetable each week? Try a new recipe each week? Work your plate into a work of art? Mimic something you saw presented in a magazine, cookbook, or restaurant meal? Change the shape of something you ordinarily make using cookie cutters, a whimsical shaped baking pan or mold, an unusual arrangement? Learn how to carve vegetables and fruits? Make edible table decorations? Take pictures of your meals? Invite your children or spouse to join you in the kitchen or in plating the food? Put on some great dancing music and let it move you as you prepare and plate a meal?

Btw: I didn’t create the food art animals you see on the right. I wish I did! If I did I would cite the source and get permission to use his/her photos. If I’ve infringed on anyone’s copyright, I have not done it knowingly (hopefully that absolves me of any repercussions!). Someone sent them to me a couple of years ago. (Who knew vegetables would be so expressive?)

One of the things I aim to do in the next month is create some imaginative vegetable and fruit art. Of course, I or wee will take pictures of antics and post them here on this site!

Talk to me
How do you play with your food? What could you learn from your kids or grand kids about playing  with food? Tell me what you already do or plan to do to make healthy eating more fun. Do you have ideas that might inspire other people to eat well, live well, have more fun in the kitchen or at the table? I’d love to hear from you and so would the rest of my readers.

Photo credits (food shots): Chef Rachel Albert © Copyright 2010

Btw: I didn’t create the food art animals you see on the right. I wish I did! Honestly, I don’t know the source of the pictures. If I did I would surely cite the source and get permission to use his/her fabulous photos. If I’ve infringed on anyone’s copyright, I have not done it knowingly (hopefully that absolves me of any repercussions!). Someone sent them to me in an email a couple of years ago and I fell in love with  them. (Who knew vegetables would be so expressive and show so much emotion? Love those mushroom guys and the funny red pepper bunny!) One of the things I aim to do in the next month is to get together with a friend and create some imaginative vegetable and fruit art. Of course, I or wee will take pictures of antics and post them here on this site!

In the meantime, here’s a recipe I created that’s great for drizzling over vegetables and decorating a plate. You can put it in a bottle and use a spoon to spread it over your favorite foods or you can pour it into a plastic squeeze bottle (I know, I know, I’m normally adamant about avoiding plastic containers because of the endocrine disruptors they emit. You don’t have to keep the dressing in the plastic squeeze bottle (I don't store it in plastic). I used a spoon for the pictures on the right!) By the way, you can also decorate your plate with bottled balsamic glaze, a cooked down version of balsamic vinegar with a thick, sweet flavor, a syrupy consistency.

Photo credits (food shots): Chef Rachel Albert © Copyright 2010

Honey Balsamic Dressing

Prep: 15 to 20 minutes        Cooking: 0        Yield: about 1 1/4 cup

I got the idea for this recipe from one I found in a pamphlet from The National Honey Board (check their web site for more great recipes). I tinkered with their recipe (it was super low in fat and not as thick and viscous as I wanted). I wanted to make it more like one that my friend Heather and I had eaten on a chicken and vegetable salad at a restaurant here in Phoenix. For more great honey recipes click here.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup extra-virgin avocado oil or extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons white or yellow prepared mustard (the wet kind, not the powder!)
2 tablespoons raw honey (from your state or region, if possible); double if desired
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme, tarragon, or basil or 1 teaspoon dried (double if desired)
1/2 to 1 teaspoon finely ground unrefined sea salt (I use Redmond Real Salt or Celtic Sea Salt)
1/4 teaspoon ground white or black pepper
1 teaspoon Apple Fiber Powder, optional but desirable for emulsifying the ingredients (I use Now brand)

1. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. Alternatively, combine ingredients in a blender or Vita-Mix and process until smooth. Add additional honey as/if desired and blend again.
2. Transfer to a glass jar or bottle, label and date, then refrigerate. Use within a month or two for best results. (It might keep longer.)
3. Serve over grilled or sautéed vegetables, toss with a green salad, or drizzle over baked, broiled, or grilled fish, poultry, or meat.

Comments

[Marilyn Glidewell]

Wow, Rachel! I decided to see what was on your blog today, and I was so delighted and tickled to see the picture that first popped up. Then I scrolled down and saw more cute critters and playful things to do with food. It made me feel all warm and fuzzy--a fun start to my day! What a great job. I'll pass this on to others who I know will enjoy it.

[Aaron]

A post on Pavone's food trends blog discusses how playing with your food or making it interactive could be beneficial to a product's sales. http://www.pavonefoodandbev.com/its-okay-to-play-with-your-food/